Can I ask you something?

Twilight Sparkle was blindfolded, but not blind.

A lifetime of studying had made the alicorn’s mind a trap, analyzing the slightest bit of information; the sound of the pinata swaying above her, the gentle breeze it made as it swung. To any other pony they would have been distractions. To her, they were a crosshair.

“Uh, Twi?” Rainbow Dash said, a hint of irritation in her voice. “Anytime now.”

Twilight nodded. She swung back the stick and stuck out her tongue. Two degrees left. Angle stick and...now!

With her alicorn-enhanced strength, Twilight swung the heavy stick like a club. There was a satisfying thunk and she felt something give.

Twilight stripped off the blindfold to see the mortally wounded paper-mache centaur swaying above her, its candy innards spilling onto the floor of the castle’s main hall. Once again, mind had triumphed over matter.

Like hyenas on a wounded wildebeest, Twilight's friends pounced on the falling treats. “Dibs on the caramels!” Rainbow said, diving towards the candy. Twilight unwrapped one of the candies and popped it into her mouth. Normally, this time of the day, she’d be busy with the mountain of paperwork that the fairy tales never told you about, but she’d always been a firm believer in rewarding herself. Get an A++ on a report? Treat herself to ice cream. Ace a test? Buy a new book. Restore the timeline to normal and turn her greatest foe to date into a friend? Enjoy a Pinkie Party.

“Nice going, Twilight!” Said Pinkie Pie. “Ooh, ooh, next up, let's play pin the tail on the pony!”
Pinkie whipped out her party cannon and tugged its lanyard. The little mortar of merriment boomed, and a drawing of a pony slammed onto the wall, somehow tacking itself in place. “Hey everypony, why don’t we let Starlight go first?”

Everypony turned to Starlight. The pink unicorn sat by the punchbowl, mechanically sipping from her cup. Were it not for the rise and fall of her chest, she could easily have been mistaken for some animatron.

“Star?” Twilight waved to her new villian-turned-friend.

Starlight perked up. “Oh, uh, yes?”

Twilight motioned towards the poster. “Would you like to go first?”

Starlight took another sip. “No thank you,” she said, with all the inflection and emotion of a windup toy. “I’m fine. I’ll just watch.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Ya’ll okay, sugarcube? You’ve been real quiet all night.”

“Yeah, come on! Seriously, you’re so quiet you make Fluttershy look like a loudmouth.” Rainbow turned to her friend. “Eh, no offense, Flutters.”

“Oh, none taken,” said Fluttershy. She trotted over to Starlight. “Are you sure you’re alright? Is something bothering you?”

“Oh, really, I’m fine,” Starlight said. “You can just have fun without me.”

“Fun without you?!” Pinkie exclaimed, launching herself into the air. “Starlight, this party’s for you! What good is a ‘Spacetime is back to normal and Starlight is our friend now’ party without Starlight?”

Too many syllables, Pinkie, thought Twilight.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. It’s a great party, I’m just, well… not in the mood.” Starlight’s voice trailed off. “If you don’t mind, I need to be alone right now.”

Without another word, Starlight slipped off her seat. “If anypony needs me, I’ll be on the hill on the town limits.”

Starlight’s horn sparked, and she she vanished disappeared with a flash of light and a pop of displaced air.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy said.

There was a sound like a balloon deflating. Pinkie's mane slumped and her trademark smile turned into a look that could sink a ship in dry dock. “I don’t understand. A Pinkie Party makes everypony happy...”

Applejack frowned. “I ain’t an expert on feelings, but something's definitely eatin’ her.”

“Well, maybe she’s still feeling guilty,” said Fluttershy. “I mean, she did do some pretty terrible things.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “I’m not so sure.” That look in her eyes… that wasn’t the look of a guilty mare, she thought. “It’s...it’s more like confusion.”

“Confusion? What the hay is there to be confused about?” Said Applejack.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “we’re all friends now. What’s so complicated about that?”

“Yeah, and what’s so confusing about a party?” Pinkie said, speaking in an indoor voice for once. “This is a party for Starlight. Parties are fun. Ergo, Starlight should be having fun at this party!”

“I don’t know.” Twilight frowned. “And it’s my job to find out.“She started out the bedroom door.

“Twi, where ya going?”

“I’m going to go talk to Starlight.”

“Well, don’t leave without us, darling,” said Rarity. The rest of Twilight’s friends stood up.

“Yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Star’s our friend. She needs all of us.”

“Darn-tootin!”

“A lady never leaves a good friend behind.”

“Oh, yes!”

“Let's do it!”

The five started towards the entrance, only to be halted by a dome of shimmering energy.

“Girls, listen. I know you want to help, but if we all try to talk to her at once, she’ll just feel

crowded.”

“But Twilight..."

“I’m sorry, but this is something I have to do alone.”

With that, Twilight opened a window, got a full head of steam, and leapt out. Her wings caught the air, and she soared into the sky.

Sorry, girls. Twilight spared one last look back at the castle. She really, really hated doing this. She and her friends had been through everything together. It felt so wrong, leaving them behind, but, in this case, less was definitely more.

As Twilight glided towards the outskirts of ponyville, she realized something.

I’m actually doing it. Twilight’s tail began to twitch. I’m actually going to have my first talk with my new student.

This was big. Until now, Twilight hadn’t really felt like a teacher—it’d been a title, something to be hammered out later. Now it was here, and she wasn’t quite sure how to do it.

How exactly did one have a talk with their new student? She knew the basics of teaching, yes— she’d helped tutor the Crusaders for a while—and Celestia and she had talked countless times before, but that was like knowing the basics of deep-sea diving: there was abig difference between knowing how to do it, and actually doing it.

Something sparked in Twilight’s head. Don’t see her as a student. It was so simple. Just see Starlight as a friend. Sure, their friendship was only six hours old, and they’d been enemies for much, much longer, but they were friends nonetheless. Besides, she was the Princess of Friendship. Compared to that, talking to a distraught unicorn should be a piece of proverbial cake.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

Twilight spotted a blotch of pink on a nearby hill. She dove, then flared her wings, and came to a perfect four-point landing.Those flying lessons were really starting to pay off. A few months ago, attempting a landing like that would have probably ended with her head in the ground.

Starlight was laying on her belly, legs tucked underneath her and eyes tilted skywards.

“Lovely night tonight, isn’t it?” Twilight said. Conversations like this were like brewing potions, in her experience. If she didn’t take things slow and steady, she’d mess it up.

“Yes,Twilight?” Starlight said, not taking her eyes off the night sky.

“Mind if I join you?”

Starlight nodded softly. Twilight laid down next to her pupil and tilted her head skywards. Luna was in rare form tonight. The heavens were perfect; no clouds, no haze, nothing. If it weren’t for the familiar twinkle, she’d never know there was an atmosphere. And the stars… so many stars.

The astronomer in Twilight reminded her that those little points of light were hundreds of billions of miles away. Some of the light entering Twilight’s eye started its journey back before the Princesses were born. Some of those stars had been dead when the pony race was new, and their ghosts continued to haunt the night sky.

The night sky seemed to suck Twilight in. She became an atom, on a little dust speck floating through the void. All of her accomplishments, her friends, her castle, were less than nothing compared to the heavens.

“Twilight? Twilight, are you alright?”

Twilight realized that her mouth had been open this entire time. “Oh, I’m fine.” She laughed sheepishly, wiping some drool from her face. “Just wondering, that’s all.”

“Yes. Looking at the sky always does that.” Starlight sighed. “They’re all so different, the stars. Some will burn for billions of years, others will burn out in a few million. Some are so big they could swallow both Equis and our sun, others are so small they barely qualify as stars.” Starlight hung her head. “Reminds me of how much of an idiot I’ve been.”

Twilight squirmed. This conversation needed to change. Fast.

“Oh, look, there’s the Ladle.” Twilight pointed to an arrangement of stars that vaguely resembled a ladle. “Oh, and I think I see a few planets. Do you see them?”

“Yes,” starlight said, a little more emotion in her voice. “I see them too.” She pointed to a yellow dot near the horizon. “There’s Aphrodite.” She pointed to another red dot slightly above it. “And that looks like Ares, right there.”

“That’s right.” Twilight smiled. “I didn’t know you were so interested in astronomy, Starlight.”

“You have no idea.” Something resembling a smile spread across Starlight’s face. “When I was a filly, I pretty much devoured astronomy books. Show me a star in the sky, and I could tell you its name, its age, its distance, you name it.” She chuckled. “If I hadn’t been so good at magic, I probably would have gotten an astronomy cutie mark instead.”

“Sunburst also liked astronomy,” she continued. “Every night, he and I would climb on the roof of his house and gaze at the stars for hours, challenging each other on how many constellations we could find. Sometimes we even tried making up our own. His parents didn’t like it—they were worried that he might fall off.” Her ears drooped.

“Starlight, you can still see Sunburst again.” Twilight held Starlight’s hoof. “I have a few contacts in the Canterlot records office. With enough time, I should be able to find him.”

“Thank you, princess, but you needn’t bother.” She sighed.

“Why? It’s been years since you last saw each other. I bet he’d be overjoyed to see you again.”

“After what I did, I seriously doubt that.” Starlight’s voice trailed off. For a few minutes, both mares just sat there, barely moving. Twilight could feel a heaviness in the air, as if the universe itself was feeling awkward.

“Twilight?” Starlight finally broke the ice.

“Yes?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

Starlight took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, then released. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“You and your friends, why did you forgive me?”

Twilight kicked herself mentally. Idiot! Why didn’t she see it before?

“Well why wouldn’t we forgive you, Star?” Twilight asked. “You’re our friend now.”

Starlight tilted her head. “Twilight, less than a day ago, I was the most dangerous mare in Equestria. I founded a cult dedicated to destroying individuality. I lied to ponies and told them that suppressing their natural talents was a good thing. When you and your friends arrived to investigate, I stole your special talents and tried to run away with them!”

Starlight sniffed. “When that failed, I used a forbidden spell to rewrite history out of spite.” A few tears trickled down Starlight’s face, followed by another sniff. “When… when I surrendered, I fully expected to be punished. Exile. Petrification. Execution. Whatever. I would have accepted it.” She snorted. “Queen knows I deserved it.”

“Starlight…”

“Instead, you and your friends forgive me. The princesses make me your new student. Your hyperactive, possibly insane, friend throws me a party.”

Starlight stomped a hoof. “Why? Why this chance? Why this party?! I don’t deserve any of this. I don’t deserve it at all!”

Twilight thought for a second. Deep within her mind, old lessons were dug up and dusted off. They seemed like they had been stored for so long they had become fossilized.

“Star... you’re right. You don’t deserve any of this.”

Starlight acted as if somepony had pulled her plug. Her ears didn’t droop; they wilted. Her legs gave out and she slumped to the floor.

Twilight picked up her distraught friend and and put a forehoof under her chin.

“Let me finish. You don’t deserve to be forgiven, just like how Sunset Shimmer didn’t deserve to be forgiven for trying to steal my crown, or how Trixie didn’t deserve to be pardoned when she enslaved Ponyville, or how I didn’t deserve forgiveness when I hypnotized the entire town into fighting over a stuffed donkey.” Twilight grimaced at the last one. That had not been her proudest moment.

“You what?!”

“Long story. My point is that nopony truly deserves forgiveness for anything. But we forgive them anyway. Now, as your teacher, I want you to tell me why. Why were those ponies forgiven?”

“Because…” Starlight put a hoof to her chin. “Because it’s the right thing to do?”

“Partly correct. The reason we forgive ponies is because the ponies who did those bad things are gone.”

“What?!”

Twilight held up a hoof. “Please, let me explain,” she continued. “When I was a filly, my parents taught me that when you forgive a pony who is genuinely sorry for what they did, that pony ceases to exist, and a new one takes their place.

“When Trixie was forgiven, she became a humbler pony. When I forgave Sunset for what she did, she learned the true meaning of friendship. And when Celestia forgave me for brainwashing the entire town, I finally learned to stop stressing over my studies so much.”

Starlight’s ears perked up. Twilight could almost see the little magelight appearing over her head. “So, it’s kind of like taking off a dirty sock and putting on a new one?”

“Exactly!” Twilight patted Starlight on the back. “That’s a good analogy, Starlight.”

“Thanks.” Starlight looked off into the distance. ”I’m not sure I completely understand it, though. It’s still so confusing.”

“That’s the beautiful thing about forgiveness; you don’t have to understand it, you only have to accept it.”

“Yes, I think I can live with that.” Starlight turned to Twilight. “There’s something that’s bothering me, though.”

“What?”

“Well, when you forgive somepony, don’t they still have to make up for what they did? I mean, just because you forgive a bank robber doesn’t mean he won’t go to jail.”

“Right again.” Twilight beamed. “When Celestia forgave me, I wasn’t punished, but I still had to apologize to everypony in town. Trixie agreed to help fix all the damage she’d caused, and after the wedding, my friends agreed to help me around the library for a week.”

“Then, what will I need to do?” Starlight asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

Twilight smiled. “Starlight... You’re already doing it.”

Starlight gave a confused grunt. “What?”

“Starlight, you have serious potential. With your talents, you could do a lot for Equestria, maybe even more than I have. But without friendship, you were lost. Once you finally understand the true value of friendship, you’ll be able more than make up for what you did.”

“You got that right, sugarcube.”

Two heads, one pink, one lavender, whipped around to see Applejack and the rest of Twilight's friends standing right behind them.

“How... long were you there?” asked Starlight.

“Eh, pretty much the entire time,” said Rainbow. “Didn’t know you knew so much about stars.”

Starlight turned to Twilight. “Do they do this often?”

“Don’t get me started,” Twilight mumbled.

“Really, darling, don’t think of this as a punishment, think of it as, well, rehabilitation.”

Fluttershy trotted up to Starlight. “Look at it this way. You were sick, and now we’re going to help you get better.”

“Yeah, and if any ponies try to give you trouble, they’re gonna have to get through me first!” Rainbow beat a forehoof against her barrel.

Tears welled up in Starlight’s eyes. “I... I... ” Starlight threw her arms around Fluttershy. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

“No problem, sugarcube,” said Applejack, joining in the hug.

Pinkie started twitching.

“Are you alright, Pinkie?” Starlight said.

There was a pink blur, and the next thing Twilight knew, she was pressed up against her friends, in a soft, multi-colored blob. She lived for times like this.

“C’mon, everypony,” Pinkie said, launching herself into the air. She motioned back towards the bedroom. “That pony isn’t going to pin its tail on itself, because if it did, we wouldn’t have to pin it ourselves and we’d just be watching a pony and that would be boring, but then again it would mean that I could—”

“Pinkie!”

“Oh, sorry!” With that, Pinkie took off in a cloud of dust

Twilight turned to Starlight. “Speaking of friendship, I think it’s time for your first assignment, Starlight.”

“What is it?”

Twilight smiled. “Enjoy the party.”

Starlight smiled and nodded. “Will do, teacher!”

Author's Notes:

If you're going to critique this, I ask only one thing:

Rip it to shreds.