//------------------------------//
// Twilight Sparkle 
// Story: Second Thoughts 
// by starcoder 
//------------------------------//

Starlight walks back to the castle with the girls, Spike, and I. She's laughing, a clear sign that she's enjoying herself. Nailed it! I knew having her make friends was the right call. And Spike had his doubts. I'll make sure to tease him about it later. All that matters now is that my new student has gone from evil dictator to powerful friend. Wow, a lot sure can happen in one day.

We all have dinner together, but after a few bites, Starlight doesn't seem to be feeling well. She probably just doesn't want to have any dinner because she still feels bad about what she did. Okay, probably terrible. I'll let her know that I won't dwell on the past tomorrow, but right now, she looks as if she could use some shuteye.





Starlight lies down on her bed, which she refuses to own. I told her she could lay down on her bed, though she said it was just "the bed." Maybe I'll comfort her even more tomorrow. She could surely use it. After some rest, of course.

I close the door to Starlight's room. Something tells me she'd want some alone time after a busy day like today. She wasn't really the "friendship type," anyways. At least not yet. She wouldn't be, not until I got her friendship lessons ready.

I sprint to the library, bumping into Spike on my way there. "Woah, what's the rush, Twi?" he interrogates me.

"No time for trivia, Spike," I push his question aside. "I've got to make friendship lessons for Starlight. Now that I have a student, no, a pupil, I have to prepare."

Spike just chuckles. "Of course you do. Starlight Glimmer is going to have a whole lot of lessons, isn't she."

My mouth straightens. He makes a pretty good point there. "Maybe you're right. I should probably narrow it down."

Still, then, Spike shakes his head. "Knowing you, narrowing it down means a few thousand instead of a million," he giggles.

I blush but roll my eyes playfully. "I'll be sure to get it closer to a hundred," I assure him. Spike motions with his claws, expecting more. Giving up, I sigh in defeat. "Fine, it'll be around five-hundred."

"Goodnight, Twi," he responds, walking out of the library. I think he's mumbling something. "Poor Starlight Glimmer." My eyebrows lower in irritation. Starlight was lucky to have a teacher who was so well-prepared. Right?





It's around 8:00 in the morning. Starlight should be up by now, right? If she's not, then too bad. She'd miss out on all the fun I have planned for her today. I'm probably dreamy-eyed, thinking of today, when I knock on Starlight's door. "Come in!" is the response from inside. I'm too excited. If she was going to open the door for me, too bad. I opened it already.

As Starlight stepped away from her desk, where she was drawing something, I notice something different about her. Something better. "You look different," I note, the exact feature right at the tip of my tongue. Then, I have a mental light bulb. "I like the new bangs."

Starlight smiled, blowing on them so that they flipped around. I think this version of Starlight Glimmer is a lot better than the old one. "I didn't like the old ones," she explains. "They kind of remind me of..." she starts to trail off, and then looks down at her hoof, which is digging at the ground. I don't think she wants to keep talking about her past, so I decide to change the subject.

"How was your first night in the castle?" I ask.

She finally looks up, but now I can see that she's biting 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." I wince when she calls me that. Who does she think she is, adressing me as a princess?

"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," I say, and it might even come off as scoffing to her. Whatever, it better emphasizes the point. Trying not to sound stupid, I ask her something else. "So, do you want to join us for breakfast?"

She looks so shocked, I feel like she's faking it. "I actually have an option?"

I giggle. Maybe she is acting, and she's just really good at it. "What do you think I was going to do, let you starve?"

Okay, now I'm sure she's not acting, since it's pure confusion being spoken. "Yeah?"

I'm pretty shocked. She wanted to be starved to death? But then I realize the truth. She never wanted to starve, she only wanted what she deserved. And she believes starving is a good enough punishment. "Oh, Starlight. I’d never do that. We’re friends now, remember?"

"Uh..." is all I hear in response.

I roll my eyes playfully. 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!" I guess I finally let my excitement show. Whatever. I grab Starlight with my magic and trot to the dining room. 





Spike and I gather our friends as Starlight trails behind us. When all eight of us are here, standing in front of Carousel Boutique carrying a bag of towels, we head to the park. There was this pretty fun water section that I wanted us to go to. Starlight seemed to like flying, and swimming in the water seemed like soaring.

Unfortunately, the pool section that was flying-ish was closed. So instead, we head to my favorite part. It's a place where passerby can shoot at people who want to play in the area with little seal-like motors. Of course, there were also automated ones that you could press a button to turn on.

We turn on the water and run around like foals. Well, Fluttershy and Rarity sit out, but they're shooting at us, and each other, so it counts as having fun too. Even Spike plays around with us. The only one who isn't playing is Starlight. She's sitting on a rock, watching us. She's probably just too embarassed to join in. "Come on Starlight!" I call out to her. "Come join us!"

She gets off the rock and joins us. She walks over to me, probably going to say something, when Fluttershy manages to hit her perfectly. She laughs at this, and eventually starts becoming as wild as we are.

We stayed over there for a while, so we're probably going to have dinner sometime soon. As for now, we're sitting in a nice, scenic place, by choice of Fluttershy, drying our manes, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery. If this isn't considered a perfect day, then I don't know what is.

I just hope Starlight feels the same way.