Starlight Glimmer tossed and turned in bed. She couldn’t sleep knowing she was in an actual princess’s castle, let alone be her pupil! “After everything I’ve done, does she really trust me enough to let me sleep here?”
Starlight sat up in bed and teleported to the bathroom next door. She turned on the lights, looking at herself in the mirror. Her bangs formed an equal sign when they were turned 90°, which Starlight didn’t like anymore. They were just a reminder of her dark past.
Starlight took a comb and brushed her bangs together. Then, she moved them to one side, matching the ends of it with her mane. “There,” she sighed contentedly. “All better.”
She walked back to her bedroom, yawning. She laid down on her bed and put on a blanket. She slept better knowing that she wouldn’t carry around an equal sign everywhere she went.
Starlight dipped her quill in the ink and brushed it against the paper. She smiled when she finished drawing it and hung it up on the wall near her door. “No equals allowed,” she read aloud. “Now that, I can accept.”
Starlight heard a knock on her door. “Come in,” she called, revealing Twilight.
She smiled at Starlight. “You look different. I like the new bangs.”
Starlight looked at her bangs and blew on them. “I just didn’t like the old ones. They kind of remind me of…” Starlight looked down at her hooves, which were digging at the ground.
“How was your first night in the castle?” Twilight asked, seeing how desperate Starlight was to change the subject.
Starlight bit her lip. “It was good. Thanks again for letting me stay here, Princess Twilight. I really don’t feel like I deserve such a thing.”
“Please, don’t call me Princess. I’m proud just to be your friend, and your teacher. I don’t care about what you did in the past,” Twilight scoffed. “So, do you want to join us for breakfast?”
“I actually have an option?” she remarked.
Twilight giggled. “What did you think I was going to do, let you starve?”
“Yeah?” Starlight said, confused.
“Oh, Starlight. I’d never do that. We’re friends now, remember?”
“Uh…”
“Come on, Starlight. I don’t want you to be too hungry on your first day in Ponyville! We’re going to have some fun and get you used to the friendliest place in all Equestria!” Twilight trotted to the dining room, dragging Starlight with her magic.
Starlight shook her head a few times, making sure it wasn’t a dream. The Princess of Friendship, along with her friends, playing at a park like it was nothing. Nothing weird to be royalty and still run around in streams of water and jump in puddles like you were anypony else.
“Come on, Starlight!” Twilight called. “Come join us!”
Starlight got off of the rock she was on and walked over to join her new friends, a nervous look on her face. She got pushed by a jet of water right as she reached her mentor. She laughed, trying to avoid the water like Twilight’s friends.
They walked to the most scenic place in the park, wrapped in towels, their manes soaked. Starlight walked to a swing set and slightly rocked herself, a slight smile on her face. Until two ponies walked by.
Flitter looked at Starlight, and looked away when they made eye contact. Cloud Chaser, though, whispered something into Flitter’s ear. Starlight tried to hear the conversation. Unfortunately, she did.
“Hey, isn’t she that pony who lives with the Princess?”
“Yeah? So?”
“I heard she tried to destroy Equestria.”
“Really? Like the Newbie to Friendship?”
“Mm-hm. I think she also stole the cutie marks of a whole village.”
“No way! If she has magic that powerful, imagine what she could do to us!”
“What if she fries our brains?”
“Can she do that?”
“If she can fight an alicorn, she can certainly do something like that!”
“Or worse!”
Flitter and Cloud looked at Starlight for a brief moment and trotted away, trying to act like they hadn’t said anything about her. Too late. She knew.
Starlight made sure that Flitter and Cloud were out of her sight before she burst into tears and ran straight to the castle. Her mane was already dry by the time she reached the castle.
Starlight slammed the door as soon as she was inside. Spike, who was sweeping the ground with a broom, bumped into her. “Hey, Starlight,” he greeted, turning around to face her. “So, how was your day? What did you do?”
Starlight looked at her hooves, which had started digging at the ground again. “We played at the water park. It was fun.” At least until those ponies brought up my dark past.
“Where are the girls?” he asked, looking around.
“They’re back at the park. I was just tired and headed home early,” she explained, faking a yawn.
“Oh, okay. Well, goodnight, Starlight!” he said, resuming his sweeping.
“You too, Spike,” she said, trotting away before coming back. “Where is my room, again?”
Starlight sat up to the sound of Twilight’s voice outside.
“She was tired enough to skip dinner?”
“Well, I don’t know. She just said she was tired and went into her room.”
“She never told me about anything. Where is she?”
“She’s in her room. Like she has been all evening.”
Starlight heard hoofsteps, and it sounded like they got closer and closer.
Starlight gasped and quickly flipped her pillow over to hide the tear stains. She dropped her head on the pillow, covered herself with a blanket, faced away from the door, and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
She slowed her breath as Twilight got nearer and nearer, and soon she opened the door and walked in. Starlight felt the princess get closer and closer until she was standing right over her bed.
Starlight couldn’t see how Twilight was feeling, because her eyes were squeezed shut, but she had a feeling that she was suspicious of her behavior.