Lessons From Ponyville

by MattTOB

Lesson 10: Moving On

Lesson 10: Moving On

Written by MattTOB

---

Somewhere on the edge of Ponyville, Twilight was having a freakout about something her friends did with Discord over the previous weekend.

And somewhere nearby, a certain mare watched from the bushes. 'One of these days, Twilight,' Starlight Glimmer thought. 'One of these days, you're gonna slip and give me something I can use.'

"Unless you're suggesting..." Rarity began to postulate to the purple Alicorn in question.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped up in front of Twilight, dressed in a strange outfit. "Time travel?!"

That planted the seed of an idea in Starlight's head. She quickly took mental note of that, before resuming her watch.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The unicorn nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice right next to her. She turned to find a cream-colored Earth Pony mare standing in the bushes alongside her, casting an accusatory glare.

Starlight, to her credit, kept an innocent exterior. "Oh, you surprised me! Don't mind me, just watching the birds."

The mare wasn't convinced. "Birdwatching? While directly facing Twilight and her friends?"

The unicorn's false exterior was beginning to crack. "Well, it's not my fault they appeared right where I was watching!"

"Yet you continue to watch regardless?"

Seeing that her facade was quickly deteriorating, Starlight tried to turn the tables on the pony. "Well, uh, what about you? What're you doing here?"

"I'm on patrol for any suspicious ponies," the mare stated simply. "And it looks as though I've found one."

That was the last straw. Starlight broke all pretenses and lit her horn. She attempted to rid this nosy pony of her Cutie Mark so she'd be powerless to stop her—

But... to no avail? The mark wouldn't come off, almost as though it weren't there to begin with.

Starlight, for one, was flummoxed. "What the— why can't I take your Cutie Mark?!"

The mare smirked. "Ah, that confirms it. You're Starlight, aren't you?"

Realizing her mistake, Starlight backed up. "Wh-who are you?!"

The smirk became a grin, one that Starlight now noticed had fangs. "I'm Hyaline."

Suddenly, a torrent of green fire surrounded the mare for the briefest of moments. When it dissipated, instead of the Earth Pony, there stood a partially reformed Changeling with cloudy maroon wings. Starlight had been isolated in Our Town for almost a year, so this was her first time properly encountering a Changeling, and as such, she was thrown off her game somewhat.

Still, she drew on her many years of magic training, and shot out an offensive spell. Hyaline barely dodged it, then fired a counterattack, which also missed.

The two traded shots for a moment, before Starlight finally managed to graze Hyaline's chest, sending her tumbling backwards into the brush. The unicorn allowed herself a small smirk of satisfaction, before firing another spell, knocking Hyaline out.

---

When Hyaline next awoke, she found herself tied up in a derelict cave. The only source of light was a campfire, over which, Starlight Glimmer was cooking some carrots.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Starlight greeted simply.

"Where am I?" Hyaline tried to remain calm, despite the circumstances.

"The cave that's been serving as my home ever since Twilight Sparkle came and destroyed everything I'd worked for!"

"You mean the town of ponies you brainwashed!"

"I didn't brainwash them, I enlightened them!"

"That's exactly what a brainwasher would say."

Starlight scoffed. "Whatever, I don't need to listen to this." With that said, she turned her focus back to her food.

Hyaline took a moment to collect her thoughts. "You didn't kill me."

That caught Starlight's attention. "Huh?"

"I'm nothing but a threat to you. You beat me, and had me at your mercy, and yet, you merely knocked me out."

To that, the unicorn rolled her eyes. "Well, of course I did; I'm not a murderer!"

Hyaline tasted the air. "I don't think that's the whole reason you spared me. You also could've put a silencer on me."

"Oh, don't worry about that; there's a Field of Silence around this cave. You can't possibly scream loud enough to be heard from more than three yards away."

"You could've just applied a smaller spell directly to me, saving yourself plenty of effort. And yet you didn't," Hyaline was piecing something together using both her Changeling senses and deductive reasoning. "You're lonely, aren't you? You want somepony to talk to, even if it's a prisoner."

A tense moment of silence passed in the cave.

Then Starlight muttered, "You're good at that."

A soft smirk crossed Hyaline's face. "Trust me; I know how it feels. In the old Hive, once we became adults, we weren't really allowed to socialize with each other. I sometimes went whole weeks without talking to anyling."

"Try 17 years," Starlight retorted bitterly. "Then you'll know my pain."

The Changeling stopped. "What happened?"

"Cutie Marks happened, that's what. When I was a filly, I had a friend named Sunburst, and we were as close as could be. For the better part of 8 years, there'd hardly be a time when we weren't together. But then he got a Cutie Mark, and it tore us apart. He went off to study at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, and I never saw him again. And it's not as if I didn't try; I sent letters, talked to his mom, — I even tried visiting once or twice, and nothing! His Cutie Mark tore him out of my life, and I became so afraid that it might happen again that I never made another friend!"

The Changeling took a moment to process this. "Why not just make a friend that already has a Cutie Mark?"

She shook her head, "Something could always come up to make them leave."

"It sounds to me like you just don't like the prospect of change," Hyaline pointed out.

Starlight frowned. "I dunno, maybe? The point is, Sunburst left because of his Cutie Mark! If he never had that Cutie Mark, he never would've left!"

Hyaline thought for a little about how to get through to this mare. It seemed like Starlight was stuck in the past, adamant about trying to return things to normal, but she wasn't a bad pony per se.

Then she had an idea. "You said that Sunburst went off to CSGU, right? What if I helped you track him down?"

That caught her attention. "You'd really do that? You'd really help me find him?"

"As long as you promise not to take his Cutie Mark once we find him."

Starlight chuckled nervously. "What? I would never—!"

Hyaline stared her straight in the eye, thoroughly not buying it.

"Fine, I promise."

---

Twilight and Spike were cleaning up the Map room when Hyaline entered. "Princess Twilight?" the Changeling asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Just Twilight is fine, Hyaline. What's up?"

"Do you know anything about a pony named Sunburst? Used to attend Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"

The alicorn thought for a second. "Sounds a bit familiar, but I'm not sure..."

Spike piped up, "I think I remember Moon Dancer mentioning him once; wasn't he top of the class in Artifact Research and Classification?"

"Oh yeah!" She suddenly recalled. "I remember that now! I spent days studying for the test, and yet he still matched me hoof-to-hoof."

"Is there a way I can find out what became of him?"

Spike offered, "You could always ask Celestia; she keeps the documents for every one of her students."

Hyaline nodded, "Thank you."

Twilight then asked, "Why do you want to find —" but the Changeling was already gone by then.

---

"Sunburst?" Celestia replied to the bug upon inquiry. "He flunked out two years ago."

"Flunked out?" Hyaline asked.

The Princess nodded. "He had all the smarts, but when it came to actual magical prowess, he was sadly lacking. Why do you ask?"

"I'm trying to reunite two old friends. Do you have any idea where he might've gone after he left?"

"I don't normally do this, but if it's for friendship..." Celestia teleported away, returning a few seconds later with a file in her magic. "According to this, he's just recently moved to the Crystal Empire."

Hyaline saluted the Princess. "Thank you, Your Majesty." Once Celestia returned the salute, Hyaline left.

---

One train ride and a bit of asking around later, Hyaline and Starlight finally arrived at a crystalline house shaped like a wizard's hat.

"Are you sure he's really here?" Starlight asked, feeling unsure now that she was actually about to do this. "And are you really sure he flunked out of magic school?"

"Celestia herself said so," Hyaline replied. "Well, only one thing left to do."

With that, she knocked on the door. After a moment of waiting, Hyaline went to knock on the door again, but somepony answered it before she could. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

Starlight blinked her eyes just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Sunburst? It's me, Starlight."

The stallion jumped at the realization. He replied awkwardly, "Oh, Starlight! My goodness, it's—it's been a long time. What, uh, have you been up to?"

"Me? Oh! You know, some of this, some of that, different... stuff."

Hyaline groaned. This would be a long conversation if she didn't do something. So she nudged Starlight on. "Any specifics you'd like to mention?"

Starlight, instead of taking the hint, kept avoiding the subject. "Nope, none that I can, uh, think of, heh heh..."

They stood there for a long, awkward moment.

Then Hyaline asked, "May we come in for some tea?"

Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"This is Hyaline," Starlight explained. "She's actually the only reason I was able to actually find you after all this time."

"Oh," Sunburst nodded. "Well, uh, thank you? A-and yes," he quickly added, "you may come in for some tea."

"Thank you," Hyaline gave a sincere smile, and with that, they both went inside for the most awkward conversation of their lives.

Author's Note:

Oh shit, I'm not dead!

Sorry this took so long; I was debating how to end it. Initially, I wanted to actually show the conversation, but it wouldn't be that much different from canon (only with Hyaline pushing Starlight instead of Spike), and I didn't want to leave you all hanging forever.

What do you think? Should I have written the talk, or no?

Comments

[Melody Song]

I think the chapter works well even without the talk. Good job Hyaline, too!

[TheBrokenBrony]

Your doing pretty ok as is. Nice job.

[Yoshifan30]

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped up in front of Twilight, dressed in a strange outfit. "Time travel?!"

That planted the seed of an idea in Starlight's head. She quickly took mental note of that, before resuming her watch.

Ohh you know what that's probably how she got the idea in the first place

[Yoshifan30]

" Me ? Oh! You know, some of this, some of that, different... stuff."

Yeah a lot of stuff and you almost try to distract the timeline

[Yoshifan30]

Oh right nice to see the story again and this is during a time of what about Discord and it looks like Starlight was spying on them in the bushes but it looks like a changeling name Hyaline stop her but unfortunately she got overpowered By Starlight and she kidnapped her but they had a little conversation about her past and maybe she can help her to find sunburst so she asked some information where to find him and it looks like the his location is the Crystal Empire well let's see how this conversation workout and something tells me it's going to be very awkward can't wait to see that

[Jahbraz]

HE LIVES!

[A.P.O.N.I.]

"Ah, you're finally awake," Starlight greeted simply.

I've seen enough video games to know where this is going...

[MattTOB]

10986892
Yes I does.

[MattTOB]

10986425
Especially since she's seen in the background of that scene.

[Yoshifan30]

11205707
Huh

Edit: oh yeah that's right at first I never noticed that in the episode