Chapter 17 - Beginnings and Endings
I’ve met more than a few odd ponies in my time. My slightly eccentric son aside, there’s the equally eccentric Twilight Sparkle, the certifiably insane Pinkie Pie, and who can forget the physical incarnation of chaos himself? They're all a little out there, a little whacky in their own way. But they’re all good ponies, mostly.
There is one pony though, now living in town, who I regard as being crazy, rather than simply a touch eccentric. And by crazy, I mean possibly dangerous. Well, actually no, she is dangerous, she proved that on her own quite easily.
Her name is Starlight Glimmer. She’s a unicorn, and as this afternoon, she’s become Twilight’s new student in the study of friendship. The two of them are very much alike. They’re both very knowledgeable, passionate, and skilled in the use of magic. They’re both very powerful; to the point where neither of them can really trump the other. They’re both, or in Twilight’s case were, unicorns. Unlike Twilight though, Starlight has done some pretty messed up things.
I remember first hearing her name a few months back. She’d founded some kind of equality based cult out in the middle of nowhere. She was keeping ponies in this messed up town, having taken away their cutie marks. That stirred up old memories of Tirek and put me on alert, I can tell you. Twilight and her friends had taken her down of course, but she’d done a runner. After that, Roger did his best to keep tabs on her, a difficult task.
She eventually resurfaced this morning when she nearly destroyed Equestria through the use of dangerous time travel magic. She, Twilight and Spike, found themselves locked in a battle to save history. Starlight used some spell to travel back in time to prevent a key event from happening, apparently to stop Twilight ever meeting her friends. A side effect of that was that they never saved Equestria either.
Luckily, Twilight was eventually able to talk her down. She’s now befriended her and, as I said, has taken her on as her student. Still, I don’t like it; I don’t particularly like her if I’m honest. She comes across as…well…a bit like Twilight actually, but without the moral restraint or strong belief in friendship.
The mare relies on her own magic, rather than friendship it seems. She took all those cutie marks, because she associated them with the loss of her own childhood friend. To my mind, that sounds like Silence of the Lambs level of nuts.
Still, Twilight seems to have some faith in her, as do the other princesses; otherwise she’d be locked up in jail right now, a fact that my husband still occasionally moans about. The reaction to her arrival was something of a mix. On the one hand, Starlight claimed that she’d renounced her evil and Equalist ways and wanted to learn about friendship. On the other though, her magic made her extremely dangerous, which was what had got Roger brooding.
To try and ease the tensions, Pinkie Pie had organised a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for Starlight, who was now living in Twilight’s castle. The idea was for her to get to know everypony, and for us all to have a chance to get to know her beyond the wild hearsay and accusations that we’d all been hearing. Roger and I were getting ready to go now.
“I still can’t believe that Twilight did that,” he was saying with some annoyance in his voice. “I mean, how can you just let someone who belongs in the loony bin come home with you?” I sighed; he’d been like this all morning.
Despite my own misgivings, I was inclined to trust Twilight’s judgement. Yes, ponies do seem a lot more forgiving overall, but the cost of breaking their trust is much higher. Don’t believe me; think about what happened to Discord, a thousand years, trapped in stone, completely aware. Besides, if anything did go wrong, Twilight and her friends were all around, ready to take her down. Still, I’d rather believe that redemption is a walkable, if somewhat rocky path. Look at Princess Luna after all.
“Let’s just see what happens,” I offered. “I’m sure Twilight knows what she’s doing, and I’m sure that Princess Celestia will be keeping a close eye on her too. Now come on, we don’t want to be late.”
Throwing on a jacket, I left the bedroom and walked downstairs to wait by the front door. A few moments later, a still grumbling and suspicious Roger followed. Heading out the door, we made for Sweet Apple Acres.
We arrived outside the barn on Sweet Apple Acres about twenty minutes later, and Roger was still grumbling all the time. I definitely think Blade Star gets his introverted asocial tendencies from his father; neither of them really like big parties or gatherings. They can both be sociable enough of course, but every now and then they need to take a break.
And that, it seemed, was what Bones was doing just now. As we were walking over to the barn, the main door opened a crack and he slipped out into the warm afternoon sun. Pushing his hat back on his head, he took a breath and shook his head, blinking a few times as he did so. Looking up, he quickly stopped us.
“Hey, Bones,” Roger called out, waving to him. The cowpony trotted over to us, a smile on his face.
“Pinkie caught you two as well, did she?” he asked.
“In her usual way,” Roger replied, nodding and barking out a short laugh. “Why? Did she do the same to you and Applejack?”
“Ah still can’t make out how she got into my room,” he said, with some bewilderment, before adding. “Never mind how she managed to hide herself under my bed.” He shuddered at that last part. It was understandable; I can’t think of many things worse than Pinkie Pie doing a jump scare.
“So who’s in there at the moment?” I asked him.
I had an idea to leave Roger with somepony he could talk to, while I went to see Starlight Glimmer. He seemed determined to hold the unicorn in the lowest regard. Bones thought for a moment as he tried to rattle off a list of the ponies attending the party.
“Well, Twilight and her friends are there, along with Starlight. Big Macintosh is there too, so are AB and the Crusaders.” He did his best to recall a few more names. “Er, Cheerilee, Milano, Lyra and Bon Bon, Derpy, The Doc, Bulk Biceps, pretty much everypony in town really. Lizzie too, I think she came with Fluttershy. C’mon, you know how Pinkie gets when it comes to parties.”
I nodded; too right as well. Pinkie Pie’s parties, particularly her ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ parties tended to be pretty big. The idea she had was to introduce the new pony to as many of the townsfolk as possible in the shortest possible time, thereby ensuring that they made a friend, or friends, quickly. Of course, for ponies like Bones, Twilight, or my husband, that could get a touch overwhelming. Still, at least the mare means well, and don’t even get me started on what happens when one of her parties goes badly.
Following Bones, we walked into the barn and joined in on the party.
Walking inside, we found the party to be in full swing. It was Pinkie’s usual fare; balloons, music, good food and drink, and even a few party games. The place was pretty packed too; Bones hadn’t been lying when he rattled off all those names. Between the music and the hubbub of conversation, it was a little hard to hear.
I knew pretty much all the ponies here, but one quickly stood out to me. I spotted Lizzie standing and talking with her friend Dewdrop over by the punch bowl, she was also occasionally breaking off to chat with Fluttershy, who was standing a little ways off. I don’t care what that girl says, she likes him, and judging by the shy smile, blushing cheeks, and inability to make prolonged eye contact, Dewdrop liked her too. Still, there was nothing wrong with her mother coming over to say hello.
“Lizzie!” I called out, catching her attention over the noise.
My daughter looked up just in time for me to scoop her up in a hug. I tell you, one advantage of her and Bones’ change in species is that they’re so much easier to cuddle now. I picked her up by the shoulders, giving her a chance to get on her hind legs.
“Yeah. Hi, Mom,” she replied, her voice sounding a little raspy. I let her down and she caught her breath.
“Enjoying the party?” the young pegasus asked, ruffling her wings for a moment.
“Yes, fine,” I replied. I always did like Pinkie’s parties, even if at times they weren’t exactly designed for my age bracket. “Though we haven’t seen Starlight yet.”
I must admit, I was rather anxious to see this new addition to the town. If nothing else, I wanted to know if she was going to be a problem. On the other hand, her knowledge of magic might give Twilight the odd week off. But I wouldn’t know either way until I met her. At that moment though, Fluttershy spoke up, and sufficiently loud enough to be heard over the noise. I was surprised to see her not stuck to the wall; that mare really has come a fair way in building her confidence.
“I think she’s just over there with Twilight,” she said, gesturing to where the purple alicorn stood near the centre of the room. Starlight was there with her, but had been obscured from view by a few of the ponies around her.
I stopped to chat with the trio for a few moments, the two of us grabbing a glass of punch each. It was actually quite warm in the barn, and my throat was becoming a little dry. After that brief stopover though, we both headed over to Twilight and her new pupil. Roger at last seemed to have stopped putting up such a fight about it, now that we were here.
The alicorn and her unicorn pupil were talking together, the latter looking just a little uncomfortable at all the attention she was getting. Twilight quickly spotted us and brought Starlight over to us.
“Hey, Roger, hi there, Margaret,” Twilight greeted. She then turned to the pinkish unicorn. “This is Starlight Glimmer.” I promptly extended a hand to her; old habits are hard to break.
The unicorn however, seemed somewhat startled by me, or rather us. It was understandable, I suppose. We’re completely foreign creatures here in Equestria. Aside from a couple of articles written by Twilight, and one odd rambling thing churned out by Lyra Heartstrings, you won’t find much on us. Add to that our appearance, and ponies do have a tendency to stare at first. I decided to try and break the ice.
“Yeah, we get that reaction a lot,” I said, startling the unicorn and making Twilight giggle. “I’m Margaret Owen. This is my husband, Roger. And to answer your first question, we’re both humans, from a planet called Earth.”
Starlight seemed to recover, and with some urging from her new mentor shook my hand and smiled. When it came to my other half though, she locked up again. Her eyes went wide, her ears flattened, and I could have sworn that her face turned pale.
“Hello, Starlight,” he said in a calm voice. “Enjoying your party?” I don’t know why, but it was almost as if she was afraid of him. She’d warmed up to me easily enough, so how had he spooked her?
“Or, er, yes. Thank you for asking,” she eventually managed to reply. Seeing that there was, for some unknown reason, a bit of tension in the air, I stepped in again and tried to get a conversation going. Roger seemed to take that as his cue to leave.
“So Starlight, how are you liking Ponyville so far?” I asked, taking a sip from my glass of punch. Starlight traced a circle on the ground with her hoof for a moment before replying.
“Oh, it’s pretty great here,” she replied, still sounding a little nervous. “Twilight’s been introducing me to everypony.”
“I though the best way for Starlight to get started on her friendship studies would be to meet ponies, just as I did when Princess Celestia sent me here,” Twilight explained, beaming.
“Well, you’ll find Ponyville a fairly welcoming place for the most part,” I said. “I’m a teacher at the elementary school with Cheerilee, and Roger is one of the Princesses’ advisors. Have you met our kids yet?” Starlight looked around for a moment.
“Oh, I don’t think they’re here,” she replied. “At least I don’t see any other humans around.” I smiled.
“Well, no, you wouldn’t,” I replied, holding back a laugh. “Both my son and my daughter are ponies.” Starlight naturally looked surprised. Twilight explained for her.
“They both underwent some kind of transformative spell,” she said to Starlight. “Blade Star was turned into a pony when he arrival. Lizzie on the other hoof was changed by Discord.”
Looking around, I soon picked out both of my kids. Bones was talking with his dad, while Lizzie was still with Dewdrop and Fluttershy. I pointed the both of them out to Starlight.
“You and Bones might get along pretty well. He and Twilight are good friends. In fact he was sort of in your position when we got here. Twilight kindly agreed to help teach him about his magic and how to use it. I’m sure you’d have a lot to talk about.” I neglected to mention anything about the TV show. That was something either Bones or Twilight could tell her; it wasn’t the sort of thing you just sprung on somepony.
“Bones?” Starlight asked curiously. “Why do you call him that? I thought you said his name was Blade Star.”
“Just a nickname my husband came up with,” I explained. “It sort of stuck, and now most ponies call him that.”
And speak of the devil, here he was now. Roger was still off on his own, and Bones was coming over to us. Trotting up, he extended a hoof to Ponyville’s newest resident.
“Hey there, Starlight Glimmer. Ah’m Blade Star, but most ponies round here call me Bones.” I was actually a little surprised at him. Once upon a time, it would have taken several hours of nagging to get him to go outside, never mind go and meet someone new. Yet here he was being all social.
“Pleased to meet you,” Starlight replied, returning his greeting.
“Ah see you’ve met my folks,” he went on. “But if you’ve got a minute, Ah’d love to talk magic with ya.” At this, Starlight brightened up noticeably.
“Yeah, sure,” she readily agreed.
“Ah’m a bit of an academic in my spare time, ya see,” he said. “Ah’ve been studyin’ magic ever since Ah got here as a unicorn, but my special talent is more toward defensive magic. I was wonderin’ where ya got that crystal restraint spell from. Twilight told me ‘bout it, but Ah ain’t never heard of anythin’ like it.”
“Oh, well, you see it’s actually a variant of…”
And they were off. I must admit, I sort of tuned out at that point. Bones may not be particularly powerful when it comes to magic; even he admits he can’t hold a candle to Twilight. But he is fairly skilled, and he enjoys learning all he can. As for me, there’s a reason I leave magic lessons to Twilight. It’s not that I’m not interested or anything, on the contrary, I find magic fascinating. But the level those three were chatting about was well beyond my meagre understanding.
However, it did give me an idea. Starlight had knowledge of magic on a par with Twilight. Perhaps I could rope her in to helping with magic lessons once in a while. It might be something she could do to keep herself busy, and it would be an opportunity to make some friends; something the mare needs to do pretty desperately. A few moments later though, I picked up a bit of the conversation I could almost understand.
“Well, ya see,” Bones was saying. “In my spare time Ah’ve been studyin’ dark magic. Not practicin’ it mind you, just examining it. Ah figure the best way to fight it is to understand how it works.”
“That does sound really interesting,” Starlight replied, although Twilight was now frowning.
“Anyway,” Bones went on. “Ah reckon that Ah’ve found a means of reducing mana flow to a negative state, without having to contribute equal amounts from a pony’s own reserves. All Ah need to do now is test it out.” Twilight then stepped in.
“Blade Star, no!” she said sternly. “I know you have an interest in dark magic, but I’m not letting you use Starlight as a test subject.”
“Ah'm not, Twilight. Ah just need somepony to practice it with,” he replied. He then turned to the other unicorn in the group. “Come on, Starlight.” He gestured for her to follow him, which she did. The pair quickly left through the main door, with a few curious onlookers following.
“What exactly is he doing, Twilight?” I asked, now a little worried. Twilight was still frowning and staring at the barn door they’d just gone through.
“Blade Star has had this new idea in his head for a few weeks now,” she explained. “He’s been trying to find a way to cut off foreign spells, even if a pony doesn’t have the physical energy to do so.” Yeah, that just went over my head. Twilight tried to put it in layman’s terms.
“Say I used a telekinetic spell on Blade Star. I’m more powerful than he is, so he wouldn’t be able to override it. This new spell he’s been working on though, would allow him to deactivate the spell. It wouldn’t overpower me, but it would nullify the effects of that particular telekinetic spell. He’s been tinkering with it as a way to allow ponies to resist dangerous creatures. If, for example, it had been around when Tirek escaped, ponies could have used it to hold onto their own magic.”
That did sound like an interesting idea. But Twilight evidently had concerns. And even I know that dark magic isn’t something to be trifled with.
“So what’s the problem with it?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, there’s the fact that it relies partly on dark magic to work. I’m sure you understand how dangerous that kind of magic can be. Blade Star knows to be careful, but this spell is untested, and we’re not sure what exactly it will do if it goes wrong.”
“Should we be worried then?” Twilight shook her head.
“Oh, no, it’s not dangerous per se,” she replied. “It’s just that this kind of testing should be done in a lab, not at a party with a unicorn who has only just finished fighting an alicorn across time and space.” Putting a hoof to the bridge of her snout, she sighed.
“Well, we might as well go and see what happens,” I suggested. “If it goes wrong, you can at least tell him ‘I told you so’.” That made Twilight smile, and so the two of us followed a few other ponies outside back into the sunshine.
Heading outside, Twilight and I found that ponies had all gathered around the two unicorns, to watch the spectacle unfold. They were standing opposite from each other about fifteen feet apart; duelling positions. Bones’ horn was glowing slightly with its usual dark blue aura as he prepared whatever this spell of his was. Starlight meanwhile, watched with interest.
Twilight nudged her way through the small crowd with me following at her heels. Despite her reservations, I could tell that she was interested to see whether or not it actually worked. As we got to the front of the mob, Bones spoke up.
“Right, Starlight,” he called to his new friend. “Ah want ya to hit me with a spell; any old spell will do. If Ah’m right, it should stop and dissipate. But just be ready for a feedback loop.” Starlight nodded in understanding. Lowering her head and tensing up, she braced herself. Bones too mimicked the action.
“Alright, kid,” he said with a smile. “Let’s see what ya got.”
Starlight’s horn began to glow a sort of electric blue colour, far lighter than Bones’ own, which was more the shade of Princess Luna’s coat. A moment later, she let off a spell. Her magic turned into a solid beam of energy and flew straight at Bones.
Beside me, I could tell Twilight was worried. After all, not too long ago, she’d been on the receiving end of that. I was pretty worried myself. Whatever Starlight had done looked pretty nasty, and it was heading straight for him.
A couple of seconds before the beam struck him though, Bones brought his new spell into action. I watched as the glow around his horn changed from dark blue to a jet black colour. His eyes were screwed shut and his teeth were gritted in concentration. Suddenly, his head shot up and he reached out with his left foreleg. I suspect that might have been for the dramatic effect. I wasn’t particularly bothered about it, in light of what happened next.
To the surprise of everypony, Starlight’s spell, slowed, stuttered, and finally just plain stopped in mid-air. The greenish blue beam of magic hung between the two unicorns, virtually motionless. Occasionally it juddered back and forth, trying to continue on its way, but Bones’ spell seemed to hold it firm.
The assembled crowd, Twilight and starlight included, gasped in shock and surprise. At the sound, Bones allowed himself to relax slightly, and opened his eyes. Unsurprisingly, when he saw the magic hanging in front of him, he was quite pleased.
“Yes!” he exclaimed, punching the air in excitement. “Now let’s see ya try and steal my magic, Tirek!” Grinning, he stepped to one side, out of the way of the spell.
Deactivating his own magic, and letting his aura regain its usual hue, Starlight’s spell suddenly began to continue on its way, impacting the tree just behind where Bones had been standing, partially encasing it in crystal. Twilight trotted over to him with Starlight following. Across on the other side of the crowd, I spotted Roger, who seemed to be just as surprised as anypony else.
“How did you do that?” I heard Starlight ask him.
The three ponies once again fell into a discussion about magic, one that was far more complicated that the last one I listened to. So I left them to it. I did, I think, pick up on the fact though, that the spell, while effective, wasn’t really a viable option just yet, due to the time it took to manifest, or something like that.
Anyway, leaving the trio to it, I walked over to my husband, who now looked, judging by his expression, to be in a far less grumpy mood.
“Well, you look to be less of a gloomy Gus now,” I said. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Eh, I guess you were right,” he confessed. “She’s a little kooky, but she seems to have given up her megalomania streak. Did you see what Bones just pulled off there?” he gestured to the grey unicorn, who was still chatting with Twilight and Starlight.
“Was just a tad impressive, wasn’t it?” I agreed. “I’m just glad he’s still using that brain of his for something besides just farming.” Roger looked around.
“Do you want to stick around?” he asked. I shook my head. I think it must have been the punch; I was starting to develop a splitting headache. I always do if I have too much of the good stuff, and for me, ‘too much’ constitutes half a glass.
“Not really,” I replied honestly. “I’ve said hello to the new arrival. I think now I just want a lie down before dinner.”
“Oh, so I take it I’m cooking then?” Roger asked, pretending to be offended.
“Practice makes perfect, dear,” I countered.
Heading back along the dirt path, the two of us headed back into town and home. We decided that, for a change, we’d take a little detour through the park. It was filled with flowers and greenery at this time of year, along with almost as much wildlife as there was in Fluttershy’s cottage. There were a few benches near the fountain and gazeebos too.
As we got near though, I picked up the instantly recognisable sound of somepony crying. Not hysterically or anything, just a quiet weeping. Rounding the corner, I was surprised to see none other than Cheerilee, curled up on the bench by the fountain, crying her eyes out. Letting go of Roger’s arm, I quickly ran over to her and kneeling down, pulled her into a hug.
“Cheerilee!” I exclaimed in surprise. “What is it? What’s the matter?” Holding her head, I let her cry and ran a hand through her mane in an effort to comfort her. It took about a minute or so before the poor mare could bring herself to say anything beyond sobs and sniffles. Roger kindly passed over his handkerchief for her.
“It’s Mac and me,” she sobbed pitifully. “We broke up.” The two of us were aghast. Hell, Roger looked like he was ready to thump the red earth pony, regardless of his chances of winning. Cheerilee went on.
“We both agreed to it,” she went on, now a little more composed. “And we’re still going to stay friends. But we just couldn’t make much time for each other; me at the school and him at his farm. So we decided to end it, at least for the time being.” That got our respective tempers to cool. Still, the poor mare was in a bad way.
“Oh, Cheerilee. I’m so sorry,” I said, pulling her close again. “Come on, come to our house and have a cup of tea.” It was all I could do really. I wasn’t going to leave the poor girl to cry on her own.
Blowing her nose once more, Cheerilee shakily got to her hooves, tears still matting her coat. If I’d had the strength to, I might have even considered carrying her. Between the tearful eyes, wilted ears and her general melancholy expression, it was impossible not to feel sorry for her. It pretty much kicked off my old maternal instincts.
Walking between the two of us, she came with us to the house. Roger unlocked the door and let us in. He headed through to the kitchen to put the kettle on. What can I say; it’s a British reaction. Whenever something bad happens, you have a cup of tea first. I remember, when my dad died a few years back, sitting in his old house, sipping tearfully on a bitter cup of PG Tips in an old, slightly stained mug, with half stale biscuits to go with it. Cheerilee was just as receptive and gladly took the mug from the tray.
Slowly but surely, she told me the whole sad story. She’d been telling me a few days ago that it had been a while since she and Big Mac had had a chance to do anything. Their schedules just kept clashing. When she had a day off, he was hauling produce up to Whinnyappolis, when he had a day free, she was stuck marking tests. Despite living in the same town not five miles from each other, the pair existing in something that was almost a long distance relationship, rarely getting a day together.
And, let’s be honest, their relationship was always a bit of an odd one. Sure, Cheerilee, like most mares, had a healthy interest in Big Mac, much to Applejack’s chagrin, but it wasn’t until after the two inadvertently consumed a love poison and almost tied the knot, courtesy of three certain fillies, that either thought anything of a relationship.
They both liked each other, and when the opportunity presented, they had a great time together. But opportunity was a very fleeting thing. And where was such a relationship going; marriage? Neither party was interested in settling down just yet. But the relationship they had wasn’t the best either.
So, while Starlight’s party was in full swing, the pair had quietly gone out to one of the orchards to talk. It was a long and difficult decision, but in the end, they both decided that parting ways was for the best. That didn’t mean either of them found the separation pleasant.
I sat there, and consoled my friend as best I could. I wanted to, at first, dissuade her from breaking things off with Mac. After all, her current plight was not the result of leaving a loveless relationship. I even considered asking a favour from Princess Cadance to try and patch things up. After all, her signature spell was known for allowing ponies to realise their love for one another, and it had worked on Bones, so I had no doubts about its effectiveness.
On the other hand though, I realised that, as much as I wanted to help, there was nothing that I could really do. The two had made their choice, as painful as it was, and I had to accept that.
After a few hours of sobbing, lamenting, ranting, and raving, Cheerilee was composed enough to head back home. I walked the road to her own little house with her, promising to take over the next week of school so she could have some time off to get her head straight.
“No, no, no, Margaret,” Cheerilee insisted with a wave of a hoof. “Trust me, that’s the last thing I need. The best thing I can do is get back to work to keep my mind off it. Although I do appreciate having you around to talk to.” She nuzzled me affectionately.
“Alright, Cheerilee,” I agreed. “You know best.” Reaching her front door, the mare jumped up onto her hind legs and hugged me one last time before going inside.
It was now early evening and as I headed back home, the market square was fairly quiet, apart from a few ponies packing away their stalls. Among them, I picked out the Apples’ little shop, and pottering around it, I spotted the familiar orange form of Applejack. I decided that it was best that we compare notes.
“Hey there, Applejack,” I greeted, somewhat subdued as I walked up. She turned around at me call. I could tell by her expression that she’d been dealing with the same problems as I had.
“Oh, hey there, Margaret,” she replied, just as subdued. I stuck my hands in my pockets.
“I just got Cheerilee home. How’s Big Mac holding up?” Applejack paused in her work and turned to face me, taking her Stetson off her head.
“Ah’ve never seen him so sad,” Applejack said, with a shake of her head. “He’s just been up in his room all evenin’, curled up on his bed; won’t say a word. Granny Smith’s sitting up with him now, talkin’ to him, tryin’ to help him through it.”
She didn’t cry, but I happen to know that Applejack cries on the inside. And boy was she crying now. I sat down next to her one of the crates that were piled about.
“He’ll come around in his own time,” I offered reassuringly. “I just hate to see them part like this.”
“Yeah, me too,” Applejack replied. I patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.
A week later, and things were slowly getting back to normal. Starlight had settled down into life in Ponyville and the two broken hearts in town were slowly beginning to mend. At school, I had noticed that Cheerilee was starting to perk up again, putting more passion into her lessons and regaining that fire that marked her out as a brilliant teacher.
Mac too was also getting back on his hooves. He was answering me now when I talked to him at the stall, and he was starting to smile again. I guess, with it being his first relationship, albeit a high school sweetheart one than anything else, it had hurt him more than it had Cheerilee. It had knocked his confidence for six too. But he was slowly getting back to his old self. But hey, all things in their own good time, right?
So, Starlight’s arrival did mark out a bit of a watershed moment I suppose. I see her around town every now and then. She gets on well enough with her new mentor, and she occasionally talks with Bones. Unfortunately, a lot of ponies are still quite suspicious of her; small towns for you. My own attempts to include her in magic lessons, despite Twilight’s backing got shot down in flames by the parents. I think the mare really needs, above all else, a friend she can talk to and confide in. It’s just a shame that she hasn’t be able to get in touch with that Sunburst fellow she used to know as a filly. Perhaps I could head up to Canterlot and Celestia’s little school up there. Surely they’ll have some record of where he went.
In any case, things at the school have once again returned to their peaceful and comfortable routines. I have to admit, that is what I really like about school. It’s rewarding work, but comforting too. My time here has almost bordered on idyllic on occassion; a far cry from the rough low class schools I started out in. I may be getting on in years now, but it’s going to be a heck of a long time before anypony or anyone can tell me to hang up my spurs.
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
987 users online
103,675 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Poor Big Mac and Cheerilee. Its like trying to give the bank your money when they open half an hour after you start and close half an hour before you finish and dont open on weekends at all when youre free.
How did they ever manage to make any money?
Big Mac and Cheerilee. I am sad to say that it happens now and than and yes it heart like hell.
Starlight Glimmer in town that is going to be interesting. but we all know that.
So, Roger... are you ready to have Starlight Glimmer as a potential daughter-in-law? Don't worry, it's not going to happen, if only because of a certain stallion called Sunburst. However, I do think that gossip (small towns being what they are) will draw its own conclusions from Blade Star and Starlight's academic collaboration.
8257671 Two simple words explaining why Bones would never leave or cheat on AJ with Starlight:
Big Mac.
"Look at Princess Luna after all"
There is a massive difference between Luna and Starlight there.
One lost her mind in desperation when she was pushed too far, the other is Starlight.