Ponyville Adjusts To Starlight

by The REAL Mister Pkmn

Incident Three: Anger Clouds On the Horizon

Starlight woke early in the morning to the sound of the construction workers building her house. She grit her teeth, and got up. She knew it was silly of her to be mad at them for doing their job, but she just hoped it would be over soon enough. She decided to get some fresh air and try and clear her head. With nary a delay, she exited the noisy site, ensuring she brought her wallet along. Once the sound of construction was a decent ways away, she slowed her pace a bit. She did kind of regret her decision to have it built on one of the edges of town, but at least it wasn’t on the same end as the Apple’s farm- after all, she was certain that they wouldn’t take kindly to construction disturbing their work. She supposed that it was much the same reason that it was also far away from Fluttershy’s cottage- she’d rather not disturb many of those animals, thank you very much. Regardless, she got into town about 8 AM, which was impressive considering that she didn’t really like mornings all that much. Luckily she didn’t have to wait long for Applejack’s stall to open up- the fact that her own kitchen was unfinished and that she had unfortunately had a light dinner last night had the effect of a ravenous appetite. She walked up to the stall and set down eight bits on the counter. “I’ll take four. I need a bit of a pick-me-up this morning.”

Applejack took one look at her, and understood. “Bit of a rough night? Happens t’all ‘o us sometime.” She watched as Starlight took two apples from the basket. “My advice is t’ just press on and hope it gets better.”

Starlight had a non-committal answer ready, but decided against it. She instead opted to walk around town a bit to see if the fresh air might help her head. She finished her “breakfast” rather quickly, but it would hold her over until she could get something substantial later. Many of the ponies were still a bit wary of her, given her reputation. This aggravated Starlight, but she strove to not let it show. She just wandered aimlessly for a little while, really looking around at the town. It was rather small, but not as small as one might think. It was quaint, compared to some of the… rougher… places she had been, which was nice. She was drawn to Sugar Cube Corner, and drooled slightly. She didn’t eat sweets very often back in Canterlot, so it was rather tempting to blow a good portion of her money on some. She shook her head, fighting the allure of the sweets. She had better things to spend her money on, more important things. She walked away with purpose, taking care not to look back. For if she did, she likely would end up jangle-less.

Starlight sighed in relief when the store was out of sight, glad to have saved her wallet a painful bill. She walked on, a lighter mood in mind. That silliness of fighting her hankering for sweets had distracted her from her previous anger, allowing her to relax a bit. She hummed a little, content to have a reprieve for once. However, her good mood was ruined when she bumped into a familiar face. “Sunset! What are you doing here?”

The crowd went silent at the presence of this new face. Her eyes narrowed at Starlight. “Well. If it isn’t Glimmer. Eclipse’s favorite protége.” The level of venom in Sunset’s voice was palpable, and her anger was quite clear.

Starlight however, had more patience than the last time they’d butted heads. Or, at least she liked to believe she did. Keeping her cool, she addressed Sunset. “Listen, Sunset. You could’ve easily had that spot! If you had just set aside your obsession with figuring out that mirror, you-”

Sunset’s mane caught fire, and her hoof struck the ground, scorching it. “Shut it! You lousy, no-good cheat! You shouldn’t have ever garnered his attention! Your magic is far less powerful than mine, yet you get the special treatment! Why I oughta-!”

“STOP!” Starlight looked over her shoulder, seeing her friends come onto the scene. Berry. Cherry. Serenity. Thunder. Crescendo. The sight of the five of them at her side helped her calm down immensely, and she turned her attention to Sunset. She took a breath, and proceeded. “I know you have nothing but anger towards me, and that I wasn’t exactly the kindest to you. But… I would like to put that behind us. We can still both be Eclipse’s students. We don’t have to but heads anymore, Sunset. I have learned a lot thanks to these girls, as well as thanks to Maestro, who is elsewhere right now. I would like to make amends.” She then offered her hoof. “What do you say? Can we put this pointless feud behind us? I’ll even help you figure out that mirror, if you like. I don’t want us to be enemies, Sunset. Please.”

For a moment, it looked as if Sunset might accept, but she knocked the offered hoof away. “Never! You ruined everything! I was supposed to get this opportunity, not you. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be his best and only student!” She glared at the audience, causing them to flinch and back away. She started backing away, pointing around. “This is far from over. I’ll be back, and when I come back…” She glared right into Starlight’s eyes. “Not even your new friends will be able to help you. Mark. My. Words. You’ll regret ever getting your Cutie Mark.” Just as suddenly as she had found her way into town, she was gone just as quickly.

Starlight sighed. “She’s always been draining to deal with…” She shook her head, and looked to her friends. She was slightly worried at what Sunset had said, but she knew that no matter what, her friends would be with her. She decided to alert Maestro to this as well. She wrote a letter describing the situation, and sent it off. Sure, he might not be able to get away from his work, but at the very least he would give some advice. She decided not to dwell to much on it, and wait for the reply to come.

Author's Note:

Chapter 3, and heeere's Sunset! yes, I'm having her have a big role in the overarching story. She'll be back... but maybe not in this story.