Starlight Glimmer walked through an unfamiliar path in a dark forest, wondering where the heck she was.

Suddenly a glow appeared in front of her. Assuming that to be the way out, Starlight headed towards it. But the closer she got the farther it seemed. Desperate, she started running after it, but it stayed ahead of her as if it was alive.

Then, for what seemed like an eternity, she managed to reach the glow. Or a different glow, actually. The one she had chased was sort of a yellow-orange and this glow was the white light of the sun. Confused, she left the forest to find herself in a beautiful meadow with familiar-looking berry bushes.

"Where am I?" She asked herself.

"You are home Starlight." A familiar voice said.

Starlight turned towards the voice to find Sunburst standing near her. But unlike the previous times she saw him he wasn't wearing his wizard's cloak, his mane, tail, and beard were neater...and he was surrounded by a yellow-orange glow.

"Sunburst? You were the glow I was chasing earlier?" Starlight was surprised. "And what do you mean by 'home'?"

"Well I'm not glowing so I have no idea what you're talking about, but as for your home it's right there." Sunburst pointed to his right.

Starlight turned and saw the Crystal Empire. Now she realized why the berry bushes seemed familiar.

"But...but my home is in Ponyville...in the Castle of Friendship." Starlight was even more confused.

"Not anymore." Sunburst was suddenly closer to her.

For some reason, Starlight felt a bit scared and her heart started beating hard. She tried to back away but she was frozen stiff, and Sunburst's muzzle was coming closer-

Starlight suddenly sat up with a gasp, panting. She then saw that she was in bed, in her bedroom in the Castle of Friendship. It was still nighttime, based on the lack of sunlight from the window.

"That was a dream?" She frowned. "But then why did it feel like a nightmare near the end? And what did dream-Sunburst mean by home...and why couldn't he see that he was glowing? Was I the only one who could see it?"

She groaned and laid back down. That dream/nightmare just made no sense.

"Okay, okay, one bit at a time..." Starlight muttered. "Well...I guess the dark forest referenced my past...and I guess glowing-Sunburst and the Crystal Empire referenced me leaving my past for a brighter future...but what about the rest of it?"

"I believe I can help."

Starlight shot up again, but relaxed when she saw Luna standing in front of her bed.

"Oh thank goodness you're here, I stink at figuring out dreams...wait, is this another dream or are you actually here?" Starlight asked.

"Another dream. It's faster than actually flying here and entering the castle." Luna smiled. "I actually used my magic to pull you out of that previous dream, because I sensed your fear and figured that it was best that you understood what was going on before the dream officially ended."

"Because of how poorly I reacted to fear in the past?" Starlight deadpanned.

"Well...actually yes." Luna winced. "I am sorry, I mean no offense. It's just that you've become a good friend to others despite your past and I want to make sure that you have the future you deserve because of that."

"Future?"

"Yes, you see that dream you were having was a result of your heart trying to tell you something." Luna explained. "But obviously you either haven't heard your heart yet or you've been ignoring it for one reason or another."

"Well given how weird the dream was my heart must be desperate." Starlight rolled her eyes. "And I haven't heard it, actually. I didn't even know that it was trying to tell me something."

"I see. Tell me Starlight Glimmer, have you been ignoring your heart most of the time lately?"

"No." Starlight scoffed. "If I had I wouldn't have accepted Twilight's offer of friendship."

"No I meant 'lately' as in 'since you and Sunburst rekindled your friendship'."

"Oh, since then...gee, if I have it was unintentional. I didn't even know whether I was or not." Starlight shrugged.

"What about you trying to make a new friend per Twilight's lesson? Did you listen to your heart at all during then?"

"Um...I guess not much. I was kinda listening to my fears instead. Even when Trixie became my friend I was still slightly nervous...I did completely listen to my heart when I rekindled my friendship with her though."

"That is good, I'm glad to hear that you haven't been completely ignoring your heart."

"Okay, but what does all that have to do with my previous dream?"

"Simple: you are still afraid of being hurt again."

"Well...yeah..." Starlight had to admit that Luna was right. "Not surprising really, when you think about it. So, again, my dream...?"

"Well, if I have translated your dream right your heart has been trying to tell you something about Sunburst, but your fear of being hurt again has caused you to unintentionally ignore it." Luna then smiled slyly. "Tell me Starlight, what do you think of Sunburst?"

"Um...well he's kind, smart...given the fact that he never held my past against me he's also very forgiving, so I'd also say that he has a strong heart." Starlight listed her thoughts. "Truthfully I'm slightly happier when I'm with him, in comparison to how happy I am here, and he's actually handsome-" Her eyes widened. "Oh no...no I couldn't have..."

"Think about your previous dream again." Luna continued smiling.

Starlight did. She thought about how Sunburst was glowing, how he told her that the Crystal Empire was her home, how her heart pounded when he neared her...and she face-hoofed.

"Oh horseapples!" She groaned. "Luna, what am I going-"

Luna was gone.

"Hm, guess she's not the one I'm supposed to talk to about this." Starlight muttered.

The next thing Starlight knew, it was morning. She slowly sat up, wondering if she was still dreaming or if this time she actually was awake. She used her brush to lightly hit her foreleg. Nope, pain, she was awake.

"Great, how could I have fallen in love with Sunburst?" She sighed. "I mean seriously, like he'd ever return my feelings."

She reluctantly got out of bed, neatened her mane and tail, and headed downstairs for breakfast. She knew she had to talk to someone about this, and if Luna wasn't going to help...

"Morning Starlight...didn't get much sleep?" Spike guessed upon seeing Starlight's droopy manner.

"Um...not exactly. Is Twilight sleeping in again?" Starlight looked around for her.

"Surprisingly no, in fact she left early to talk to Arbor." Spike chuckled. "Since he officially moved in just a few days ago she figured it was time to let his parents know about it, so she wants to get their contact info."

"Arbor hasn't contacted them himself?" Starlight was surprised.

"I think he's still busy settling in, or maybe he's just shy about telling his parents that he has a very special somepony now." Spike shrugged. "So what do you need to talk to Twilight about? Maybe I can help."

"Um...thanks Spike but come to think of it I think all of the Bearers of Harmony should be contacted." Starlight decided; it wouldn't hurt to get multiple viewpoints on the matter.

"Oh no...what's wrong?" Spike asked concernedly.

"Well...frankly depending on your perspective it's either something bad or something wonderful." Starlight actually blushed a little.

Spike looked as if he just realized something.

"Hold on a- You really did fall in love with somepony didn't you?" He started to smile.

"Should've guessed that you'd catch on given that you've already fallen in love with somepony." Starlight muttered.

"Yeah, I have learned to pick up the signs. Especially due to having already experienced Twilight falling in love." Spike chuckled. "Right, I'll get Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight. Don't think Pinkie would be much help since she's never fallen in love before."

"Good call."

"Be right back with the others, and be sure to have a good breakfast while you're waiting." Spike said as he left the kitchen.

Starlight at least got herself a decent breakfast, not being that hungry. She was done and was able to clean her dishes by the time Spike got back with everypony else, so she met them in the throne room.

"What do you need our help with Sugar Cube?" Applejack asked.

"Well, I had a weird dream last night. Luna visited me and through talking to her I found out that the dream was because my heart was trying to tell me something." Starlight took a deep breath. "I've fallen in love with Sunburst."

"Called it!" Spike pumped an arm. "I told you guys he was the one she fell in love with."

"We figured it out too Spike, after all it's not like there were many other options." Twilight chuckled.

"So...you're not surprised?" Starlight was a bit surprised.

"No, to be honest I was wondering if you were ever going to realize your feelings for him." Twilight smirked.

"Given how many times you've been wanting to visit Sunburst and how long you often stay when you do, I was wondering that myself." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Wait a- Do you mean to tell me that everypony except me knew that I had feelings for Sunburst this whole time?" Starlight nearly yelled, obviously not amused by this revelation.

"Not really, just us. I doubt even Pinkie figured it out." Fluttershy said.

"Oh...well as long as the rest of Ponyville and the entire Crystal Empire hasn't..." Starlight snarked.

"Geez take it easy, what's the big deal anyway?" Rainbow Dash frowned.

"The big deal is that I'm not sure I even want a very special somepony all right?" Starlight snapped before doing a headdesk.

You could almost hear a pin drop, that is if someone had dropped a pin. But no one did so...never mind.

"Starlight you...you still haven't completely gotten over your past have you?" Twilight realized sympathetically.

"Not really...I mean come on, the Cutie Mark incident aside I nearly doomed Equestria with that time traveling stunt, you really think I could easily forgive myself for that?" Starlight raised her head and gave Twilight a stern look.

"Um, considerin' you didn't even know your actions would cause that until Twilight showed ya I think you mite be takin' that incident a little too hard." Applejack pointed out. "I mean harmin' Equestria was never your plan right?"

"Well...well of course not but..." Starlight was almost in tears. "Look, I just believe that Sunburst deserves better, he deserves a mare who isn't prone to becoming evil. I still can't believe he's willing to be friends with me again despite my past..."

"Yes, which shows how much he really does care about you." Spike pointed out. "I mean the only reason why he hesitated at being friends with you again at first was because he was ashamed of his lack of powerful magic."

"Silly really, like that's even important." Starlight scoffed.

"Well maybe he thinks your constant guilt is silly." Rainbow Dash said. "I mean you'll never know unless you actually talk to him about this."

"No way, I'm not gonna risk harming our friendship. I mean remember what it did to me the last time that happened?"

"Yes, which proves that your heart was always connected to him even when you were both foals." Rarity said before sighing. "It's romantic really, I always did enjoy stories about couples who have been close since they were foals."

"Yeah, well, those were stories. This is real life. It's not like I can just write this whole thing so that Sunburst does return my feelings and we get married and have foals-" She blushed as she realized what she was saying. "Geez...I really do have it bad."

"And it's not going to go away, so you might as well do something about it." Twilight said. "Like tell him how you really feel."

"Yeah? How?"

"Um..." Twilight had to admit that she was stumped. "Well I don't have any experience with this sort of thing, so I don't have any advice. Spike? Girls? Can one of you help?"

Fluttershy had nothing.

"Well I was nervous about tellin' Richie my feelins even though I already knew he liked me back, but that was mostly because I wasn't sure how to balance dating him with my farm life" Applejack shrugged. "Things worked out at least decently...I still miss him often but he does write and his last letter promised he'd visit soon."

"I only almost told Rarity my feelings when I thought that we were going to die, but I doubt you want to go with that." Spike winced.

"Definitely not." Starlight deadpanned.

"I wasn't really nervous about telling Precious Scales my feelings after I finally realized them. More like I was a bit ashamed for holding them back for shallow reasons." Rarity remembered. "So I have nothing either. Well, except don't change who you are just to impress Sunburst."

"Yeah, like wear droopy drawers." Applejack sniggered.

Rarity blushed with embarrassment.

"I'll never stop being grateful that no one had a camera handy at the time..." She muttered.

Rainbow Dash suddenly cleared her throat.

"Starlight, I sort of get how you feel." She admitted.

Everyone stared at her.

"Long ago I used to believe that I wasn't good enough for Soarin, hence why I kept my crush on him a secret from everypony except dad and Fluttershy- Wait a minute! Fluttershy how come you never told Zephyr that I always had feelings for Soarin? It could've gotten him off my back a long time ago!"

"Actually I did once, but he didn't listen." Fluttershy frowned.

"Oh...geez why am I not surprised?" Rainbow Dash said with exasperation before clearing her throat again. "Anyway, back to my point: I stopped believing that I wasn't good enough for Soarin after he asked me out."

"Great." Starlight groaned. "Even if Sunburst ever does love me back, which I doubt he will, he'll never get the courage to tell me."

No one could argue with that.

Then there was a knock at the door. Spike opened it and let Soarin in.

"Hey, I dropped by to ask Dash if she wanted to go for a flight and I couldn't help overhearing." He admitted. "To be honest, I was too insecure to ask Rainbow Dash out at first. I mean she's a more awesome flier than any of us Wonderbolts, so I thought I wasn't good enough for her."

Even Rainbow Dash was shocked.

"Seriously?" She said. "How were you able to work up the courage to ask me out then?"

"It was the fire in Manehattan. When I heard what happened I...I became scared, for you." Soarin explained. "I realized that if you had died in the fire then I would've always regretted never telling you how I felt, how I still feel. I realized that I never wanted to lose you, so I decided to take a chance while I still could. I knew that you turning me down would never feel even half as bad as...well, you know..."

Rainbow Dash was so touched by this that she actually hugged Soarin.

"I would love to go for a flight." She said.

Soarin smiled and returned the hug. After they broke free they said their goodbyes to the others and left.

Starlight sighed.

"Well, I do have to admit that I feel the same way about Sunburst." She said. "But I still don't know if I can tell him. I don't even know how to tell him."

"Maybe doing a major favor for him? Spike risking his life for me was how I realized my feelings for him...er, after some persuasion from Sweetie Belle of course." Rarity finished awkwardly.

"Sunburst never leaves the Crystal Empire, so that may not be possible." Starlight almost muttered.

"Say, maybe you could invite him here sometime." Twilight just got an idea. "If nothing else that'll at least tell Sunburst that you consider him worthy of visiting you in the Castle of Friendship. Plus it might be easier telling him here than it would be to tell him in the Crystal Empire.

"Well I doubt he'll accept the invitation, but otherwise that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Starlight considered. "Eh, I'll think it over later. As for now I think a change of scenery would do me some good. Twilight, may I have the day off to go to Canterlot?"

"Of course, just be back before dinner, or at least spend the night in Canterlot Castle if you don't think you'll make it back by then." Twilight nodded understandingly. "I'll write ahead to Princess Celestia to let her know to have a spare room ready for you just in case."

"Oh I'll try to make it back by dinner, but thank you." Starlight smiled.