• Published 24th Mar 2016
  • 8,320 Views, 206 Comments

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Danieru



The lonely and boring live of an Earth Pony changes completely after he was chosen by one seventh Element of Harmony. Not only will this pony discover friendship but also the true story about the Elements of Harmony. Even if he doesn't want to...

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102. Old Friends?

It was a quiet and beautiful night in Equestria. It was the end of the day and Star Twinkle was just about to go to sleep. He walked upstairs to his bedroom, turning off all the lights in his house on his way. The only light that was now shining in the room was the light that came from the moon.

The stallion sat down on his bed and stretched his legs. "Good night, Comet," he said followed by a big yawn.

His Goldfish only starred in the distance and didn't reply.

Star Twinkle was pretty happy whenever this time of the day came. The time where he could just close his eyes, relax, and not worry about a single thing.

That is what would happen if someone wasn't knocking on his door as soon as he laid down in his bed, causing him to open his eyes as soon as they were closed.

"Knocking?" Star Twinkle wondered. "Too bad, I'm already asleep..." he thought. Everyone would be asleep at this moment so of course, he just stayed in his bed and ignored the knocking.

Knock Knock!

But that didn't change the fact that he was still annoyed by this interruption. "Who could that be?" He asked himself confused. "Who would knock on my door at this hour? Maybe there is some kind of emergency? The only one I think would bother me at this hour would be..."

"Star Twinkle? Are you there?" Twilight's voice asked from outside.

The stallion formed an annoyed expression on his face and sat up again. "That is just not fair!" He complained as he got out of his bed and walked downstairs, grumbling a few words on his way to his door. Once he opened the front door, he could see Twilight and Spike, the later one having the same expression on his face as Star Twinkle, all while the Alicorn Princess smiled awkwardly.

"What do you want Twilight?" Star Twinkle asked in a rather bothered tone, which he didn't even try to hide at this point.

Twilight first looked around as if she was actually just now trying to come up with an explanation. "Oh, nothing special," she had the nerves to say. "I was just in the area and thought that you would maybe interested to visit Canterlot right now?" She asked casually.

Star Twinkle stood at the door, his face wasn't even reacting to this.

SLAM!

The stallion shut the door with one fast motion and decided to just ignore the mare, especially if it was for a simple reason like that.

"Wait! Hear me out! This is serious!" Her muffled voice said from outside, this time sounding a little bit more desperate.

Star Twinkle just rubbed his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh before he then opened the door again. "What is really the reason for your visit?" The stallion asked, hoping that Twilight would get to the point this time.

Now it was Twilight who sighed. She gave a quick explanation. "Listen, there is something that I need to fix and I might need some help with it," she said.

"Fix what?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

It was then Spike who took over. "She forgot that she had friends in Canterlot. She just now remembered them and now she feels bad about it," he explained.

But Twilight had to correct some things. "I did not forget about them! I just...didn't really...get in contact with them ever since I started to live in Ponyville..." She said. After saying those words, Star Twinkle could tell how bad the mare felt just saying that. "Some great Princess of Friendship, huh? They must think that I am the worst friend ever..."

It was then that Star Twinkle realized why Twilight was taking this so seriously. He actually found himself in a pretty similar position. This one pony that he met a while ago, Summershine, was his friend too but Star Twinkle could not remember him, at least not clearly. He would not miss his chance as well to get his friend back.

With that going through his head, the stallion just had to help Twilight. "Alright, I'll help you," he said.

Hearing those words made Twilight smile. "Thank you, Star Twinkle, I knew I could count on you," Twilight said in gratitude, making the stallion feel a little bit embarrassed now, seeing how happy the mare was for his cooperation.

"Don't mention it..." the stallion replied nervously.

"Alright then, let's go!" Twilight then said, much to Star Twinkle's surprise.

"Wait...now!?" He replied confused.

"Of course!" Twilight casually replied with a smile on her face. "I have to get to this problem as soon as possible if I want to fix this," she said determinedly

Star Twinkle was sighing in annoyance. "Twilight, it's in the middle of the night...can't this wait until tomorrow?" The stallion pleads, his eyes clearly showing how annoyed he was just now.

But every attempt to talk Twilight out of this was useless. In the end, she managed to convince Star Twinkle to get himself ready and they both flew to Canterlot.


Later...


This trip already got on Star Twinkle's nerves because he had to fly all the way to Canterlot instead of going by train. It's not like any train was available at his late of an hour anyway. Luckily, the stallion's transformation lasted this long to make this trip as long as he was flying at a slow speed and didn't exhaust himself too much.

As he was flying through the sky though, he had to admit that it was a little bit relaxing as well. It was really quiet and the night was beautiful to look at. He never had the chance of looking at Equestria like this which made it quite a unique trip. But knowing that probably a lot of work was heading his way to help Twilight out with her old friends made him feel a little bit exhausting as well.

As the stallion was looking around, taking in the nice scenery, he managed to capture, just in the corner of his eye, some kind of movement. There were not many birds or any other animals flying past them so far, so he wondered what it was. But as soon as he figured something else was flying near them and took a closer look around, only to find out that there was nothing.

Twilight noticed that behavior from the stallion. "Is something the matter?" She asked confused.

"No, it is nothing," Star Twinkle replied before he focused on flying straight again. "Must have imagined that..." he thought.

It did not take much longer until Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike reached Canterlot. They landed in a garden near the castle. As expected, no one was there at this late hour. It almost felt as if they were sneaking around the place.

"Now what?" Star Twinkle asked, waiting for Twilight to share her plan with him.

The mare gave a quick response. "The only logical place to start is at the beginning," she said.

Twilight looked at a small tower and slowly walked up to it with Star Twinkle following her. "What is that place?" He asked.

Twilight gave a quick response. "My old home," she casually said.

This struck Star Twinkle by surprise. It may have been a small tower but it looked really regal and almost too fancy, at least for his taste. Of course, it couldn't even hold a candle to her castle in Ponyville but considering how she was living inside a tree before that, this tower was still something different.

The door to the tower opened and for the first time, Star Twinkle could see the place where Twilight used to live before her time in Ponyville. It felt for him as if this was actually a pretty big moment.

As expected, there were a lot of books, this was Twilight's home after all. It actually looked as fancy from the inside as it did from outside. Her tree-house was definitely a little bit more simple, at least when it came to the decor. This place definitely looked as if it belonged to someone who had a royal family or something.

As the three walked through the building, a rush of nostalgia seemed to hit Twilight for a moment. "Oh. It's exactly how we left it!" Twilight said as she let her eyes scan the whole place.

"When were you last here?" Star Twinkle asked out of curiosity.

Twilight rubbed her leg. "That would be one day before I met you and the others," she explained with an embarrassed grin on her face.

"I see..." Star Twinkle replied.

The mare then walked up a staircase that led to a big bookshelf. In front of it was a book on a pedestal, covered in dust, which Twilight blew away. She was surprised to see what book was hidden under the dust. "Look! It's Predictions and Prophecies! And it's still open to the Elements of Harmony!" She said.

Star Twinkle walked up to the book as well and noticed a picture showing the mare in the moon. Twilight explained to him that after she read the information about Nightmare Moon and her upcoming return, she decided to tell Princess Celestia about it. But the princess didn't believe in that and sent Twilight to Ponyville to make some friends, which then ended up saving Equestria from Nightmare Moon. In a way, it looked as if Princess Celestia was aware that this was the way to handle things, which is why she sent Twilight to Ponyville in the first place. It was interesting for Star Twinkle to know that those events ended up having those two meet each other.

As Star Twinkle was walking through the place as well, the accidentally stepped into something. It was a broken wrapped package and next to it was a teddy bear which was in a pretty bad state as well.

"What is this?" Star Twinkle asked.

Spike then picked up the teddy bear and started to remember. "I was a present for Moon Dancer, one of Twilight's friends here in Canterlot. Twilight broke it by accident while I was holding it," he explained.

Twilight seemed a little surprised to hear that. "I did?" She asked confused. Realizing that only made her feel worse. She walked up to a window and looked over Canterlot for a moment. "How could I have let this happen?" She said, her voice sounding very heavy and sad.

Spike realized how down the mare was as well and tried cheering her up again. "Come on, Twilight. Princess Celestia gave you an assignment. Nopony could blame you for that," he pointed out.

But Twilight was not so easy to convince. "But look at the way I left this place. It's a total mess! Just like how I left my friendships," she said with a frown on her face.

Twilight was definitely feeling bad about all this. She was leaning her head against the window glass and looked as if she would start crying any moment out of guilt. Star Twinkle was slowly being affected by this and started feeling rather upset as well. Some things needed to be said, that much was certain for him. The stallion put one of his hooves on the mare's shoulder to comfort her a little. She turned her head around with a frown on her face and was surprised to see Star Twinkle smiling at her. "Don't you worry. I'm sure if they are your friends then they will forgive you for a little slip up like this," he said confidently.

Those words seemed to have cheered the mare up a little. She formed a weak smile and then looked outside one more time. It didn't take long until her face was not showing determination.

"I have to make it up to my friends!" She said determinedly. I've gotta make it up toooo... uh..." she then added, realizing that she didn't even remember the names of her friends. She smiled at her little dragon friend nervously in the hope he would help her out.

Luckily, Spike was the one who actually remembered them. "Oh! Uh, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moon Dancer."

"Yeah. Them," Twilight said with a determined tone in her voice

"But not today..." Star Twinkle pointed out, kinda taking Twilight out of her determined state.

It was then when Twilight looked a little bit embarrassed. "I guess this really could have waited for tomorrow," she figured as she smiled nervously at Star Twinkle. "Are you gonna help with my friends?" She then asked.

"Well, I am already here, so I might as well..." Star Twinkle replied. It was not as if he had much of a choice anymore. "But I would like to get some sleep before that," he demanded.

With that said, Star Twinkle and Spike went to sleep. Star Twinkle was way too tired to be worried about sleeping on a sofa in the study room right now, the same could apply to Spike because he was just laying on top of some books. Despite his tiredness though, Star Twinkle was actually having some troubles drifting off to sleep and it was not because he was uncomfortable.

All this talk about making it up to old friends made him think about Summershine, this one pony that attacked him while Lord Tirek was on the loose. The same pony who claimed to be his friend and also used a spell to erase Star Twinkle's memory. The Earth Pony would do anything to get into a talk with Summershine again just to find out stuff about himself and his cloudy past.

But now, Twilight and her old friends were more important. She has friends here that she remembers and she wanted to make up for it. All Star Twinkle had to do was supporting her. That is exactly what he planned on doing tomorrow.


On the next morning...


Early in the morning, way before Star Twinkle even planned to let anyone know that he was awake, he could hear Twilight Rushing from one corner of the room to another. Figuring how with all those noises he would not be able to sleep anyway, he decided to get up now. Spike also decided to do the same shortly after.

Twilight, as soon as she noticed the two getting up, got quickly excited. "Star Twinkle! Spike! Come on! We've got work to do!" The mare said.

"Have you been awake all night?" Spike asked as he got up from the pile of books that served as his bed this night.

Twilight explained. "I did a little research, and I think I know where we can find Minuette! That is one of my friends, right?"

Star Twinkle could only lower his eyebrows after hearing that. "Wait...you did research on where your friends live?" He asked, finding it kinda weird how little she seemed to know about her friends if she had to research that. Unfortunately, Twilight seemed to have picked up and that and frowned, feeling bad about it now. Of course, Star Twinkle did not want that to happen. "I mean- Then we should get there as soon as possible!" He said in order to let her forget his words as fast as possible.

Now the mare was taking a deep breath. "I hope this all goes well," she said before walked outside, expecting Star Twinkle and Spike to follow her, which they did. They also hoped that things would go smoothly with her friends.

It didn't take too long until the three were in front of Minuette's house. Twilight was extremely nervous as soon as she stood in front of the door. Knowing Twilight, the inside of her head must have been a complete mess right now.

Spike quickly noticed that as well. "Uh, it's not too late to forget I opened my big mouth," he said, trying to get the mare out of this nervous state.

But Twilight declined. "No, Spike, I'm glad you opened your big mouth. These ponies have probably been suffering ever since I left. Wondering why their supposed friend would treat them so badly!" She said.

"Don't worry, Twilight, no matter how mad or upset they are, Spike and I are here to support you," he said, earning him a thumbs up from the little dragon who fully agreed with Star Twinkle's words.

Hearing that did make Twilight feel a little bit happier. She eventually managed to knock on the door to face her old friend. Star Twinkle stood right behind her, ready to get her back whenever Minuette would lash out at her.

A few seconds later, the door slowly opened. Twilight nervously called out Minuette's name but was then surprised to see the mare greeting her with a full smile.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Minuette said happily. "You old so-and-so! What are you doing here?!" She asked before her eyes shifted towards the little baby dragon. "Hey, Spike!" She greeted with the same happy manner.

Minuette was a Unicorn mare with a light blue coat, a dark blue mane with a blue-grayish stripe, sapphire blue eyes, and an hourglass as a Cutie Mark.

Everyone seemed highly surprised that Minuette was behaving completely differently from what they thought. There was no sign of sadness or bitterness towards Twilight but instead pure excitement and happiness.

"Look at these wings, huh?!" The mare said followed by a giggle as soon as she saw Twilight's wings. She then used her magic to levitate a camera from inside her house towards Star Twinkle. "Hey, grab a picture of me and the princess, will ya?! You come here too, Spike!" She asked of the little dragon, who happily joined in. Star Twinkle, while still being a little confused, just decided to go along with it. "I tried to tell my co-workers we used to be friends back when. But they've never believed me!" The mare said, followed by more giggles.

In the meantime, Star Twinkle was focusing the camera at the three. Twilight did seem a little nervous, especially since Minuette didn't seem to be mad at her in the slightest. "Wait-wait-wait! Really fluff 'em up, huh?" Minuette asked of Twilight so that she would spread her wings in front of the camera. After Minuette then struck a pose next to Twilight, Star Twinkle pressed the button on the camera and took the picture.

"Done," Star Twinkle said as he returned the camera to the mare.

"Thanks a bunch!" She replied happily before she then looked at the stallion with a confused but also curious look on her face. "Who are you by the way?" She then asked.

This gave Twilight a signal to introduce Star Twinkle to her. "I'm sorry. This is Star Twinkle, one of my friends from Ponyville. Star Twinkle, this is Minuette."

"Hi, there! Nice to meet you!" Minuette said cheerfully as she shook Star Twinkle's hoof.

"L-Likewise," the stallion replied nervously. He had to admit that he felt a little intimidated by how cheerful and happy this mare was. He did have Pinkie Pie as a comparison but when it came to meeting new ponies who acted like that, he still didn't know how to react.

After this flashy and happy reunion, Minuette could finally get to the question of why Twilight was visiting her after such a long time. "So what are you doing here? I mean, I know you're here all the time, but you never come to see me," she asked, putting Twilight in a more uncomfortable state again but that quickly changed once Minuette suggested something. "Hey! I just had the greatest idea! You wanna go see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine?"

Twilight was really liking this idea and wanted to give it a try. "Of course! My old friends!" She said happily. She really started to look at things a lot more positive now.

"It'll be great!" Minuette said before she led the way. "Come on! Let's fly! Get it?" She added followed by a hearty laugh as she continued to walk forwards and bringing Twilight to the rest of her friends.

Needless to say, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were hugely surprised how things turned out like this. Minuette was clearly not mad that Twilight didn't visit them for such a long time, or at least she didn't show it.

"That was...easy..." Star Twinkle said after meeting this cheerful mare.

"This is perfect!" Twilight said happily. "I can apologize to all three of them at once!"

Star Twinkle reacted confused to hear that and lowered his eyebrows. "Minuette didn't really look as if she was waiting for an apology though..." the stallion thought.

"Let's hope they're not as traumatized as Minuette," Spike said sarcastically.


A little later...


Minuette got two more of Twilight's friends to show up at Donut Joe's Donut shop to meet up with her and talking about some things in the past. In the meantime, Star Twinkle and Spike were sitting next to the counter. Star Twinkle figured that he should let them all catch up without him bothering them and Spike was just hungry and wanted to eat something so he joined the stallion.

The other two mares were called Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. They both seemed really nice, just like Minuette, as far as Star Twinkle could tell. Hearing some laughter and giggles coming from their table also was a really good sign.

Twinkleshine was a Unicorn mare with a light goldish gray colored coat, a pink mane, arctic blue eyes, and three light blue stars as a Cutie Mark. Lemon Hearts was a Unicorn mare as well. She had a light yellow colored coat, a cerulean colored mane, red eyes, and a Cutie Mark that consisted of three hearts, two of them being blue and one green.

"They seem to have a lot of fun," Star Twinkle thought. He was actually very happy to see that Twilight was having a really good time with her old friends. At the same time though, the stallion was feeling a little bad thinking how his meeting with one of his supposed friends was. Summershine claimed to be his friend so why did he attack him back then? That was the question that eventually caused him to frown a little bit. He actually was a little bit jealous of how Twilight's meeting was going so well, and he hated to feel like that.

"Is something wrong?" Spike then asked as soon as he noticed the upset expression on the stallion's face.

"No!" Star Twinkle replied nervously. "This donut just tasted really weird," he said with an awkward grin on his face. Shortly after, he noticed Donut Joe looking at him with a mad expression on his face, he clearly overheard that and was not too happy about it. Star Twinkle could only laugh nervously before ordering another donut to make up for this.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts were having a great time talking about all kinds of stuff from the past.

"Twinkleshine literally spit out her oats when she heard you were the Princess of Friendship!" Minuette said amused.

"We saw you at the coronation," Twinkleshine added. "That was some shindig!"

Twilight was surprised to hear her friends mentioning that. "You did?" She asked surprised.

"Sure! We see you all the time!" Twinkleshine said.

"You remember our old friend, Lyra, right?" Minuette asked. "She lives in Ponyville too. We're always over there visiting her. Or she's coming over here! We've thought about asking you to join us from time to time, but we just sorta figured you'd moved on," added.

"Oh," Twilight then replied.

There was an awkward silence after that. Twilight was well aware that she needed to approach her friends sooner. Suddenly turning into a princess was probably leaving the impression that Twilight was just too busy but she knew that she still could afford to spend time with them. Knowing that was exactly what made this situation uncomfortable for her.

Her friends did not intend to make this situation awkward for Twilight so they tried their best to change the subject again.

Lemon Hearts cleared her throat. "So what brings you by anyway? All those times you've come back to Canterlot, you never had donuts with us before," she pointed out.

"Well, uh, you see..." There was still some awkwardness in her voice. Twilight was then reminded what the reason for her visit was and she figured that she should just get it over with right now. She was sighing for a moment before she continued. "I came to apologize," the mare then said with a heavy tone in her voice.

But her friends didn't know what she meant. "For what?" Minuette asked in the name of her two other friends. It was then where Twilight explained everything to them.

"Before I left Canterlot, I didn't really appreciate my friends. And that's because I didn't know how important friendship was. But I've learned so much since I moved to Ponyville. I learned what it means to be a good friend and that I certainly wasn't one to the three of you. So for all the pain I caused you, I am truly sorry."

Her friends looked at each other confused. That much did Twilight expect but the next reaction caught her off-guard. Their friends started laughing, much to her surprise. Star Twinkle noticed their laughter as well, the didn't bother hiding them. He did not have the feeling that they were laughing at her though.

Minuette did Twilight a favor and explained their amused reaction after she wiped off some of her tears after laughing. "Oh, come on, Twilight! Sure, it might've stung a little bit when you ran off to Ponyville without saying goodbye, but it's not like we weren't used to that from you!" She explained.

"Yeah, we didn't take it personally," Twinkleshine added.

"But it's really good to see you now," Lemon Hearts said happily before she came up with a good idea. "Hey! Anypony up for a blast from the past?" She asked before she explained further what exactly she had in mind. "Let's go to our old science lab! There are a lot of good memories there, right?"

Visiting a place where Twilight spent a lot of time when she was younger together with her friends, was probably something that she needed to do now. She liked that idea and wanted to give it a try. It would be a good opportunity to catch up on some memories. The mare was agreeing to this idea but first she told Star Twinkle and Spike about it.

"Sounds good! I'm coming!" Spike said before he stuffed one last donut in his mouth and was ready to go.

"Have fun," Star Twinkle then said casually. Needless to say, Twilight was surprised to hear that since she expected Star Twinkle to come with her as well. "I think I would not fit into all of this," he then added.

"That's not true," Twilight replied with a slight frown on her face. "Come on, Star Twinkle, just because I decide to spend some time with old friends doesn't mean that I don't have time for my new ones," she explained.

But Star Twinkle was not looking at it from this perspective at all. Instead, he wanted Twilight to be alone with her friends, at least for a while. That way she could get accustomed to them again. Star Twinkle thought that this was the best decision, it is how he wanted it to be if he was in her position.

After Twilight listened to Star Twinkle's reasoning, Twilight began to understand what Star Twinkle had in mind. She realized that he was trying to help her warm up with her friends again. Since Twilight was still feeling a little bit uncomfortable around them, spending some alone time is exactly what she needed now.

The mare started to smile. "Okay, thanks, Star Twinkle. I will not waste this opportunity," she said with a determined look on her face. The stallion nodded happily after hearing that. He knew that Twilight would usually overthink everything but eventually, she would come out with the right decision, even if it meant making some mistakes before that.

Twilight and Spike then left and they joined the rest of their friends. The three ponies seemed confused about why Star Twinkle wasn't joining them but they also accepted his decision and left. This left Star Twinkle alone at the donut shop.

"Having said all that, what am I gonna do now?" He asked himself. He was thinking more about Twilight's well being than his own so he had no idea how the rest of the time with his friends would look like. All that was important was that Twilight would end up fixing her "problems" with her friends.

Star Twinkle figured that he should leave the shop as soon as he was done with his last donut and take a long stroll around Canterlot. He could also visit his parents while he was here, it's not like he was completely out of options in this town. He was not looking forwards coming in contact with some snobby ponies on his way through Canterlot though.

"How chivalrous of you," a female voice then said in a teasing voice.

Star Twinkle clenched his teeth annoyed. Knowing how bad his luck was this voice belonged to some rich pony that just decided to get on his nervous while he was all alone, maybe it even was one of the ponies who made fun of him when he was younger, back when he had no Cutie Mark. That had to be it, that is just how the world was operating around him at times like this.

However, once Star Twinkle turned his head to the left, he no longer was annoyed but rather left in shock. The mare was sitting next to him on another chair, he knew that pony, he met her once before and that encounter was a really bad one. He was looking at her with an open mouth, not being able to say anything due to his shocked state.

"Hello, Star Twin-kle~," the mare said with a smug grin on her face.

It was a Unicorn mare with a white coat, a white mane, and green eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a white heart with a magic aura behind it. On top of that, she was wearing the Alicorn Amulet. The name of the mare was Graceful Palladium Magie. It was the mare that attacked Star Twinkle on their first meeting and which Princess Celestia presumed to be the "Witch of Equestria".

The stallion was beginning to panic. This mare was dangerous and here she was in Canterlot with a lot of ponies to endanger, not to mention that she was just sitting a meter away from Star Twinkle. He felt as if he needed to tell someone that this mare was here, like Princess Celestia herself. He had to do something. And the first thing was to get out of here.

The stallion was jumping out of his chair and ran outside with such a speed that the mare didn't even notice a thing. At least that was what Star Twinkle initially planned, instead, he was a little too eager and fell on his behind as soon as he moved, much to the amusement to the mare next to him.

Grace chuckled in response. "What was that?" She asked while she kept laughing at the clumsiness of the stallion.

Star Twinkle managed to get up on his hooves again. If he was still here and the mare didn't make any attempts to attack him, the least he could do was to get one question out. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he kept his eyes on the mare at all costs.

The mare was smiling at Star Twinkle happily. "I was looking for you," she said. This surprised Star Twinkle. He didn't expect such a bold answer from Grace. "I saw you and your little princess friend flying to Canterlot and I decided to follow you a little since I had nothing else to do," she explained.

It suddenly clicked in Star Twinkle's mind. He remembered seeing something on his way to Canterlot yesterday but he thought he just imagined it. This must have been Grace. The real question now was just why she was following them. This only made the stallion feel more nervous than before.

"Then what do you want from me? You are not planning anything evil are you?" The stallion asked, praying that this was not the case.

Grace chuckled in response. "Come on. Are you still mad because I ended up in a fight with you two? That was ages ago," she said with a smile on her face. "Why? Are you gonna protect the ponies here in Canterlot if I do?" She asked while she moved her face closer to the stallion. She grinned as if she desperately wanted to hear an answer to that question. "Do you really think you stand a chance against me?" She asked teasingly.

Star Twinkle was shaking. He knew the answer to that question. Not even Twilight stood a chance against her back then. Granted Twilight most likely improved her magic since last time but he was sure that Grace was still a lot more powerful than what she was showing so far. He had no idea what to do in this situation. There was no way that Grace would let him run away so that he could tell Princess Celestia about her, and he definitely could not fight her. Something needed to happen. He needed to get out of this situation.

The mare already moved her head back again and after a few moments later she closed her eyes and smiled at the stallion. "Let's hit the city!" She then said out of the blue.

"Huh?" Star Twinkle could only reply after hearing that.

Grace then jumped off from her chair and was walking towards the entrance, expecting Star Twinkle to follow her. "Don't tell me you are busy. I know you are not. So why not come and have some fun?"

Suddenly, her voice sounded a lot less intimidating and sinister but rather full of excitement. It was like the first time they met before she decided to go full-on evil on him and Twilight. Once Grace realized how Star Twinkle was still sitting there in confusion, she decided to help him out a little by using her magic to pull him towards her, making him land on the ground right in front of her hooves.

"Come on," she said with the same excitement as before.

Star Twinkle got up on his hooves again. "Alright..." he said hesitantly, following the mare outside. "I think if I don't go along with this, I end up in a lot of trouble with her. So what choice do I have?" He thought in his frustration.

And just like that, Star Twinkle found himself in Grace's grip, the grip of the Witch of Equestria with no chance to escape.


Later...


The two ponies ended up walking through Canterlot for a while. Grace was happily humming while walking through the town and Star Twinkle was following her slowly. Of course, he tried to make the distance between them bigger at some points but Grace always noticed in time, making him stop that. He could not escape the Witch of Equestria...Star Twinkle well remembered what Princess Celestia told him and Twilight about her. One-hundred years ago Princess Celestia fought her before the name started to vanish. According to the princess, the Witch of Equestria was too powerful to be dealt with which is why she refrained sending her Royal Guards after the mare.

And right now, that mare was only a few hooves in front of the stallion, probably planning all kinds of sinister things in her mind as she was walking through the city. The bigger question was; just what did she want from Star Twinkle. He needed help, he was basically abducted by her right now. If he would resist, then she would get mad and attack him, he also could not run away while she kept her eyes on him, and there was no way that he could ask for help too because no one would be strong enough to take care of her, not even Princess Celestia.

He had to play along, that is all he could do now...

"Let's go in there!" Grace then said as she pointed at a jewelry shop. And of course, Star Twinkle strolled right behind her.

The mare was looking around in the shop like a little filly in a toy store. Star Twinkle didn't see the appeal, must have been a girls thing, he figured. There were many necklaces on display which Grace all inspected closely. She was mesmerized by all the different colors and shapes of the diamonds and gems inside of them.

"Hey! Look at this one!" Grace said as she took a closer look at one necklace. The mare took a look at the description sign in front of the necklace. "It says the chain is made out of palladium," she explained.

Star Twinkle lowered his eyebrows in a moment of confusion. "Palladium...you mean as in..."

"Yep!" Grace finished. "Just like in my name, hehe," she said proudly before she walked up to another necklace. Again, she took a quick look at the sign in front of it. "This one says the chain is made out of platinum, that one is nice too," she said with a smile on her face.

The stallion thought it would be a good idea to play along with this. She was in a good mood so he figured showing interest in all of this would keep it up. Star Twinkle took a look on another sign, much to Grace's delight, she seemed to appreciate what the stallion was doing and began smiling.

"This necklace is made out of silver, looks pretty nice too," he said, trying to sound interested in all of this. Grace didn't even walk towards that necklace and for some reason, much to Star Twinkle's worry, she had a pretty dark expression on her face. She was not amused, even mad for a moment. "What's with her all of a sudden!?" Star Twinkle thought in a panic.

"I don't like that one..." she said in a dark tone. It was surprising for her to say that Star Twinkle was pretty sure that she didn't even take a look at it. She seemed to be rather mad about the word "silver" if anything. Her sudden mood chance was sending down some shivers on Star Twinkle's back.

But then, her face was changing from mad to happy again in just an instant. "Is the shop-keeper looking over here right now?"

Star Twinkle looked over to the shop-keeper. "No, why?" He said before he noticed that Grace was not levitating the palladium necklace in front of her face. She used her magic to straight out take the necklace out of the showcase. "What are you doing!?" Star Twinkle asked.

Grace looked over to him confused. "I wanted to take a closer look. I'm thinking of taking this with me," she casually replied.

"You can't do that! That's stealing!" The stallion said.

Grace was shrugging her shoulders. "Yeah, you're right. Here, hold this for a moment," she then said before she threw the necklace to Star Twinkle, making him catch it.

"...Wait, what?" Star Twinkle said confused about why she was giving him that necklace.

But the answer revealed itself after Grace's next action. "Hey! This guy us shoplifting!" She then screamed throughout the shop, causing everypony inside to look at Star Twinkle, who was still holding the necklace in one of his hooves.

"Wha?" Star Twinkle could only reply before he realized what was happening right now.

The shop-keeper was very angry to see that and called some personal guards, which seemed to work in this shop as well. Apparently, jewelry shops have those. Star Twinkle soon found himself being charged at by two huge stallion's who did not make the impression as if they would listen to reason anytime soon. He didn't know what to do and the first thing action that came in mind was running outside the shop with the necklace in his mouth. Definitely not the best thing that he should have done at this moment.

The chase was over pretty quick and soon Star Twinkle found himself in an alley hiding from those two guards. "I think I got away from them," he said as he was taking a closer look around town and keeping an eye out for any followers. "Why did I run away? I did nothing wrong after all! It's all because of-"

But then his words got interrupted by hysterical laughter from above. Grace was levitating herself above the ground with her magic and laughed at the stallion. "That was soooo funny!" She managed to get out between some of her laughter. "Good job getting away from them by the way," she added while she swept a tear away from her eye.

Star Twinkle got mad. He wanted to give the mare a piece of his mind but then he remembered that she could probably crush him with her magic so he decided to remain silent and just growl a little bit at her. He was prepared to just go along with all the nonsense if it meant that he would be safe.

"Here," the stallion then said as he gave the mare the necklace that was still in his possession.

"Thanks," Grace said amused before she took the necklace with her magic. Once she managed to calm down again from all the laughter, she focused her magic and made the necklace disappear.

"What did you just do?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

Grace gave a short answer. "Returned it to its original place," she casually replied.

"...What!?" Star Twinkle exclaimed in frustration.

The mare began laughing again. "I just wanted to see how you would react to all of this. And it was definitely worth it!" She explained joyfully.

Star Twinkle was still mad. "Gimme a break..." He thought frustrated.

Then something caught the stallion off- guard...

"Star Twinkle!" Twilight's voice echoed through the street. The Alicorn Princess noticed Star Twinkle standing in the alley.

At first, the stallion was relieved that someone was there, possibly offering to help with this situation but then he remembered that this help would include possibly facing off against Grace. The stallion looked over to Grace in a panic but then he realized that she was gone again.

"Huh!?"

By now, Twilight was standing in front of the stallion, Spike was there as well but there was no sign of her other friends. "I was looking for you," Twilight said in a little rush.

Of course, Star Twinkle looked confused at them because of Grace's sudden disappearance. Thus was not unnoticed by Spike. "What are you doing here?" The little dragon asked the stallion was in a really empty place after all.

The Earth Pony wanted to explain the situation. He wanted to tell the two about Grace and how Canterlot was possibly in danger with her being here but Twilight was explaining her situation first, giving him no chance to say anything.

"It looks like not all of my friendship problems are solved yet," she said.

"What do you mean?" Star Twinkle asked.

Twilight then explained the situation to the stallion. While everything seemed to be normal again between her, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine, there seemed to be some complications between her and Moon Dancer. This is why Twilight wanted some help from Star Twinkle, in order to find out why she was not taking all this so lightly like the rest of her friends.


The next day...


Star Twinkle was tasked with the important task to follow Moon Dancer around to see what her day looks like. Twilight figured that watching her would somehow give her some insight about Moon Dancer's daily life and how she should approach, and eventually, apologize to her. Moon Dance didn't know Star Twinkle so he was the best candidate to get close to her without her suspecting anything.

Of course, the stallion was against that idea initially but he still wanted to help out so he did agree in the end. Fortunately for him, Moon Dancer didn't seem to be the kind of pony with many hobbies. The stallion was following her inside a library, sitting not too far away from her.

Moon Dancer was a Unicorn mare with a yellow-grayish coat, a red mane with purple and pink stripes in it, dark purple eyes, and a purple crescent moon with three pink stars around it as a Cutie Mark. She was also wearing big black glasses and a dark blue sweater. Star Twinkle could swear that she was looking a lot like Twilight, and given that she was spending time in this library only supported that.

Still, Star Twinkle felt a little weird following somepony around without being noticed. It was wrong. He kept telling himself that it was for the sake of Twilight and so he just tried to not stand out too much while following her. Luckily, that was something that he was pretty good at.

But there was not much to look for in the first place, Moon Dancer was sitting there and read a book, as someone would do inside a library. He was not really sure what he should watch out for or how it would help but he still did what he was asked for, even if it was pretty boring for him.

Star Twinkle was sitting at a separate table, pretending to read something himself. Moon Dancer was reading one book after another without talking with anypony else in the library.

"She really is focused on reading her books, it seems," Star Twinkle whispered under his breath.

Somepony was sitting next to him then. Star Twinkle didn't mind that at first, but that somepony was sitting awfully close to him, too close for his liking. When he turned his head around he panicked a little. It was Grace, who was smiling at the stallion with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Hey," she said softly.

"You!?" Star Twinkle said in shock as he got up from his seat.

Of course, being in a library, Star Twinkle was greeted with some annoyed "SHHHH!!" sounds from all the other ponies who tried to read in peace, Moon Dancer being one of them as well.

Grace, on the other hoof, was snickering at that reaction. "You need to be quiet. Ponies are trying to read in here," she said amused.

Star Twinkle sat down again. "What are you doing here!?" He asked nervously before he put up a book in front of his face again so that Moon Dancer would not get suspicious.

But Grace asked right back. "I think the better question is what are you doing here? That book is upside down, by the way," she pointed out. Star Twinkle decided to ignore the teasing of this mare and just kept his eyes focused on Moon Dancer again. She did not seem to get suspicious of his previous behavior. He just hoped that Grace would not drag him away again.

The white-coated mare quickly caught up how Star Twinkle's eyes kept wandering over to Moon Dancer. Her reaction seemed a little surprised. "Why do you keep staring at that mare?" She then asked curiously.

"I'm watching her," Star Twinkle simply replied. "I need to find out more about her," he added.

For some reason, Grace's eyes widened for a moment. She seemed to be at a loss of words for once. The mare looked over to Moon Dancer as well and noticed how Star Twinkle's eyes were practically glued on her. A frown started to form on her face.

"Do you prefer...mares like her?" Grace then asked with some shaking in her voice.

Star Twinkle did not seem to be aware of that reaction though and explained further. "Twilight wants me to keep a look on her. That's why I am sitting here all day keeping my eyes on her."

The frown on Grace's face instantly vanished and was replaced with a joyful smile. The mare slapped the stallion on his back. "Why didn't you say so before?" she said followed by some laughter.

"Hey! What was that for!?" Star Twinkle said annoyed after getting slapped on his back. "Also, not so loud," he added.

"Oh, don't worry," Grace replied. "No one can hear us," she casually said. Star Twinkle didn't know what she meant with that but soon he realized that no one seemed to be mad at her for being loud. It didn't take long until he noticed how there was some kind of bubble around the two. It was magic. "This spell prevents anything inside here to be heard by anyone outside. We can talk as loud as we want now," the mare explained.

The stallion quickly realized that what Grace said was true. Nopony seemed to be bothered even though Grace was talking rather loudly right now.

"Still," Grace then started. "Why does Twilight want you to keep an eye on this mare?" She asked.

Star Twinkle then explained the situation. He didn't know why he just did, to the Witch of Equestria of all ponies. It felt a little bit like as if he was talking to Discord. He didn't know how much he could read this mare. She was dangerous but not right now, powerful but still talking with him normally, she could be intimidating but also playful. Star Twinkle's main concern was why she was spending time with him out of all the ponies in Equestria.

After giving Grace a basic rundown on the situation, the mare first looked a little bit confused but what followed surprised Star Twinkle a little.

"Hahahahaha!" Grace laughed out loudly. "So you are telling me that the Princess of Friendship has problems taking care of her own friendships?" She asked before she started laughing again. "I can't believe it," she added while whipping tears away from her eyes. Of course, Star Twinkle didn't really appreciate how Grace was laughing about Twilight but he feared that if he said something then he would end up as a frog or something. "You know, if this Moon Dancer is mad at Twilight for missing out one party then why bother trying to be friends with her? Seems like huge bother for nothing," Grace figured.

Surprisingly, Star Twinkle knew what to say to this. "Twilight knows that it was partly her fault, that is why she wants to make it up to Moon Dancer. Sometimes things like that need a little bit of work," he explained.

But Grace seemed unimpressed. "If you say so," she replied while she shrugged her shoulders. "Have fun, then," she then said before she left again. She seemed bored with all this.

Star Twinkle had to admit that he was a little bit relieved that the mare left, she still made him a little bit nervous. Now he could focus on Moon Dancer again.


On the next day...


Star Twinkle told Twilight everything about Moon Dancer's daily routine while they were taking a walk around Canterlot. He still left out any of his meetings with Grace. He didn't know why though. One of the reasons could be that Grace didn't do anything yet. Yes, she did steal a necklace but she also gave it back, apparently but other than that, she did not seem to want to cause any damage. Having Twilight being concerned about both Moon Dancer and Grace at the same time was also not a good idea now, she needed to focus on one problem for now so that she would not panic.

After telling Twilight everything about Moon Dancer, it got her thinking a little. "So she spends all her day at the library reading books? And no one is talking to her at all?"

"Yes," Star Twinkle replied accompanied by a nod. "It's almost as if she was invisible," he added.

This all sounded all too familiar to Twilight. "It's exactly how I used to live before I met you and the girls. Before my life turned around for the better. She can't be happy like this," she said before she started frowning now. "And it's all my fault that it is like this," she added with a sad tone in her voice.

"Why do you say that?" Star Twinkle asked.

Twilight sighed. "Back then, before I left for Ponyville, I was supposed to attend a party for Moon Dancer...but I left and...you know the rest. Moon Dancer apparently, did not take it too lightly that I didn't show up and that is why she is like this now," she explained.

Now it made sense to Star Twinkle. Moon Dancer was not socially strong pony and that time where she wanted to throw that one party was her attempt to open up a little. But with Twilight not showing up, a pony who called herself Moon Dancer's friend, she must have felt really bad, as if her attempt was for nothing. Star Twinkle, to a point, could understand how Moon Dancer must have been mad at Twilight for that.

"I need to talk with her," Twilight then said determinedly. "I'll try to arrange a dinner with her and the rest of my friends. Maybe if she meets everyone again, she will be reminded too how much fun we all had," she figured.

"Sounds like a good idea," Star Twinkle replied, being positive about this plan.

And just like that, things were set. Twilight wanted to spend a day with all of her friends, hoping to fix everything again for good. She said she would take care of all of those things herself this time but Star Twinkle figured that he still should stay in Canterlot, just in case. He just had to find out how to spend the next day.


On the next day...


Star Twinkle was not sure how he thought his day would go today but it definitely did not include the company of one certain mare.

"How about we get some ice cream? I have a strange hunger for that right now," Grace said as she was happily walking next to Star Twinkle.

The stallion just looked over to her. It was almost a comedic situation he found himself in. Whenever he was on his own, Grace appeared to spend time with him. He really was eager to find out why. Things like "What is her true intention?" or "Why does she keep meeting up with me?" were circling around in his mind. He felt as if he was accompanied by a ticking time bomb that could blow up at any moment. He might as well spend time with Queen Chrysalis or Lord Tirek. He would really appreciate if a pony, that attacked him a while ago and was deemed to be too dangerous to deal with by Princess Celestia herself, would not be at his side constantly.

"Hey over there!" Grace then said, pointing at an ice cream shop. "Buy me some ice cream!" She said excitedly like a little filly.

"Why do I have-" Star Twinkle started before he stopped, figuring that it would be no use to complain anyway. "Fine," he then said before going and buying some ice cream. He actually was in the mood for some ice cream as well and bought one for himself as well.

After getting two corns of ice cream, the two then were aimlessly walking around Canterlot again.

"So...where is Twilight? Still trying to fix some of her friendship problems?" Grace asked while licking her ice cream.

"Yes, she is having dinner later, in hope that this would fix everything between her and Moon Dancer," Star Twinkle explained.

"Mhh...sounds like a lot of work for nothing," Grace replied.

Of course, Star Twinkle was noticing how Grace was showing a lot of dislike whenever this subject came on. He decided to be a little bolder and just ask away. "You're not really into friendship that much, are you?" He asked, feeling a little nervous about it as soon as those words left his mouth.

"Nope," Grace casually replied. "Like I said, too much bother for nothing," she added.

"That's not true," Star Twinkle said. "I used to think like that too until I realized that Friendship is really nice. Yes, sometimes it still is a bother but in the end, I am happier than I was before," Star Twinkle explained, feeling good to just say all those things confidently. He remembered how, on their first meeting, Grace told him that she didn't have any friends, which then led him to say his next words. "I'm sure you would agree too if you made the same experience," he then said.

Grace did not seem impressed and just continue to eat her ice cream. "The same experience?" She asked before she stopped and looked over to Star Twinkle, her face showing some amusement. But that amused look was received by Star Twinkle a little bit differently. He could only see a teasing smile from her. "Are you offering to be my friend now?" She asked teasingly with a devious grin on her face.

Star Twinkle gulped. "And now she is being like this again!" He thought in a panic. What was he supposed to say now? It was actually his intention to offer her his friendship but the way she put it was as if he was about to put his head inside the mouth of a lioness.

Luckily, something distracted the two of them. It was the sound of someone crying. A little filly was crying across the street over her dropped ice cream cone that laid on the ground. Star Twinkle didn't know if he should be happy or sad that a crying filly was the reason for the two to drop this subject but he still was relieved.

Grace noticed the crying filly as well, and without any words wasted, she walked up to the little filly. "What is she doing?" Star Twinkle wondered.

The little filly stopped crying for a moment and saw Grace looking down on her with a neutral look on her face, it was almost intimidating. this is when it hit Star Twinkle. The tale that Twilight told him long ago about the Witch of Equestria.

"It is said that if you don't behave and do bad things or don't listen to your parents, then the Witch of Equestria will come! She will come and take you away and raise you as her own child. And you don't want to be the child of the Evil Witch! Because when she is done with raising you...then she will use a spell to make you vanish and looks for another bad pony to raise as her own!"

The stallion panicked but as soon as he realized that the little filly was in danger, it was already too late. The horn of Grace started to glow in a green light, she was focusing her magic already to do who knows what to the poor filly.

Star Twinkle charged towards the mare in order to stop her. "Grace, no!" He exclaimed but the spell was already executed.

The filly dropped her jaw in surprise. An ice cream cone appeared, levitating right in front of Grace, and with a generous amount of ice cream on it as well. The mare levitated towards the filly.

"Here you go," Grace said with a warm smile on her face.

"For me?" The filly asked.

"Yes," Grace replied. "Be careful to not drop it again, okay?"

The filly started laughing in joy after this generous act from Grace. "Yay! Thank you!" She said in gratitude while beaming with joy now.

Grace leaned down to the filly and petted her head for a moment. "But promise me to not cry about something like that again, okay? Strong girls don't cry. You are a strong girl after all, right?" She said.

"Yes!" The filly replied happily before she walked away with her new ice cream cone. "Thank you!" She said one last time before she left.

This was certainly a weird situation for Star Twinkle. He was confused, to say the least. He expected everything but that to happen just now. Grace was friendly, generous, and...nice? Right now, it was as if he was watching a mother taking care of her child rather than a witch that is supposed to strike fear in everypony.

Grace walked over to the stallion and he almost feared that this act was just a setup for something more sinister and evil. Before he started thinking, one question came out of his mouth.

"That ice cream was not poisonous, wasn't it?"

Grace grinned back at the stallion. "Maybe," she said casually, causing Star Twinkle to start sweating for a moment, much to the amusement of the stallion. "Just kidding," she then added before she walked away. "I'm leaving now, take care," she said before she walked away from Star Twinkle.

Of course, Star Twinkle was still confused about all of this. "What just happened?" Was the last thing he said before he decided to continue his stroll around Canterlot on his own.


Later that evening...


Star Twinkle was on his way to the restaurant where Twilight was meeting up with her friends. He wanted to check how the dinner was going on so far, hoping that Moon Dancer was already friends with Twilight and the others again. To his surprise though, Moon Dancer was stomping away from the restaurant already, and she did not seem amused at all.

"That is not a good sign..." Star Twinkle thought.

It didn't take long until he also found Spike and Twilight outside as well, the later looking rather sad. Star Twinkle already put one and one together and assumed that the dinner did not go all too well.

Twilight explained that Moon Dancer was not interested in friendship at all. This left Twilight rather sad because she felt as if she was responsible for this in the first place and now it seems as if she couldn't fix her mistake at all anymore.

"If there was only a way to undo the damage... " Twilight said with a frown on her face.

Of course, Star Twinkle wanted to help badly and tried to think. There was eventually one thing that popped into his mind shortly after. "If you not showing up at her party was what made her like that, then maybe throwing one now will fix it?" He suggested.

Twilight was liking the sound of that. She feared that it would be too late now but she certainly didn't want to give up on her old friend and wanted to try it. She also knew that when it came to parties, there was one pony who could help her out a lot.

"You'll help me too, right?" Twilight asked.

"Of course!" Star Twinkle replied. As long as there was still hope to save this friendship, he was willing to help Twilight out as best as he could.

It was decided. In order to make up for the missing party back then, another party would be held. It needed to be well prepared and extra fancy. Twilight would certainly not take this party lightly. It needed to be perfect. Star Twinkle was also ready to offer all the help she needed. A friendship was a stake after all.


The next day...


The preparations for the party were all done pretty early. The reason for that was because Twilight flew over to Ponyville early in the morning and carried Pinkie Pie on her back over here to Canterlot. There couldn't be a perfect party without the help of the best party planner in Equestria after all.

Streamers, confetti, cake, games, this party had everything that would assure that the party would be a success. The guests of the party were, of course, Twilight, Spike, Star Twinkle, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Pinkie Pie. And the only one who was missing was the one pony this party was held for, Moon Dancer.

Twilight claimed that she took care of Moon Dancer's appearance herself, she even explained what she did to make that happen, which caused Star Twinkle to get a little bit worried.

"Do you really think she follows a trail of books?" He asked.

"Yes, because I would," Twilight replied.

Star Twinkle did not know what he should say to that. What would that say about Twilight then?
The stallion was looking over to a few books that were lined up in the distance, leading to this party and to his surprise, he already saw Moon Dance walking up to them, carrying a bunch of books with her magic already while picking up the remaining ones in front of her.

"I can't believe this actually worked," Star Twinkle thought.

Naturally, Moon Dancer was pretty confused about what she saw in front of her, causing her to drop all of the books that she collected on the way there. "What is this?" She asked confused.

"It's a party. For you," Twilight simply said.

"Surprise!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly before she put a party hat on the confused mare's head.

"Come on in!" Twilight then offered with a smile on her face.

But of course, Moon Dancer was not as happy or excited as everyone else and was quick to show it. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't do parties," she said before she threw away her party hat and decided to leave again.

She was stopped by Twilight though, who quickly teleported herself in front of Moon Dancer.
"I know. And I think it's my fault," Twilight said in regret. "Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party. I was so focused on my studies that I didn't show up."

"Big deal!" Moon Dancer said angrily.

"It was a big deal. And now that I realize how important friendship is, I'd like to make up for my mistake with a new party. A party in honor of my friend Moon Dancer!" Twilight explained. "Please, you've got to let me make this up to you," she begged with a frown on her face as she offered her a stick to smash a nearby Piñata with it to have some fun.

Eventually, Moon Dance gave up and just took the stick and walked towards it. It was still obvious though that she did not like to stay here. "And you think this is gonna do it, huh?"

"Uh, yes?" Twilight said with an unsure tone in her voice.

"Well, sure, why wouldn't it?" Moon Dancer said as she started hitting the Piñata in front of her. " That was only the first time I put myself out there, and then you didn't even bother to show up!" She then said angrily, pointing the stick towards the mare. "Then you left town without saying goodbye even though we were supposed to be friends!"

The more she talked, the more Moon Dancer's voice started to break. It was a mix of anger, frustration, and sadness that could be heard in her voice. She was feeling horrible saying all those things and everyone could feel it.

"I was humiliated! I felt like I wasn't important! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again!" She then pointed towards Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine. "Those three finally convinced me that I had value! That other ponies might like me and want to be my friend! And you! Didn't! Show! Up!"

Moon Dancer then ran away, crying and sobbing. This certainly let the mood of the party drop. Everyone else was beginning to get sad now as well, especially Twilight, who felt horrible for being the one who caused all of this.

Twilight sighed with a frown on her face. "Good job, Twilight..." she said with a sad tone in her voice, having given up on Moon Dancer now since it was obvious that this is something that she couldn't fix anymore. She was looking over to Star Twinkle to see what he thought about all this but to her surprise, he was gone.

...

Moon Dancer was walking away from the party, her eyes still filled with tears, which just wouldn't go away anymore. She stood still to rub her tears away for a moment but stopped as soon as she noticed how someone was walking towards her. It was Star Twinkle.

"What do you want?" Moon Dancer replied, turning herself away from the stallion to hide her tears.

"I came here to take you back to the party," Star Twinkle casually said.

"Well, I'm not going back!" Moon Dancer replied angrily.

Star Twinkle then walked closer to stand next to the mare. "You do realize that Twilight feels horrible for what she did, right? That is why she put all this work into this party, just for you."

Moon Dancer rubbed away some more tears before she answered. "Well, its too late now," she said.

But Star Twinkle disagreed. "Is it?" He said confidently.

It was then that the two turned around after realizing that Twilight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine was walking towards her. Moon Dancer quickly swiped the rest of her tears away since she didn't anyone to see her like this. She quickly noticed how Twilight looked very sad as well.

The Alicorn stepped up to the two and offered her hoof to Moon Dancer. "You're right. This party can't make up for the way I hurt you. But please, don't let my mistake be the reason you can't be friends with anypony else," she said.

Minuette, as well as Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine, agreed on that. "We were your friends then and we'd be honored to be your friends now," Minuette said.

"And we can be friends too, right?" Star Twinkle said with a smile on his face, much to Moon Dancer's surprise.

On top of that, some more ponies showed themselves, who also attended the party. Moon Dancer immediately recognized all of them. "What? That's the librarian! The bookseller! My sister!" She said in surprise.

Twilight still wanted to apologize for everything she has done. She might be the Princess of Friendship now but back then, she made mistakes, and one of them was to not take her friendship's serious. She realized that the hard way now and she deeply felt sorry for it.

"I'm sorry, Moon Dancer. I've faced magical creatures, the end of Equestria, all sorts of things. But seeing how my actions affected you, that was one of the worst feelings I've ever had," she said in regret to Moon Dancer, feeling deeply sorry for all those things.

Moon Dancer started crying again but this time it wasn't because she was sad but rather happy, relieved even. "Thank you, Twilight. I never realized how much I needed to hear that," she said with a smile on her face.

Twilight then offered her hoof to the mare. While Moon Dancer was still a little hesitant to accept it, she soon found herself in a hug between her and Twilight.

Their friendship was saved. Both of them were happy to be together again and the party could finally start without any tears but instead with laughter and happy cheers.


Later that evening...


The party was about to end on a high note. Moon Dancer was happy, Twilight was happy, everyone else was happy. Twilight, Star Twinkle, Pinkie Pie and Spike were about to leave now but not without saying their goodbyes to Moon Dancer.

"I think it's time for us to go, Moon Dancer," Twilight said.

Moon Dancer smiled back at Twilight. "Thank you for helping me make some new friends. Even if they are my old friends," she said in gratitude.

"Oh. We'll come back and visit soon," Twilight assured.

"That would be great! You've still gotta teach me that Hayscartes technique!" She said smugly, poking Twilight in her sides softly.

"The what?" Star Twinkle asked as he looked over to Spike, who was simply shrugging his shoulders in response.

"Deal," Twilight simply replied to Moon Dancer's words.

But before they left, Spike still had one thing that he had to give to the mare. "Um, Moon Dancer? It got kinda banged up, but here's a little something I wanted to give you back at your first party," he said as he gifted her a present that definitely saw some better days before.

Moon Dancer opened the present and took out what was inside. Happy tears came running down her eyes as she looked at a photo showing her, and all her old friends having a good time.

And with that, the group left the party. Twilight was happy that her friendship was saved, Pinkie Pie was happy that another party was a success and Star Twinkle was happy that everything turned out well for everyone.

"I hope you don't plan on breaking that promise that you gave to Moon Dancer," Star Twinkle said, referring to her next visit. "And if you do, I'll make sure to let remember," he added.

"Yes, that would be nice," Twilight replied.

As they walked through Canterlot, Star Twinkle was taking a different part at some point. He explained that, since it was already this late, that he should go and stay here in Canterlot with his parents instead of flying over to Ponyville at this hour. The others understood that and just proceeded to return to Ponyville without him, leaving him to return to his parent's house here in Canterlot.

The streets were rather empty. Of course, no one would walk around this late anymore. But as usual, Star Twinkle was wrong and there was another pony walking around town, and it happened to be exactly the one pony that he expected now.

"Can you please stop following me?" Star Twinkle asked before he turned around and looked at the mare in front of him.

"Aw, but it's so much fun, don't you think?" Grace replied happily as she walked up to the stallion "Besides, watching you deal with all those things while I'm not around, is just so much fun to watch! I mean, I really had to try not laughing at how Moon Dancer started crying just because Twilight didn't show up at a party. Who does that!?" She said before she started laughing just by the thought of that.

"That's not funny..." Star Twinkle said but Grace did not listen since she was too busy laughing at the moment. He didn't understand how this mare could just laugh about this. Could she not understand at all how sad Moon Dancer must have felt? Was she never sad in her life before? He figured that a witch, that was around for around a hundred years and that most likely was ponynapping little ponies was unable to show sympathy. Still, Star Twinkle wanted her to stop laughing. But that didn't happen, she kept laughing, which started to really annoy Star Twinkle until it eventually turned into anger which came out in a loud moment.

"It's not funny!" He then exclaimed, much to Grace's surprise who actually stopped laughing now. And now that she was quiet again, Star Twinkle found himself in a moment where he couldn't just stop, he decided to gave her a piece of his mind.

"It doesn't matter what the reason was, Moon Dancer was really hurt and it almost caused her to never trust anypony else again! She was hurt and Twilight felt responsible for that so she made up for it! But I guess an old witch like you has no idea about any of that, right!?"

Grace was stunned for a moment, her eyes widened, her mouth open. She probably didn't expect Star Twinkle to come at her like that. What she said in response though was not exactly what Star Twinkle expected.

"O-old?" Grace said in surprise. It was shocking how Grace was more focused on Star Twinkle calling her old than anything else. It was frustrating. Before Star Twinkle could say anything though, Grace started to clench her teeth and used her magic to pull Star Twinkle directly in front of her in a really fast motion.

It was now that Star Twinkle realized that it was a pretty bad idea to make the Witch of Equestria mad and he regretted saying anything. But it was too late now, Grace was pretty angry, furious even, she started to scare the stallion.

"Now listen here," Grace started with an angry tone in her voice. "You might be cute but doesn't allow you to be rude like this and call me old! Especially since you are probably as old as me!"

"Huh?" Star Twinkle replied confused. "By I heard the Witch of Equestria was around for around one-hundred years. That's what Princess Celestia said!" He said in his defense.

"And what does that have to do-" Grace started before her eyes widened again in confusion. She then stopped her magic and let Star Twinkle down again before she started laughing once more, much to Star Twinkle's confusion. He appreciated that she was not holding him in place anymore but her sudden change in behavior was what got him confused again. But Grace explained herself. "I get it now. You really think I am the Witch of Equestria, right?"

"Well, are you not?" Star Twinkle asked confused. "Princess Celestia recognized your name and told me that you existed one-hundred years ago," he explained further.

"Yeah, but that wasn't me," Grace said amused. "I have you know that I am far away from being that old. Heck, I bet I am younger than you!" She said almost proudly. The mare then looked down on her Alicorn Amulet and grinned before she looked over to Star Twinkle again. "As for the Witch of Equestria...that would have been my mother," she then said with a sinister grin on her face, that sent shivers down on Star Twinkle's back.

This raised a bunch of questions. Did that mean that all the things that Princess Celestia told him and Twilight did not apply anymore? Does Grace not capture other ponies and raise them as her own? Does she not oppose Princess Celestia like her mother? Did that mean that Grace could be trusted?

While all those questions circled around Star Twinkle's mind, Grace started walking towards the stallion with a smile on her face.

"Next time, don't tell me what is and what isn't funny and don't pretend that you know what it feels like to be sad. You have no idea what real sadness is and how it really feels like to lose something or...someone," she said quietly with a big smile on her face while saying all those words.

Star Twinkle didn't know what to say. He was afraid to open his mouth again even though he had a bunch of questions in his mind. He had the feeling that there was a lot more that he didn't know about her in order to understand those last words.

The mare was walking past Star Twinkle. "It was really nice spending some time with you but since you will return to Ponyville soon, I just leave you alone again, I promise," she said happily before she one last time looked back to the stallion. "But I do look forward seeing you again," she said with a grin on her face before she used her magic to levitate above the ground to fly away into the night, leaving Canterlot for good.

The stallion was left in the middle of the street, confused. Those encounters with Grace were weird, scary, and almost crazy. To think that this simple trip to Canterlot turned out like this was beyond him. But if what Grace told him was true, then that was the last time he saw her for a while. It was not as if he was looking forward to meeting her again but at the same time, he was now curious. The fact that she was not the Witch of Equestria made him feel a little bit more safe, even if he had no idea by how much. It was a little bit too late for him to worry about that now so he just walked back to his parent's house to get a good portion of sleep. He needed to relax after all these recent events.

He was also hoping that his next encounter with Grace would end up like this one. A little bit weird but not dangerous...

Author's Note:

So, as you might notice, I did skip a lot of the stuff from the episode and replaced it with some Original stuff, I hope you don't mind ^^. The reason for that was simply that Star Twinkle was not supposed to be connected with Twilight's friends in the first place. I actually planned to skip this episode entirely because of that but as you can clearly see, I did not.

I would like to know your thoughts about Grace. What you think about her character and what her role for the future might be. You definitely haven't seen the last of her ^^.

With all that said, please consider leaving a review or some other kind of feedback and make sure to follow me or this story to always be up to date with everything that I upload.

See you all in the next chapter.
Bye Bye ^^.

Reading Order:

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 1 + 2(Chapter 1 - 53)

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Diary of The Storm Wings

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 3(Chapter 54 - 65)

Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 4(Chapter 66 - 91)

Rainbow Rocks - The Legend of Friendship

The Legend of Friendship - Harmony

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 5(Chapter 92 - 117)

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