In the Country of Posh Things

by Posh

7/17: Starlight Glimmer's Brand New Boinger

Starlight Glimmer blew the springy curl of hair out of her face, the thirtieth time she'd done so since leaving the stylist. "I'm never going to get used to this," she proclaimed.

Twilight, ahead of her, paused at the entrance to Sugarcube Corner. "It's a brand new haircut, Starlight. Give it time – it'll grow on you." She held the door open for Starlight with a flourish of magic, and Starlight stepped inside, scowling at her teacher.

Puns aren't funny, Twilight.

Pinkie was minding the store that morning, and was mixing the iridescent contents of a glass punch bowl perched on the store counter. Her ears perked as Twilight and Starlight approached, and she turned a pearly white grin on them. "Well, if it isn't my favorite purple 'corny twosome! What brings you in, girls? Come to try my spankin' new punch recipe?"

Twilight stopped at the counter and bumped Pinkie's forehead softly with her nose. "Actually, we're just having a girl's day out. I thought I'd treat Starlight to a milkshake, to go along with her new haircut." She beckoned at her student, who waved at Pinkie, a nervous smile on her face.

Pinkie waved back and wolf-whistled. "Love the new 'do, Starlight. Suits you much better than the prim-and-proper look you were rockin' before. And you got an awesome new boinger!"

Starlight tilted her head, confused. The motion made the coil of hair fall over her face again, and immediately, she understood. "Ah. 'Boinger.' Cuz it boings. Thanks." She blew her 'boinger' again, miffed.

Twilight chuckled. "But that punch actually does sound pretty inviting, now that you mention it. You don't mind if we—?"

Pinkie had two glasses of punch on the counter before Twilight had finished asking. "On the house, ladies!"

Starlight joined Twilight at the counter; the two exchanged a shrug, floated their glasses up, clinked them together, and downed them in a gulp.

Immediately, Starlight's mouth was on fire. Her tongue felt like she'd dipped it in molten lead, and a cloying, piquant taste flooded her sinuses, making her sputter and cough as her taste buds dissolved. Twilight fared identically.

Pinkie slid them a pair of water glasses, just as quickly as she'd served the punch. Starlight quaffed hers, and the burning sensation ebbed. Starlight sighed in relief, and glared at Pinkie, ready to raise hell.

The sound of Twilight's laughter stopped her from doing so.

"Is there," Twilight gasped out. "Is there hot sauce in this?!"

Pinkie broke into laughter too. "Sure is!"

"Because of the time—"

"With the hot sauce bottle that you thought was—"

"I remember!" Twilight laughed, even heartier this time. "And the color— don't tell me you added unprocessed rainbow to the mix!"

"Just a dash of the stuff – gives the whole thing a nice boom!"

"More like a rainboom!"

They leaned against the counter, on opposite sides, laughing. Starlight stood apart from them, utterly lost. She always felt like an intruder in Ponyville, but she didn't generally mind.

Just then, though, the feeling was intolerable.

"Guess you had to be there," Starlight muttered, squinting at the bottom of her glass.

Eventually, the ponies' laughter simmered to breathless giggles, and Twilight wiped a tear from her eye. "It actually is pretty good, Pinkie. You might've warned me to drink it slowly, though."

"I'll put a warning label on the bowl before I serve it to anypony else." Pinkie refilled Twilight's empty glass. "Seconds?"

Twilight beamed. But when Pinkie turned to ask Starlight the same, she cut her off with a boingy shake of her head.

"I'm not that thirsty, actually." She looked awkwardly between Pinkie and Twilight. "Y'know, it's been a long morning. I'm gonna head back to the castle. But thanks for the drinks, Pinkie."

She left without another word. But Twilight galloped after Starlight, rounding on her outside Sugarcube Corner. "Hey. Starlight. What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Everything's fine. Don't worry about me. You should go back, have a good time with your friend." Starlight forced herself to smile, and thumped Twilight's shoulder affectionately

Twilight caught her hoof with her wing and held it, smiling back genuinely. "She's your friend too, Starlight. You know that."

There was an invitation in her voice, which tempted Starlight for a heartbeat, but she pulled her hoof from Twilight's grasp anyway, and nudged past her. "I'll see you at the castle, Twilight."

Alone, Starlight made her way back to her cold, sterile crystal cage. The boinger fell over her nose as she walked, and she blew it away yet again.

I'm never going to get used to this.

Author's Note:

This one was a bit rougher than some of my other entries. It's another example of "scene, not story," that captures a slice of a character's experience without putting it in a larger context. Showing them growing, learning, etc.

Personally, I just wanted to capture Starlight's feelings of being out-of-place in her new environment. The story's set not long after her move to Ponyville, and she's still adjusting to the status quo; the change in hairstyle from her Jim Jones 'do to the curly, springy "boinger" look is supposed to ground this firmly in pre-season six. It took her a long, long time to adjust, and I wanted to show her at the start of her journey, where she's still uncertain and figuring herself out.

Some reviewers kinda took this as an anti-Glimmer tract, or a hopeless piece, but that wasn't my intent at all. Because we, as readers, know that Glimmer figures her place out, and that this angst she's experiencing is only temporary. She grows out of it. The story has a happy ending; it's just not one that we get to see.

But you know that it's there.

I think the other pointed criticism was that Twilight came across as insensitive to Starlight's feelings. She's sharing an inside joke with Pinkie, and forgets that Starlight isn't privy to it, and reminding Starlight that there's years and years of friendship and history that she has to break into... isn't really helping her any. If I'd wanted to expand this and develop it into its own story, that would be the thread that I'd want to work with.

But, for now, it's another entry in the anthology.

Comments

[Miller Minus]

I never got to enjoy this in the writeoff. Good stuff. I dunno what it was up against, though, so... Top of slate!

[FanOfMostEverything]

It is a good snapshot of Starlight's early days after the time war, but Twilight would definitely be on the short list of things to work on if you were to expand it.

That being said, a very nice snippet. I've been on the outside looking in several times with some of my friends. You captured the feeling very well.

[Flynt Coal]

I would love to see more of this story if for no other reason than it is exactly the kind of story we needed an episode about in the actual show. Starlight's integration into the mane cast would have been so much smoother in season 6 if we had gotten an episode about the awkward adjustment period (and the canon hairstyle change is a great way to show that)! Don't get me wrong, I love Starlight as a character, her relationship with Trixie is one of my favorite dynamics in the show, but her reformation and integration into the cast could have definitely been handled better.

[Lurks-no-More]

"Boinger" is a very authentic piece of Pinkie vocabulary.