Restless Night
It had been only a few days since Starlight Glimmer had turned a corner in her life. She had now abandoned her thoughts and ways of equalizing fellow ponies that stemmed from her breakup with her childhood friend, Sunburst and was now learning the magic of friendship in Ponyville. Her mentor was none other than her former enemy, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who like Starlight, possessed great magic and studied all the most powerful spells that were ever written.
For most of her life, Starlight had been living the life of a self-tormented soul, hiding her pain and agony by her actions of creating a village that consisted of equalized ponies whom Starlight had promised a better life if they gave up their cutie marks. To Starlight, this was more than just a home to her, it was a sanctuary. It was a place where Starlight could cut herself off from the rest of Equestria and that she would always live out her life in this way.
Then, came Twilight Sparkle and her friends and well…the rest was history.
Now, here was Starlight, staying in her former enemy's castle as a student of Friendship. But, the events of recent were weighing heavily on Starlight's mind and rather than sleeping, all she could do was pace herself back and forth in one of the several guest bedrooms of Twilight's castle.
"Starlight, you clumsy foal," she said to herself as she paced. "Why are you feeling this way? You are given a chance at friendship and you want to throw it away now. Come on now, pull yourself together. Twilight had made you see the error of your ways and you can now turn over a new leaf."
But, it didn't help for Starlight. She was still feeling tense and worried, internally longing for her old life to come back. She certainly missed the days of persuading ponies to give up their lives and live the life of an equalized pony with Starlight at the head. But, all that was in the past. Starlight had to move on from her old life and it wasn't going to be easy. Sure, she had spent time with her new friends individually and was able to understand their ways of life, but that still hadn't sunk in.
"Why can't I just let go of my old life?" Starlight thought as she stopped pacing and sitting back down on the edge of her bed. "It's like Twilight said, I need to try again by giving friendship a second chance. But, it is so hard!"
Just then, Starlight heard the sounds of hoof beats coming from downstairs and knew that she wasn't alone in terms of trying to come to terms with her new surroundings.
"Wonder what Twilight is doing at this hour?" Starlight wondered to herself as she walked down the castle hallways to the castle throne room where the source of the hoof beats were coming from.
Quietly making her way downstairs, Starlight peered into the throne room and saw Twilight just looking up at the chandelier that her friends had made using the roots of her former home, the Golden Oak Library. It was at this moment that Starlight noticed a sad look on Twilight's face, sensing that Twilight was somewhat like her in a sense, longing for a life that was lost to her.
"Excuse me, Twilight?" Starlight asked quietly, tapping Twilight on the shoulder and causing her to yelp in surprise. "Is everything all right? I didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, its only you, Starlight," sighed the Princess of Friendship in relief. "Sorry if I woke you up with my pacing."
"I couldn't sleep anyway," replied Starlight, confessingly as she sat down in Applejack's throne. "I have a lot of things going through my mind right now, you know. Particularly coming to terms that what I have been doing is wrong and that I miss…"
Starlight couldn't find the words to finish her sentence and lowered her head for a second, trying to not lose her emotions in front of Twilight, her new mentor.
"I know how you feel," sighed Twilight, trotting over to her throne. "I'm still getting used to these new surroundings myself."
It was at this point that Starlight realized that Twilight had not been living in this castle for a very long time. Thanks to her way of life, Starlight had no idea of what was going on in Equestria as she tried to cut herself off from it for so many years.
"What do you mean new surroundings?" she wondered. "You mean that you just moved into this castle?"
"In a sense, yes," replied Twilight. "I haven't been in this castle for very long, you know. As a matter of fact, I'm still coming to terms with accepting my role as princess. Everything seemed to happen so quickly in such a short period of time."
It was then that Starlight knew that Twilight was about to tell her something that mattered of great importance. She watched as Twilight turned her attention up to the Golden Oak Chandelier and let out a heavy sigh of sadness.
"Do you know what this chandelier used to be, Starlight?" asked Twilight, her eyes still locked on the tree roots, while talking in a quiet and sad voice. "Well, this used to be my home, the Golden Oak Library."
In fact, Twilight could still remember the moment that her old life was destroyed forever in the blink of an eye. She could remember every single second, every single minute that one of Equestria's most dangerous enemies had pursued her for something of great importance.
"This chandelier was your home, Twilight?" gasped Starlight.
"It was the very first home I ever had since I came to Ponyville," explained Twilight, breaking her concentration on the roots. "This was more than a library to me, Starlight. It was a sanctuary where I could hide my sad feelings and where I could find solace and peace. This was where me and my friends used to get together and solve friendship problems."
"Well, what happened to it?" asked Starlight. "How did it get this way?"
Twilight knew that she didn't want to talk about that day her life was turned upside down. Yes, she did have a castle and was happy that her friends did everything in their power to make her feel at home. But, the memories of Golden Oak Library continued to tug at her.
"Well, if you really want to know," replied Twilight, taking in a deep breath. "Before we met, there was a very evil creature from Tartarus that had escaped a while back. He was a creature that was bent on stealing all the magic of Equestria for himself and didn't care who stood in his way. In an effort to protect their magic, my fellow princesses gave me all their magic for me to store until I found a way to stop him."
Starlight then noticed Twilight's eyes beginning to well up with tears and wanted to say something, but Twilight continued and thus, Starlight couldn't help her yet.
"Somehow he had found out about me," continued Twilight. "And he chased me until I got to the Golden Oak Library. I watched from my balcony that he was preparing to fire a blast of magic at me and knowing that time was of the essence, I grabbed my pet owl and got out just as he…"
It was then that Twilight stopped and buried herself into her map, starting to cry slightly for her destroyed library. Starlight then began to understand that Twilight was like her in a sense of knowing what it was like to lose a home that you had come to know.
"Wow, Twilight," remarked Starlight as she walked up to the Princess of Friendship. "I'm really sorry that had to happen to you. Believe me, I know what it is like to have your world crashing down on you."
"But that wasn't even the worst part," cried Twilight, pulling herself together for a brief moment. "He and I battled it out on the outskirts of Ponyville to the point of a stalemate. Then, he snapped his fingers and demanded that I handed over all of the alicorn magic in exchange for my friends. I couldn't imagine what he had did to them and I couldn't imagine what he would do to them if I didn't comply."
"Did you comply with his demands?" wondered Starlight, who was now beginning to feel sympathetic.
"I did comply," replied Twilight. "I freed my friends and eventually we achieved the power that defeated him and caused this castle to come into existence. But, it wasn't a total victory as you could see. Everything I ever owned in that library was destroyed, Starlight. Books that I could sink my nose into, pictures and memories that I had received from friends and family, all the dresses that Rarity made for me for the Grand Galloping Gala, my brother's wedding to Princess Cadence, my first birthday that I had with my friends, you name it."
It was at this moment that Starlight began to develop a new respect for Twilight, just as Twilight had developed a new respect for her when she showed Twilight how Sunburst had received his cutie mark and left for Canterlot, leaving Starlight alone.
"You mean all those dresses that were in that showroom?" remarked Starlight, thinking back to that tour of the castle that Twilight had given her when she first moved in. "Are they…?"
"They were a way to help me get back a piece of my life," finished Twilight. "But, they are dresses I will never wear again, Starlight. But each one dress had held a memory Starlight, just like each book that was in that library. To be honest though, I wish I could go back in time and get my old life back, but what good would that do? If I did, I would be living the same nightmare over and over again, Starlight."
"Sometimes I think the same way, Twilight," remarked Starlight, clutching her hoof onto Twilight's, while her own tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "I wish I could go back in time and convince Starburst to never leave my side, but like you said, what good would it do? My village was a place that was more of a sanctuary. It was a place where I could find ponies and convince them to give up their talents and live an equal life, just like me. Like you, if I turned back time, then I would live the moment you and your friends exposed me over and over again."
Both Starlight and Twilight then looked at each other and realized that what they were saying was a way of getting their feelings out to one another. Unlike Twilight, Starlight was a tormented soul who had always struggled to move on with her life. She knew that her reunion with Starburst would happen eventually somewhere down the road, but both Starlight and Twilight knew that they couldn't change the past. What was done was done and they both had to move on.
"Then we just have to focus on the present," said Twilight, trying to put on a brave face. "Besides, do you see those ornaments on the chandelier, Starlight? My friends put pictures and memories in them to remind me of where I came from and I can always replace the books and items that I had lost, but what is important is my friends and that is something that can never be taken away, Starlight. I want you to remember that and someday, you will have memories adorning from this chandelier just like me."
So, Starlight knew what was in front of her and that as of this moment, had fully developed a newfound respect for Twilight that would grow and develop in time as she learned the magic of friendship.
"I hope so, Twilight," remarked Starlight as the student and the teacher looked up at the chandelier. "I really do hope so."