The Princess of Equality

by Summer Knight

Friends and Secrets, Secrets and Friends

"Oof!"

Twilight was knocked heavily to the ground by a rainbow-colored blur.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash practically shouted into her ear. "Twilight, I found her! I know where she is!"

Twilight growled in annoyance and used her telekinesis to lift the pegasus off of her. She held Rainbow suspended in the air where she wouldn't cause any further damage.

"You know where who is?" Twilight asked evenly. "And please try to tell me without rupturing my other eardrum."

She almost immediately regretted the harsh words. Rainbow didn't deserve that. Twilight had been more than a little on edge for the past couple of weeks, and despite her best efforts it was starting to show.

"Starlight Glimmer," another voice answered from above them.

Twilight looked up as a familiar dusky pegasus with a white mane soared in and landed beside the two ponies.

"I heard you were looking for her," Night Glider added.

Twilight gasped, all her annoyance with Rainbow Dash forgotten. "You found her?!"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered. Freed from Twilight's telekinesis, she now hovered easily in the air under her own power. "I was at the weather factory when I heard that Night Glider was in town, so we met up."

"Rainbow told me what happened with you and Starlight Glimmer," Night Glider picked up the story. "Well, sort of. She wasn't very clear with the details."

"Eheh, sorry," Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight made us promise not to tell."

"It's between me and Starlight," Twilight confirmed. "At least until she's comfortable with other ponies knowing."

"Totally, I get it." Night Glider waved a hoof. "Anyway, Rainbow told me that you two'd had a fight or something, and you were trying to find where Starlight went and make it up to her."

"Yes, yes!" Twilight answered, her impatience beginning to grow again. "So do you know where she is?"

"Yeah," Night Glider said. "She came back to the town a couple weeks ago."

"Back to the... what?!" Twilight's eyes turned deadly, and she thought her mane might have caught fire from the heat of her sudden anger. "One of the first things I did was send a letter to Party Favor!" she shouted. "I asked him specifically if Starlight had gone back home, and he never answered me!"

"Well," Night Glider shrugged, either oblivious to Twilight's temper or not acknowledging it, "I don't know what that's about. All I know is that she's back, and she's not happy."

"He, I—" Twilight sputtered.

"Uh, Twi?" Rainbow Dash awkwardly put herself between Twilight and Night Glider. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Twilight clenched her teeth and growled in frustration.

It's not her fault, Twilight told herself. It's not her fault. It's not her fault.

Twilight sighed.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to Night Glider. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"It's okay," Night Glider answered. "You must be worried about her."

"I am," Twilight admitted. "Is Starlight okay? I know she's not happy, but is she... okay?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Night Glider said. "She does spend a lot of time shut up in her house." Night Glider scuffed a hoof. "She's all smiles and small talk with the rest of us, but she won't say a word about what happened. Nopony's gotten her to open up yet."

"That's not surprising," Twilight said.

"Was it really that bad?" Night Glider asked.

"It's... yeah. It was bad," Twilight said sadly. Her ears drooped.

"Oh come on, Twilight!" Rainbow said. "It's not like this is the first time you ever made a mistake. You're the Princess of Friendship, for pony's sake! If anyone can make this right, you can."

"Yeah. You're right." Twilight perked up. "You're right. I need to get on the next train up to that town and find Starlight Glimmer."

"Just like that?" Night Glider sounded surprised. "What if she doesn't want to talk yet? Do you have a plan or something?"

Rainbow Dash facehoofed.

"Plan?" Twilight laughed. With her magic, she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a tightly rolled piece of parchment. She held onto one end and allowed the rest to fall. It reached the ground and kept rolling. "I've spent the last week charting out all the possible circumstances of our meeting, all the different ways our conversation might go, and how best to handle it. I spent hours triple-checking it just this morning, so I'm sure I've covered every possibility. Item one:" Twilight started reading off her painstakingly constructed list.

Rainbow leaned over to Night Glider. "Never ask Twilight about her plans," she hissed into the other pegasus's ear. "We'll be here all day."

"That's, um, that's great, Twilight," Night Glider tried to talk over Twilight's rambling, "but. Urgh." She took a deep breath.

"...and if she doesn't want to go for hayburgers—"

"Twilight!" Night Glider shouted.

"Ah!" Twilight yelped. "Oh. Uh, sorry." She awkwardly cleared her throat, then magically re-rolled the parchment and put it away. "Anyway, thank you for telling me, Night Glider. This really means a lot to me."

"No problem," Night Glider said. "Whatever might have happened before, I've come to think of Starlight Glimmer as a friend. I can't help her right now, but I think you can."

Twilight lowered her head. "I hope so."

"So, uh, Twilight," Rainbow said, "I know you're in a hurry and all, but Night Glider and I were gonna stop by Sugarcube Corner. You wanna come?"

Twilight's first instinct was to decline, to race for the train station and get on her way at once, but she reconsidered. It would be good to talk to Night Glider again, and it might give her some much-needed insight.

"Sure," Twilight said, "that sounds nice."

---

Starlight wanted to slam her house's door hard enough to break it to splinters, but she restrained herself. The last thing she needed was to make the townsponies more afraid of her. Instead, she gently shut it behind her.

She was still furious at Party Favor for not telling her about the letter, and at Twilight for sending it in the first place. If there was one bright spot in all of this, it was that Party Favor hadn't replied to the letter. Twilight wouldn't know that her former student was here, though she'd certainly figure it out eventually. If nothing else, Starlight had a little time to decide what to do.

Starlight shrugged out of her vest and set it on the shelf, then froze as a thought occurred to her. Night Glider had left the town a couple of days ago to visit Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were both from Cloudsdale and had family and friends there. It was unlikely, but if word reached them that Night Glider was in town, or if Night Glider decided to swing by Ponyville before coming back, then Twilight might meet up with her.

Starlight forced down the rising panic inside her. She needed to think. If the worst happened and Twilight showed up here, then what? Maybe it would be best if Starlight just disappeared again. She shook her head angrily at the thought. She was already going to spend the rest of her life hiding from what she was, she refused to have to hide from Twilight as well. Maybe it would be better to just chase her off right away, let her know that she wasn't welcome in this town.

No, that won't work either. Starlight's own feelings notwithstanding, Twilight Sparkle was a well-known and loved pony in this little town. Whatever Starlight tried to do, the others would certainly welcome her in.

Starlight stretched and flexed her wings without thinking. She hated how natural they felt on her, how easily they responded to her thoughts and instincts. She thought of them as tumors, unwanted growths. The fact that her body had accepted them so easily felt like a betrayal.

She flopped down on her mattress and pushed her powerful mind back on track. Thinking about her wings to avoid thinking about Twilight wasn't going to help. There was only one way out of this mess, and that was through it. If Twilight showed up here, Starlight would just have to meet with her former teacher. Starlight would have to tell her, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn't welcome in Starlight's home or in her life.

She nodded to herself. Get Twilight out of her life and just fade back into the background of Equestria. Yes, that would be best. There would be some questions at first, and ponies would wonder what had become of the Princess of Friendship's first student, but eventually they'd lose interest. In the meantime, she just had to make sure that none of the ponies here realized what she was. Let them think whatever they wanted; it would be better than them knowing the truth.

She sighed and snuggled into the mattress. Now that she had a plan she felt a bit better. Her anger and fear had burned out, leaving her feeling mostly tired. Maybe a quick nap wouldn't be a bad idea. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do.

She'd barely closed her eyes when somepony knocked on her door. She'd been so careful to close it gently that it seemed the latch hadn't quite caught—and, she realized a moment too late, she hadn't re-cast her locking spell. The door swung open slightly from the impact.

Sugar Belle poked her head in. "Starlight? Are you in here?"

Starlight leaped to her hooves and reached out for her vest, but it was too late. Sugar Belle's concerned eyes found her, then flicked to her sides. To her wings. Sugar Belle's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

In a panic, Starlight reached out with her magic and pulled Sugar Belle into the house. She then slammed the door closed and cast the spell to lock it so that nopony else would blunder in and see what they mustn't. Starlight tested the door, then checked the windows to make sure her privacy spell was holding. With that done, she took a deep breath and turned to face the other pony, then stopped.

Sugar Belle was trembling. Her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, and she was huddled in the corner as far from Starlight as she could get. She was whimpering softly.

"Sugar Belle." Starlight reached out a hoof, but Sugar Belle just squeezed herself harder against the wall.

What am I doing? Starlight realized how she was acting and felt like kicking herself. Of course Sugar Belle was terrified. "Sugar Belle, please calm down," she said more quietly, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"W—what are you going to do to me?" Sugar Belle asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come in without asking! I won't do it again. Please don't punish me!"

Starlight slowly crossed over to the hysterical mare. "It's okay," she said. "I shouldn't have pulled you in here like that. But please understand, I can't let anypony know about... about these." She fluttered her wings. "When you saw them, I panicked. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"What—" Sugar Belle sniffled. "What happened to you?"

Starlight took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm an alicorn now." She held up a hoof to cut off Sugar Belle's congratulations, or whatever else might be coming. "Not by choice. I don't want this. One of Twilight's lessons made me transform, somehow, and I'm hiding out here until I can figure out what to do."

"Wow." Sugar Belle slowly approached her. "But this is amazing! Why hide it?"

"Because I don't want to be a princess," Starlight answered simply. "I don't want to be anything more than I was, or anything more than anypony else is. That's why I freaked out, and that's why you can't tell anypony else about it, okay?"

The other pony slowly nodded. "Okay, Starlight. It'll be our secret."

Starlight smiled as relief washed through her. "Thank you." Starlight used her magic to pull her vest back on, then unlocked the door. "Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.

"No worries," Sugar Belle answered. "Can I come back later and visit?"

Starlight was tempted to say no, but there was no sense hiding from Sugar Belle now. It might actually be nice to have one pony—one friend—who knew her secret. "Sure. I'll see you later."

Sugar Belle opened the door and walked outside. Starlight made a show of standing in the open doorway to wave goodbye before closing it again. If the others thought that she was opening up to Sugar Belle, maybe the rest of them wouldn't keep trying so hard. At any rate, she'd just have to make the best of it. As long as Sugar Belle could keep her mouth shut... what were the odds of that?

And I also need to stop terrifying the townsponies with everything I do.

With a whole new slew of problems to worry about, Starlight closed and locked the door again.

Comments

[Summer Knight]

7906720 I just think you should know: I hadn't published a fanfic chapter in many months, and this comment reminded me that my stories can bring people happiness and inspired me to get back to work.

So, thank you!

[PhycoKrusk]

I really am very eager to see how this story settles out. I mean that.

[NotanImportantPony]

Well, it is good that Starlight has a companion, that is a start. But what will happen when Twilight shows up? I predict that there will be tears, shouting, and maybe a few lasers.

Beside that, I was reminded how intriguing this concept is, good job and keep on going.

[tsaukpaetra]

Starlight always was one to foil Twilight's lesson plans, who wants to bet Twilight hasn't planned for "total misunderstanding"?
At least Starlight now has a confidant, that should help her paranoia.
Keep going! ;)

[tsaukpaetra]

7920316 small tip: always respond to comments that aren't on the latest chapter in the chapter itself, otherwise they don't get the notification you replied to them.

[the book keeper]

Thanks for another awsome chapter I am really intressted in seeing where you go with this. I do hope that Starlight gets used to her eings in the end and accepts her destiny as aprincess. I am also quite intressted in wondering if she will get her own thron around the map table anyway thanks for updating I hope you update aging very soon.

[Joker_F5]

7920316 don't worry about it. A warriors greatest weapon, is patience. - Zenyatta

[Emperor]

Well, where Sugar Belle goes, at this rate by the time Twi gets to Our Town everypony there will know about it.

Poor Starlight. At this point, it might just be easier for her to find the Mirror Portal and hop through and be BFFs with Sunset.

[Cozybro]

You're late.

[Summer Knight]

7953088 A wizard is never late, etc etc.

[0]

There are few stories with this premise, I require more... please.

[DarkMagicEn-Forcer1]

anymore?

[Twilight Connor]

7958785 Thou art late, nonetheless.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8012564
Seconded.