Ponyville Adjusts To Starlight

by The REAL Mister Pkmn

Part Six- Facing The Storm

Starlight and her friends stepped into the Everfree, and it was just as unnerving as last time. Berry pawed her left forehoof at the ground in irritation. “Alright. Let’s find these ingredients and get out of here. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we absolutely have to.” the others- aside from Thunder- nodded in agreement. They split into groups of two in order to find the ingredients that they would need. Thunder was dragged along by Crescendo, Berry had teamed up with Serenity, and Starlight went with Cherry.

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Crescendo stumbled along through the Everfree, Thunder in tow behind her. The two of them were often at odds before this mess, but Crescendo couldn’t help but feel bad as she looked at what the Poison Joke had done to Thunder. She was proud of her speed and energy, and yet here she was, reduced to a shambling apathetic mess. Crescendo silently sighed as she helped Thunder along. This mess couldn’t end soon enough, for despite her misgivings… she really did miss Thunder’s usual energy.
It was only a bit more of a walk before they came upon one of the ingredients. It was a rare glass flower, and they needed to harvest the pollen of it into a jar. Crescendo carefully set down the jar that she had been given back at the library to collect it. She then gently brushed the pollen of the flower into the jar so as to not accidentally break it. After she had collected as much as they needed, she capped off the jar and walked off while dragging Thunder all the while.

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Berry and Serenity were looking high and low throughout the Everfree for the ingredient that they needed. They stumbled through the underbrush for a while until they came upon the ingredient that they were sent to look for- A large field containing a particular herb; the Horned White Star. Berry looked at the ground, and saw that the path was strewn about with thorny vines. She turned towards Serenity, and she gave a nod as she flapped her wings to lift off. She went over to the herb, and gently grasped the stem and pulled. The roots were loosed from the ground, and Serenity kept the herb between her front hooves as she flew back towards Berry. She set herself down as soon as she was clear from the vines, and they both walked off back to meet the others.

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Starlight and Cherry had gone through the underbrush, looking carefully for the ingredient that they had decided to try and find. It took a considerable amount of time and energy, but they eventually did find the ingredient- or rather, the animal that it came from. It was a beast unlike what they had seen before, for it looked like a large long quadrupedal dragon with no wings. Though it was not like the dragons of the Dragon Lands, for its scales glowed a dim purple with bright white dots glowing at each joint, withe white lines connecting them. It was a Draco, and here it was resting before them.
Starlight and Cherry looked between one another, considering how they should approach so as to not wake it. After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors where Cherry’s rock that she found smashed Starlight’s magic scissors, Starlight sighed as she started to approach the Draco. She crept slowly closer, taking care not to make any loud noises. After a minute that felt like an eternity, Starlight got close to the Draco and inspected it for loose scales. After a bit of searching, she found a few loose ones on it. She steadied herself, carefully and slowly removing each one. Once she had obtained a few of them, she procured a plastic bag from her saddlebags and placed the scales in there and zipped the bag shut. She but the bag back in her saddlebags, and carefully made her way back to Cherry. Once there, the two of them went on their way back to the others.

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The girls all got back to the entrance of the Everfree about the same time, each showing the ingredient that they had procured. Starlight grinned. “Alright. Now to ask the spa sisters to let us use their tub… Should go fine… I hope.” With that determination, they walked back into town, and caused a bit of fuss. Some immediately jumped to the conclusion that the zebra living in the Everfree had cursed them, But when the crowd saw The group bump into Sunset on her way out of town… Starlight was shocked at first, and anger flared up quickly after. She took a deep breath, and spoke with her. “Quite a stunt you pulled last night. I know it was you that used the Poison Joke on the six of us.” She saw that Sunset was about to interject, but Starlight sighed and continued. “I’ve got half a mind to yell at you, but I’m trying to reel in my temper. What you did wasn’t nice, and…”
She saw Sunset attempt to leave, and she caused the crowd to bunch up and block Sunset off as she called out. "Sunset! I know that we've had our differences, but… I want to put that behind us. I believe that if you just give it a chance… we could be good friends."

Sunset snorted roughly. “Not on your life.” She refrained from looking Starlight in the eye. “You were always the favorite, even when I was allowed to study under Eclipse directly. I despise you, and that won’t ever change. Not now, nor in a million billion trillion years. Good bye, Starlight. If you’re lucky… You won’t see me ever again.” She chuckled. “Then again, your luck has always been rotten.” Without another word, she teleported away.

Starlight sighed deeply. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Sunset always was quite stubborn. She let it slide for now, jerking her head towards the spa. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Author's Note:

Now it's all wrapping up... just a little further now...