Remedial Studies

by Rose Quill

When things Stay the Same...

“Morning, Sunny!” a chipper voice broke through the haze of sleep. “It’s the first day of your break!”

I cracked open an eye and saw Starlight standing there, her horn glowing as she lowered a mug of coffee to me.

“How did you get in?” I asked, rubbing some sleep from my eyes. The coffee smelled good though, and I took it from her.

“You gave me a key, remember?”

“And that gives you the right to come in whenever?” I asked, taking a sip of the coffee. It wasn’t as strong as I brewed, but it was decent.

“Wow, you are not a morning pony,” she giggled. I slipped out of bed and yawned, moving for the kitchen.

“I had a bit of trouble sleeping,” I grumbled as I pulled some oats from a cabinet. “Someone brought up some bad memories.”

“Who?” the other mare asked, sitting at my small table.

“Juniper,” I said. “She was here last night when I got home. I think she stayed the night.”

“Nopony here but you when I came in,” Starlight offered. “There were a few folded blankets on the couch though.”

I stirred the oats as they cooked. “I’m not sure she knows what she wants, Starlight,” I muttered. “She says she likes the peace here, but I don’t think that’s what she’s after.”

“I still can’t believe Twilight said she could stay! It seems out of her character to allow bad choices.” Starlight shook her head.

“But it is in letting others make their choices,” I reminded her. “She wants us to spend some time with her. Well, more time.”

“Why?”

“If I had to guess,” I said, setting the pot to the side and pulling out a pair of bowls. “It’s because we’ve both done this sort of thing before. Having to face our own demons, so to speak.”

“And she wants us to what, share our stories?” Starlight harrumphed. “I don’t think she’s open to us talking about how we overcame our pasts right now. She seems set on staying.”

“I’m not so sure,” I mused as I set a bowl of oats in front of her and settled behind mine. “She asked me if I regretted running. I think she knows deep down that’s what she’s doing.” I took a bite and chewed.

“Then what do we do?”

I pointed at the bowl before her. “Eat first,” I mumbled around a mouthful of oats. “Plan later.”

---

“Yo! Red!” a voice shouted. I spied the speaker as a Pegasus dropped from the sky, her white mane fluttering as she furled her aqua wings. “What’s shaking?”

“Hey, Slipstream,” I waved after closing the book I had been skimming. “What brings you to Ponyville?”

“Dropping off a set of clouds for tonight’s storm. Dash seemed a little peeved that Flitter didn’t fill out any requisition forms while she was on tour.” The mare ruffled her mane before cracking the joints in her wings. “It was a pretty good sized load, I thought I’d grab a bite before heading back to Canterlot.”

“I was heading to get something myself before meeting some friends for kite flying, why don’t you join me?” I turned back to continue towards the new restaurant in town.

“So, how’s your brother doing?” I asked as we walked. “Last I heard he was heading up his own research lab.”

“Yeah, the nerd got himself a spot in the Crystal Empire to look into using crystals as mana batteries for airships.” She shook her head. “Mom and Pop were so proud when he told us he got the spot.”

“I’m sure they were,” I giggled. “I remember him being kind of awkward back when we were both in the SGU.”

“What’d you expect, him coming from a family of Pegasi?” Slipstream grinned and fluffed out her wings. “So what’s this I hear about you and Equestria’s newest princess?”

“Flurry Heart’s a cute little tyke, I’ll give her that.”

“You know what I mean, Red.” She smirked a little, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “Twilight Sparkle. What’s the story with that?”

“You know I’m not the type to gossip, Stream.” I couldn’t fight off the smile though. “And it’d take a while to explain everything.”

“I don’t have any plans.” Slipstream grinned. “The way things were when I heard you were back, I was sure be locking yourself up in that tower again.”

I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t a tower,” I huffed. “It was a solarium.”

“What’s the difference?”

I smiled as we reached our destination. “A solarium has a lot of windows. A tower is stone, usually.”

There was a rolling of her eyes, one navy and one gold. “Your room. Luna’s moon, you’re silly. But I’m glad you’ve actually moved out and are being social for once.”

I laughed as I pulled the door open to the restaurant and gestured for Slipstream to go in first. “Well, it wasn’t exactly a short trip. I had a few rocky turns and more than one false start. If you promise not to ask for specifics, I can get you up to speed.”

The pegasus grinned. “No promises.”

I sighed.

---

Slipstream slurped the dregs of her milkshake and looked at me as I finished the story. I sighed again as thoughts of Juniper rose again.

“So she’s running away,” the Pegasus across from me said simply. “It’s just a little rogue magic, no big deal since nopony got hurt. I’m sure nopony will hold it against her. Doesn’t Twilight and her friends deal with that something like twice a month?”

I twisted my hooves. “It’s… a little more complicated than that, Stream. There are details that I can’t reveal because of a promise to Twilight, but trust me when I say that Juniper is probably frightened beyond reason.” I glanced down.

“I know I was,” I whispered, half to myself.

Slipstream chewed on her lip for a moment, then tossed her forelock out of her face and stood.

“Send her to me.” she announced.

“What?”

“Send her to me,” she repeated. “I’ll help her get a hang of her flying. Can’t have a Pegasus living around here that can’t fly to save her life.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure Fluttershy would take offense to that.”

Slipstream waved her hoof before she turned to leave.

“She’ll surprise you,” the aqua mare said, dropping a few bits down. “She can move it if she thinks it’s needed.”

As she left, I sighed.

“She’s going to kill me,” I whispered as I got up as well.

Comments

[LucarioFan2066]

“You gave me a key, remember?”

Surely there'd be teleportation wards on buildings, because otherwise locks and keys would be pretty dang worthless.

“She’ll surprise you,” the aqua mare said, dropping a few bits down. “She can move it if she thinks it’s needed.”

Surprised nopony's told Sunset about the Tornado Duty thing and how Fluttershy overcame her own doubts and limits in order to not disappoint Rainbow. Or the Discord incident, where Fluttershy cranked it up to eleven to catch a brainwashed Rainbow.