//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Idea in process // Story: Love or revenge // by Desller //------------------------------// A few weeks ago, 2 ponies traveled to the past, creating different timelines in the process, where the ponies and other creatures that tried to conquer or destroy Equestria achieved their goals. Fortunately that did not happen, because an unexpected event occurred, the pony that caused all that disaster voluntarily gave up taking revenge. Dusk Shine made Starlight Glimmer, a unicorn particularly skilled in magic, reflect on her actions and desist from changing the past, or at least, that's what everyone believes. The truth was that Starlight did not change her mind, she only pretended to reform so as not to destroy Equestria, she wanted revenge, but she did not want the entire kingdom to pay the consequences of something that she caused directly or indirectly, perhaps she could make another plan while no one would suspect. But, although in her heart she still had a desire for revenge, a new feeling also blossomed towards Dusk, the pony who, after seeing her enslave a village, remove cutie marks, and almost destroy the timeline, gave her a second chance, a new home. , and most importantly, friends willing to welcome him, even though most ponies would not have hesitated to give him an severe punishment. During all this time, both ponies have been particularly close, no matter if it is necessary or not, they both meet frequently, looking strangely at each other, and all the ponies close to Dusk have noticed it. However, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash still don't completely trust Starlight, no pony was present on the time trip she and Dusk had, and the only thing they know is that after Starlight and Dusk's unexpected appearance that supposed adventure, Dusk and Spike were now his friends. Even with those suspicions, the 5 mares decided to give their friendship to Starlight, if their friend, the prince of friendship, trusted her, then they would too. ***** Starlight knows that something strange is happening to her because of Dusk, but she is determined that this time she will get her revenge, without distractions, without friendship and without Dusk getting in her way, or that's what she wants to believe. It was a new day in Equestria, specifically, in Ponyville, the sun rose and its light filtered through the windows of the pony houses, although one of the things that stood out the most in the small town was a large crystal castle, home of Prince Dusk Shine and, to the surprise of almost everyone who knew, his new student and friend, Starlight. In one of the rooms, the unicorn was sleeping peacefully, at least until the sunlight illuminated her face, waking her up. 'Should I wake up so early? Can't I sleep and enjoy my "punishment" a little?'. She thought Starlight to herself. Eventually, that led her to remember some recent things. When she pretended to abandon her plans for revenge, she feared that she would be punished by banishing her to the moon, locking her in a dungeon, or sending her to Tartarus... or banishing her to a dungeon in Tartarus. After all, traveling back in time and causing every villain to take control of Equestria (according to what Dusk had told him) was not something that could be considered "mild." However, she was surprised when Dusk not only allowed her to stay in the castle as her new home, but also punished her by simply not allowing her to leave the castle alone for a few days. 'I can start again, and correct my mistakes... Or I can also look for some spell to control Dusk's mind and take peaceful revenge. That would be a very ungrateful pony. Why does that matter to me if I still want revenge? Will Dusk stop me again?' For several minutes, Starlight debated whether she should wake up or sleep again, and also what she should do now that she could start over, until a sudden sound interrupted her thoughts. "Toc toc" Someone was knocking on her room door, and the only thing Starlight wished was that it wasn't Dusk, although she liked him, she still didn't know how to process the fact that she was living in the house of the pony that she tried to ruin the life of twice. "Who is it?". Starlight asked, yawning and trying to get up. "I'm Spike, I brought breakfast." He answered the dragon from the other side of the door. "You can come in." Starlight exclaimed without much courage to get up yet. "Dusk didn't tell me what you liked to eat for breakfast, so I made a little bit of everything." Spike said entering the room, while he held a large plate with pancakes, a fried egg, some cookies and a glass of orange juice. "I hope you enjoy it". Spike placed the plate on a small cabinet next to Starlight's bed. "Wow, thank you". She exclaimed Starlight in amazement as she smiled. "Everything looks delicious". "Courtesy of assistant number 1, me." Spike exclaimed as he raised his arms and head proudly. "See you later, if you look for Dusk, he's in the library, he won't be out of there for a looooong time...". Spike said with a bored tone as he left the room. 'Does that pony do anything else besides read?'. Starlight thought as she moved her eyes and head to the side. 'How does a library fit in this castle? From the outside it doesn't look very big-'. Before answering her own question, another strange sound and a sensation in her abdomen caught her attention. “¡GROWL!” "I can answer it another day, this is more important." She said Starlight happily, before sitting down and starting to eat breakfast. ***** In the castle library, Dusk Shine was writing and organizing books and some scrolls, as he almost always did. But this time there was something different, Dusk was more unfocused than usual, specifically, thinking about a mare in particular, his new student, Starlight. 'I wonder what Starlight is doing right now...' Dusk thought as he separated the books on advanced magic and magical experiments in alphabetical order. 'Are you thinking about making new friends, making a new revenge plan, or me?' Dusk quickly shook his head after asking himself that last question, causing some books he was moving with his magic to fall to the ground. "Because I'm thinking about Starlight!?" Dusk shouted nervously, as he tried to clear his usually organized and clear mind. "I must calm down, I am the prince of friendship, and she is a reformed guest a few days ago, it's nothing...". Dusk interrupted himself after noticing something in the books he was arranging a few moments ago. "Oh no! These books are organized into AD and AB, they're supposed to be AB and AC!" Dusk said with an expression of disgust and sadness, which quickly changed to an excited and happy face. "I guess I have to organize all this again." Dusk exclaimed happily as he levitated the books around him, ready to organize all those books in a very precise and exact order... again. And so, the minutes passed, while Dusk watched and organized his books, time seemed to move faster, but he didn't care, he was doing one of the things he enjoyed the most without interruptions and most importantly, without thinking about Starlight. After an hour rearranging books in an exaggeratedly precise alphabetical and numerical order, Dusk finally finished, and prepared to rest, but his inner nerd was awake and it would take a long time to calm down. "I'm done, but maybe... I can add some very specific transformation books in AB, and a few in AD..." Dusk exclaimed, smiling mischievously. "Hmm...maybe an extra teleportation book in A-". "Oh Dusk, I finally found you!". Starlight's relieved and tired voice interrupted Dusk's concentration, causing him a small scare. "Ah!". Dusk gasped. "Oh, hi Starlight, I was doing a little organizing in the library, you wouldn't believe how much of an alphabetical mess there was." Dusk said casually. "I see that you really like books..." The unicorn exclaimed. "...And also organize them every 2 days." Starlight said, with a small mocking laugh. "Hehehe... yes... I love books, organizing them helps me relax, and also makes it easier for me to find what I may need." Dusk said, while he smiled shyly. "But tell me, were you looking for me? Or maybe you need a book?" Dusk asked excitedly. "I was looking for you, I wanted to ask you if my punishment has strict rules, I want to go out to the park to touch the grass and not go crazy from confinement, hahaha." Starlight replied, laughing a little at how funny it was to see the prince of friendship being a nerd. "Really? It's good that you asked." Dusk exclaimed excitedly. "Because I have a whole agenda meticulously organized for you for this entire month!" Dusk brought 2 sheets of paper towards him with his magic. "One is a simple black and white schedule, but if you don't like it, I also made another organized one with colors, my book on agendas and schedules says that colors help a lot to differentiate the sections...". Dusk moved the leaves towards Starlight so he could choose one. "Thank you...". Starlight said smiling awkwardly. "...I didn't know you liked the organization so much." 'Holy Celestia, he's probably already organized our next 2 weeks.' Starlight thought fearfully. "Thank you for looking for me..." Dusk thought out loud, not being able to help but smile a little as he looked at Starlight. "What did you say?". She exclaimed Starlight in confusion as she took the colored schedule with magic from it. "Oh!" Dusk reacted as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown at him. "I said 'Thank you for looking for me to answer your questions,' I'm glad to do it... After all, you are my student and I am your teacher." Dusk tried to speak normally, but only managed to speak quickly and awkwardly, with his face turning tomato red from embarrassment. "Of course... Thanks to you, it couldn't be for anything else." Starlight said blushing, as she left the library. "See you later". Starlight left the library awkwardly, looking for her room. 'Dusk said “thanks to me”, and that… I liked it?” Something about that sentence was pleasant to her, but she denied herself the exact answer so as not to form wrong ideas. For his part, Dusk stayed in the library, thinking about what had just happened. "Why I said that!?". The alicorn shouted as he hit his face with one of his hooves, and then returned to the matter of his books being organized. As each one returned to their activities, both ponies had a single thought in their minds: 'Why is this happening to me?'.