Author's note: This story was inspired by a dream I had one night.
Thanks to Zoetic Zebra (from FIMfiction) for the edit. Cover image by AcesRulez 13 used with permission.
Starlight sat in her seat near the window, the smell of her hot coffee filling her nostrils. Other ponies in the restaurant were all busy talking to each other, but thankfully they weren't being loud, because she just wanted to relax. She kept staring out the window, at the beautiful scenery of a great, green field. It annoyed her a little that she didn't remember how she had gotten to that place, but it didn't really matter.
Still staring out the window, Starlight levitated her cup of coffee and took a sip. It was cold. How could it get cold so fast?
"Do you want a new cup?" A mare spoke to Starlight from the opposite side of the table, startling her. She was a bright-yellow unicorn with a mane of two shades of blue, her turquoise eyes completing her lovely smile.
When did she get here?! Starlight wondered, before speaking to the mare, "Who are you?"
"You don't know me?" the mare replied, her smile fading for a second. She chuckled. "It's okay. Everything will be fine soon." She turned to stare out the window, smiling. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
Starlight raised an eyebrow, slowly turning back to the window. "It is indeed…" Once she faced the window again, she gasped at the scene. What had been a beautiful green field was now nothing more than a barren wasteland, the strong wind carrying ash and sand into the air. "What the…" Starlight turned back to the yellow unicorn, but she wasn't there anymore. In fact, the whole restaurant was empty, and somehow it was in a horrible state; most of its furniture was destroyed, and all the windows were broken, even the window beside her.
"Starlight!"
Starlight faced the counter, getting greeted with a tall, white figure that was emitting blinding light. It was so tall it was intimidating, and it had an echoing feminine voice. Starlight couldn't make out any of the figure's features due to the strong light it was producing.
"C-Come…," the figure stuttered. Starlight hesitantly trotted up to it, using a foreleg to protect her eyes from the light. "Come and find us, b-before it's too late. Find us, Starlight Glimmer. H-here, take this..." The figure levitated something from the ground and reached out to give it to Starlight, but immediately everything around her disappeared.
-oOo-
Starlight's eyes fluttered open, greeted by the sunlight that was leaking from her bedroom's window. She used her magic to close the curtains so she could let her vision adjust.
"Another weird dream," she said to herself, rubbing her eyes and slowly stepping off the bed. But does it have a meaning? She thought as she started towards the door. Nah. If it was anything important, Princess Luna would most likely visit me in the dream...I guess.
Starlight trotted down the halls until she was in the throne room, where she was met with all of the element bearers.
"Ah, good morning?" Starlight greeted.
"Hi there, Star," Rainbow Dash yawned.
"What's the matter? Did the Map summon you?" Starlight asked, trotting up to the Map.
"No," Twilight responded. "We're going with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to a friendship summit in Griffinstone today, so we were just discussing the matter."
Starlight opened her eyes a little wider. "Really? How long will it take?"
"Well, a little too long," Rarity replied, blowing a hair out of her view. "It's not just a summit; it's a visit."
"About two days, more or less," Applejack completed.
"Oh, alright. Fine," Starlight said, scratching the back of her head. "Looks like I can't go anyway."
"Why not?" Twilight asked.
"Trixie is coming along today, and Sunburst is visiting tomorrow. You should've told me earlier. Besides, it's not like I would be any good in a friendship summit."
"Of course you would." Twilight left her throne and stood beside Starlight, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "You're my student. You've come a long way in learning about friendship. I can't see how could you be no good."
"It's fine really," Starlight said, gently removing Twilight's hoof off her shoulder. "I can live without one friendship summit."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, but decided to leave her student be. "If you say so."
"Big Mac is busy and Discord isn't here, so there's no point of me staying in the castle," Spike said, before giving a sigh. "But...I'm ready to stay just for you, Starlight."
"You can go with them, Spike. Trixie and Sunburst are coming. I won't be alone," Starlight reassured.
Noon quickly came and Starlight found herself waving goodbye as everyone left for their journey to Griffinstone, leaving her alone in the castle. For a moment, she thought that maybe she should have went with them, but she shrugged the thought off. Not only would that make her leave Trixie after telling her to come over, but it would also place her in a friendship summit, a place where she was convinced she didn't belong yet.
Glimmer
Starlight flinched, turning her head left and right to try and find the source of the whisper.
"Is anypony there?" Starlight took a step back towards the castle, even lighting her horn just in case. But nothing happened, and no one showed up. "Must be my imagination," she sighed, placing a foreleg on her head and turning to face the castle. "Thankfully, I won't stay alone in the castle for two days; that would make my imagination go even wilder."
As soon as Starlight placed a hoof inside the castle, something landed on her shoulder. She quickly jumped back and turned around, her horn charged.
"Whoa whoa, hold your horses!" a blue unicorn mare yelled, raising her forelegs in defense. "It's me!"
"Trixie?" Starlight sighed in relief, trotting up to Trixie and giving her a hug. "You gave me a heart attack."
"Oh, remind to never surprise you again. Last thing I want is to get blasted away by my best friend." Trixie smiled sheepishly.
"I'm just a little jumpy nowadays," Starlight admitted, rubbing her neck.
"Anything troubling you and wanna talk about it? The Understanding and Friendly Trixie is here!" Trixie inquired with a wide smile, wrapping a foreleg around Starlight's shoulder.
"N-nothing, really," Starlight stuttered. "Just some weird dreams, and other tiny things."
"Well, dreams are Princess Luna's business, so I can't help you with them. The Great and Powerful Trixie is specialized in defeating evil queens!" Trixie reared, pointing a foreleg upwards.
"Of course you are," Starlight giggled, rolling her eyes. "Now come on, what do you wanna do first? Practice some tricks? Eat something?"
The two unicorns trotted inside the castle and closed the doors, but Starlight had a feeling she was leaving something out there. That she wasn't supposed to stay in the castle. Yet she was afraid of leaving.
As the night spread its darkness across Ponyville, Starlight and Trixie were ready to call it a day. Starlight had brought a second bed to her bedroom, and allowed Trixie to put her carriage inside the castle to keep it safe. Twilight would be mad if she saw this, Starlight had thought.
Trixie quickly slumped down on the bed, while Starlight stood by her window, staring at the stars.
"What's keeping you up, Starlight?" Trixie asked.
"Nothing in particular," Starlight sighed in response.
Trixie sat up in her bed, bumping her forelegs against each other. "So, Starlight, I don't wanna be rude, but I wanted to ask you something."
"I'm all ears." Starlight left the night sky and turned to face her friend.
"Do you, um, have parents?" Trixie bit her lip.
"No, I was brought to life by an ancient deity."
A moment of silence fell, and Trixie was starting to worry, before Starlight broke into laughter.
"Just kidding!" Starlight giggled. "Of course I have parents."
"Phew!" Trixie sighed. "Where are they now?"
"I don't remember them. I lived as an orphan, ya know. I never met my parents."
"So there is a possibility that you were brought to life by an ancient deity?" Trixie joked.
"Trixie, please!" Starlight laughed. "Don't think too hard about it, okay? If my parents cared about me, I wouldn't have ended up living as an orphan and turning into a Cutie-Mark-stealing villain." She faced the ground as she finished her sentence, her ears falling flat.
Silence loomed for a few seconds, and Trixie wanted to ask something, but she decided against it.
"Let's call it a night, shall we?" Starlight finally spoke.
"Yeah, okay." Trixie nodded, slipping under her sheets. "Goodnight, Starlight."
"Goodnight," Starlight replied as she trotted to her bed and slipped under the blankets, trying not to think about Trixie's question.
-oOo-
Starlight was sitting in her seat near the window again, the restaurant still in ruins just like she had left it. Opposite to her was sitting the yellow mare witt the blue mane, staring sadly out the window. Starlight placed her forelegs on the table, but quickly retracted them after sensing a burning-hot substance. She looked down and found her cup of coffee, spilled all over the table, the coffee so hot it was still steaming.
"It's really amazing how one bad day can turn into a huge disaster," the yellow mare said, still staring out the broken window, tears welling in her eyes. Blinking the tears away, she turned to face Starlight. "Don't let this be your future. Fight it with all you've got!"
Before Starlight could say anything, a massive beam of energy shot through the restaurant, cutting it in half. She ducked uner the table to cover herslef, and when she looked up, the yellow unicorn was gone, and her chair had been turned to ash by the beam. She gasped, crawling away from teh table in terror. But suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.
"Starlight...Glimmer," it was the white tall figure's voice. Starlight turned to it as it began to slowly approach her. "Come and find us…," The figure levitated a piece of paper and reached out to give it to Starlight. "Take this. This is my last message to you. Hurry, before it's too late for everyone!"
Starlight hesitated, but then took the paper in her magic and examined it. It was a map.
-oOo-
Starlight shot upwards in her bed, quickly throwing her blankets to the side. She trotted to her desk and grabbed a paper and a quill. She lit her horn, and an image of a map was projected at the wall in front of her.
"Come on, before I forget it!" she said to herself, quickly copying the map to the piece of paper.
As she finished drawing, a sound coming from outside the room caught her attention. Turning around, she noticed that Trixie wasn't in her bed. She headed out of the room, slowly trotting down the hall. Soon, she heard a voice whispering.
Glimmer.
Starlight turned to her left, finding herself in front of a door. Hesitantly, she used her magic to grab the handle. As soon as she did so, the door flew open and almost hit her in the face, revealing none other than Trixie, who had just finished using the bathroom.
"For Celestia's sake stop scaring me!" Starlight exclaimed, placing a hoof on her chest.
"I'm sorry!" Trixie waved a hoof in defense, before noticing the piece of paper in Starlight's magic grasp. "What's that?"
"It's, um, another dream."
"Oh, you have a dream diary? That's nice."
"No, not a dream diary! It's something serious." Starlight paused for a moment, sighing. "Can we please head outside? I really need some fresh air."
Trixie obliged, and the two headed outside the castle.
"Okay, first of all…" Starlight trotted forward, her eyes fixated at the paper.
"Um, Starlight—"
"Just listen to me, Trixie, I—" When Starlight looked up, she found herself nose to nose with a familiar orange unicorn. Startled, she jumped back, even though she recognized the stallion.
"Uh, good morning, Starlight," Sunburst said, then turned his gaze to Trixie and waved his foreleg. "Hello there, Trixie."
"Sunburst! I-I'm sorry I didn't see you…," Starlight stuttered.
"I see you were busy with something?" Sunburst pointed at the piece of paper.
"Starlight was just about to tell me about her dream diary," Trixie replied.
"Really?" Sunburst raised his eyebrow. "That sounds interesting."
"It's not a dream diary!" Starlight groaned, waving the paper in the air. "Guys, please, listen to me, okay? This might sound weird, but bear with me."
"I'm listening," Sunburst said as he sat down, and Trixie followed suit.
"For the past few days, I've been having dreams of some weird creature. I don't know what it was, but it was a female, and she told me to 'find them before it's too late'. And she called me with my name. She knew me." Starlight paced back and forth. "I wondered why didn't Princess Luna visit me, so I shrugged the matter off as nothing but silly dreams. But last night, the figure told me that it was the last message and gave me a map. So I drew it on this piece of paper."
Trixie and Sunburst stared in silence, and Sunburst's glasses slid down his nose, but he fixed them quickly.
"Could you show it to me?" Sunburst said, and Starlight handed him the map. After inspecting it for a few seconds, he spoke, "It seems to be pointing at an actual location outside of Equestria."
"So it's a real map?" Trixie asked. "What does this mean?"
"I don't know, but I'm going there," Starlight said, gaining gasps from the other two unicorns.
"Starlight, are you serious?" Sunburst widened his eyes. "This is very dangerous, and you don't even know what's waiting for you there."
"I don't care. It's clear that somepony is in need for help, and they need it quickly. I must go," Starlight insisted, stomping a hoof on the ground.
"Could you please slow down a little?" Trixie said, placing a hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "You just woke up from a weird dream and now you wanna travel out of Equestria? What the hay?! At least wait for help."
"It's not just a weird dream, Trixie," Starlight replied taut. "Look, I'll go alone, okay? I don't want to put anypony else in danger. It's my dream, and they called for me. And I really wish I had help, but if I wait for it, it may come too late. Maybe it will indeed turn out to be nothing but silly dreams, but if I do nothing and it turns out to be real, who knows what will happen?"
"Starlight, wait…," Sunburst sighed, pausing for a moment. "I'm going with you.'
"Sunburst, I—"
"If you're dead set, then I'm going, too," Trixie interrupted. "Don't you remember the last adventure we went on together? Who knows what would've happened if you went alone?!"
"I really don't wanna put you in danger, but…," Starlight sighed. "Looks like I've already got you involved in this."
"It's okay, Starlight." Sunburst trotted up to his friend, placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "If you want to chase your dreams outside of Equestria, then we chase them with you! And just like Trixie said, your last adventure wouldn't have gone right had you gone on it alone."
"Looks like fate always places the two of us in situations where nopony can aid us and we have to save everything with zero help, am I right?" Trixie wrapped a hoof around Starlight shoulder as well. "Well, believe it or not, despite my complaining, I actually like it."
Starlight smiled, her friends' words creating a warm, reassuring feeling in her chest. "Thank you."
"I'll go prepare my carriage. You two have a breakfast," Trixie said, as she and the other two unicorns trotted inside the castle to prepare for their journey.
"Wait a second, your carriage is inside the castle?" Sunburst asked.
"Hey!" Trixie snapped. "If you didn't want your stuff taken in the middle of the night by random ponies, you'd leave your carriage in there too!"