Pound and Pumpkin were standing by the front entrance to the shop, waiting for their guests to arrive. Twilight had told them that Flurry and the filly’s parents had both given their approval.

They wondered who the filly was, and what she was like. What had drawn Flurry to her compared to some of the other possible friends she could have made? They were eager to find out. After all, before they had started school the only friend they had around their own age was each other, and now they had four peers and Mayhem.

It was all very exciting. They had barely been able to do their homework.

At about three o’clock the door opened, and the twins eyes lit up as they saw Twilight.

Behind her were Flurry Heart and a filly they had never seen before.

“Flurry!” they called out, running toward her.

Flurry met them halfway, all three of them hugging. “Hey, you guys!”

“We missed you,” said Pound.

“I missed you guys too. It’s so good to see you again.” After a few seconds Flurry released them, pointing behind her to the filly. “This is the friend I was telling you about.”

Pound gave a little bow. “Hello, there. I’m Pound Cake.”

Pumpkin mimicked the gesture. “I’m Pumpkin Cake. Nice to meet you.”

The filly looked around furtively, like she was trying to find a place to hide. She gulped, then said in a near whisper, “I’m… C-Crystal Mine.”

Crystal was a light white. Being outside of the Crystal Empire, her coat didn’t have the usual shine that was common of crystal ponies.

Looking at Crystal the twins were strongly reminded of when they had first met Flurry. She looked for all the world like she would rather be heading home at that moment.

“There’s no need to be nervous,” said Pound. “Our home is your home.”

Pumpkin gestured around to the display cases. “Just look around. Our family runs a sweet shop. Cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream sundaes; you name it, we probably got it. What would you like?”

Crystal still looked on the verge of bolting, but gradually she walked forward, taking in the store. She looked up at Pinkie. “C-could I get a slice of strawberry pie?”

“Yeparooni!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Winking at her she said, “I’ll even let you have two.”

Once all of them had a snack the quartet headed upstairs to the twins room.

Sitting on the floor they began digging into their desserts.

Crystal looked slightly less uncomfortable now, no longer looking like she was about to have a panic attack. It was a good sign. They thought that it was likely because they were away from Twilight. An adult alicorn she hadn’t met before was probably more scary than one around her age she had met a few times. Even so, she was still very subdued.

The twins shared a meaningful look, nodding at each other. They had already discussed a course of action for this. They weren’t going to confront her about her feelings. They were just going to treat this like a day with any other friend, and wait for Crystal to come around on her own.

When they finished their snacks Pound moved the plates against one of the walls to bring down later.

“Do you like animals?” asked Pound as he sat down again.

Crystal gave a timid nod. “Y-yeah.” She looked at Tiger Lily sitting on the bed. “I… I like your cat.”

“That one’s mine,” said Pumpkin. “Her name is Tiger Lily.” Pumpkin gave a little whistle. “Come here, Tiger.”

Tiger opened an eye, considering Pumpkin for a moment.

“Come on, Tiger Lily. Introduce yourself to our guest.”

She got up, stretching, before hopping off the bed, her tail elevated as she walked over. She rubbed up against Pumpkin as she passed, giving a sniff to Crystal.

The filly tentatively gave her a pet.

Tiger crawled up onto her lap, spinning in a circle and curling up. That brought a small smile to the filly as she started petting Tiger Lily, causing her to purr.

So far, so good, they thought.

Champ walked up to her as well, causing the filly to jerk and push him away with a cry of surprise.

“Hey,” said Pound calmly. “What did you do that for?”

“Cats and dogs fight, don’t they? I don’t want them going at it on my lap.”

“Oh. No worries there,” said Pumpkin. “The two of them are good friends. We got both of them from the same mare, so they’ve been together for a while.”

As if to demonstrate Champ licked Tiger’s cheek, and she nuzzled him in return.

Champ then lay down next to her.

“Aww, they like you,” said Flurry.

“I guess they do,” Crystal responded. “What’s the dog’s name?”

“Champ,” Pound responded. “He’s mine.”

“I don’t have a pet. I suppose my parents might let me have one if I asked. I just never spent enough time with animals to think about it.”

Pumpkin giggled. Her horn lit up, and from across the room a brush came to them. “Tiger will be your best friend if you give her a good brushing. It helps to get rid of loose hair and just makes her so happy.”

Crystal took the brush, gently bobbing as she brushed the cat. Tiger’s purring grew louder, her eyes closing.

Pumpkin grinned widely. Things were going great. Crystal looked as content as Tiger Lily. It was a good start.

“We haven’t had our pets too long,” said Pumpkin. “Just a little over two months.”

“Yeah,” said Pound. “But even though they’ve only been in our lives a short time they’ve brought us both so much joy. Having a pet to cuddle up with at night feels great.”

“The thing is, we didn’t even want pets in the first place.”

“Why not?” asked Crystal.

“Well, the day before we got our pets Flurry’s parents brought her newborn sister over here.”

“Why?” she asked, looking a little less enthused as they got onto the topic of princesses. “That seems an awfully long way to travel just to show off a baby.”

“That’s simple,” said Pound. “Princess Cadance is married to Shining Armor, and Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother, making Flurry and Skyla Twilight’s nieces. She wanted her family to meet her new child.”

“Oh. I didn’t know they were all connected like that. Guess that explains why Princess Twilight came to ask about this hangout instead of Princess Cadance.

“So where do you two fit into this?”

“Twilight is friends with our family, so we were one of the first ones to meet Skyla after she was brought here,” said Pumpkin.

“Well, that ties everything up. So you met Skyla and Flurry then.”

She shook her head. “No. We didn’t meet Flurry until our birthday party. She didn’t feel like coming then.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, we played with Skyla, and she really took a liking to us. We played and cuddled and sang, and it was really fun.”

“The next day,” said Pound, “we were playing pretend, where me and Pumpkin were a mommy and daddy, and we decided we didn’t want to just play with a stuffed animal baby. We wanted the real thing. But our parents said it would be too much of a hassle, and even if they did say yes it still would take a long time for the baby to arrive.”

Crystal caught on. “So they let you adopt some pets instead?”

They nodded.

She extended a hoof, running it through Champ’s fur. “That sounds like it was fun. They seem really well behaved.”

“Well, our friend is really good with animals,” said Pumpkin. “She can actually talk to them.”

Crystal’s eyebrow rose. “Anyone can talk to animals.”

“I guess you have a point there, but Fluttershy can understand them like they’re speaking our language.”

Now her eye’s widened slightly. “That sounds like a cool gift.”

Pound moved over, petting Champ. “Well, even if we can’t hear animals like she can the two of us still understand our pets pretty well.”

“So how did you meet Flurry?” asked Pumpkin.

“We met at the playground near my house.” Once more Crystal’s enthusiasm leaked out of her. “She had fallen off the swing, and I went to check up on her.”

“That was nice of you.”

“Turns out that pushing yourself with magic is a little harder than I thought,” said Flurry awkwardly. “I tried pushing the swing, and accidentally went and shoved myself right out of the seat. I had been holding onto the bars, but that only slowed me down a second before my weight pulled me off and I fell right on my knees. “

“She wasn’t really hurt,” said Crystal. “She thanked me, and then we started pushing each other on the swings. At the time I didn’t even realize who she was. Or what she was.”

“What she was?” asked Pound.

“An alicorn,” she responded. “I certainly didn’t expect a princess to be just casually hanging out at the regular old playground.”

That caused both of them confusion. “Wait,” said Pumpkin. “You never knew what Flurry looked like?”

“It’s not too surprising,” said Flurry. “I don’t go out too often, and when I did it was usually with Uncle Sunny or Aunt Starlight. Neither of them are as well-known as my parents.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

“I needed a break from studying, so I asked Uncle Sunny to take me to the playground to play.”

Crystal moved Tiger Lily off her lap and curled up, putting her head on her knees. “It was fun. We went on the swings, chased each other around, and went up and down on the teeter-totter. Everything was good.

“When I had to leave she left with me to find out where I lived, and we agreed to play together again.”

The twins confusion only grew. Crystal had already spent time with Flurry as a regular kid, and they had had a blast. So what was different? What had changed?

“So what happened?” asked Pound. “It sounds like the two of you got off to a great start.”

Crystal held herself a little tighter. “Imagine my surprise when the next time Flurry came over to hang out it was with her mother. I had the leader of our entire kingdom in my living room. And that was when I realized we had been having so much fun together we had never asked for each other’s names.

“I already felt pressured to keep Flurry happy, but I screwed up. Only a short while into our playdate I went to bring her a drink. I tripped, getting it all over her.” She let out a sigh. “After that she just glared at me for a bit and stormed out. That was the last I heard of her for over a month.”

Flurry got an awkward look on her face.

“And then she suddenly returned to apologize and ask if we could start over.” Turning her head away she said, “Well, who was I to refuse a princess's demand?”

“Twilight asked us if Flurry could come to our birthday party because she was having trouble making friends,” said Pound. “They knew there was something eating away at her, but they couldn’t figure out what.

“It took a little time to get her to trust us, but eventually she opened up and told us her secret, and it was a pretty big thing. It wasn’t your fault. Once we helped her through her problems she felt ready to give friendship another shot. That’s why she came back to you.”

Crystals' eye's moved toward them, narrowing. She took in a sharp breath through her nose.

Pumpkin noticed her cold expression, wondering what the cause of it was. Maybe it was time to back off. They had the basic picture of how the two had met and been broken apart. Now it was time to mend that friendship.

“Well, I think that’s enough talk. Why don’t we play a game together?”

Pumpkin went into the closet, pulling out a few board games. “How about this one?” She lifted up Hungry, Hungry Parasprites. “Flurry enjoyed this one the last time she was here.”

“Okay,” said Crystal, her gaze becoming more neutral.

Taking out the board she put it in the middle of the four of them. “This game is really simple. We drop the marbles with food items on them onto the board, and everyone tries to get as many as possible into the parasprites mouth. The one who collects the most marbles wins.”

Crystal stared at the little parasprite, gently pushing the switch that made its head go forward to 'eat’ the marbles.

Pumpkin levitated the bag of marbles over the board. “Ready?”

Flurry nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

“Let’s do it,” said Pound.

“I guess I’m ready too,” said Crystal.

“Okay,” said Pumpkin. “Three, two, one… GO!”

She emptied the bag onto the board, and there was a flurry of activity as they all hit the switches.

The other three were fully into the game, doing their best to win. Crystal, however, was more anxious, holding back. She didn’t want to beat Flurry. They didn’t notice.

When the game was over they all counted up the marbles.

Crystal came in last, then Pumpkin, then Flurry, and Pound won by a single marble.

“Argh!” Flurry called out, collapsing to the floor dramatically. “So close!”

“Not close enough!” said Pound with a triumphant expression. “The winnerrrrrrrrrrrrr!” Pound pumped his hooves.

Flurry put him in a headlock, giving him a noogie. “I’ll get you next time.”

“Yeah, right,” he called out, wrestling with her, both of them laughing.

Pumpkin playfully shook her head. “Just look at those two,” she said, looking at Crystal. She noticed Crystal looked on the verge of tears. She patted the filly’s head. “Aw, come on,” she said comfortingly. “Everyone loses sometime. Cheer up.”

That made Flurry and Pound disengage. “Don’t be sad,” said Pound. “You’ll do better next time.”

“I don’t care about the game,” said Crystal.

“Then what’s wrong?” asked Flurry. “I thought we were having fun.”

Crystal didn’t answer, turning and petting Champ, who was still lying nearby.

None of them were sure what to say.

“Excuse me, you guys,” said Flurry, clenching her back legs a bit. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Okay,” Pumpkin responded. “You remember where it is?”

She nodded. “I remember.” She got up and left the room.

Crystal let out a long sigh, her body relaxing a bit. “How do you do it?” she asked quietly.

“Do what?” asked Pound.

“Do what? You know what! How can you just act like it’s no big deal having royalty in your house?”

He shrugged. “Because it’s not.”

Crystal blinked, giving him a dirty look. “Oh, it’s not, huh? I suppose this store is just packed everyday with the most important ponies in the world. I’m sure yesterday all the Wonderbolts stopped here after training for a quick snack. And Princess Celestia needed some cake. And Princess Luna stopped here for some moon pies.”

Pumpkin felt like they were getting to the issue. It was a fine time to talk to her one-on-one. Or two-on-one, considering Pound was there too. “We’re not that well-known, but we do have some important ponies in our lives. You remember the pink-coated pony at the register who gave you the pie?”

“Yeah...”

“That’s our Auntie Pinkie Pie. She’s one of the Elements of Friendship.”

Crystal’s eyes widened, her mouth hanging open a bit. “Her?” she asked incredulously. “What is one of the most important ponies in the world doing ringing up customers?”

“Auntie Pinkie is a hero, sure, but when she’s not out saving the world she’s just a pony like the rest of us.”

“She’s the Element of Laughter,” said Pound. “And her life’s goal is to make as many ponies happy as possible. So, like Pumpkin said, when she’s not doing important stuff for the world she’s doing what’s important to her: throwing parties and spreading joy.”

“And because the other Elements of Friendship are, obviously, her friends, we’ve met all the rest of them a bunch of times. One of them is a fashion designer, one of them is an animal caretaker, one of them is a flight instructor, and one of them is an apple farmer. It’s the same with them. They just go on with their normal, everyday lives until they’re needed.”

“And then, of course, is Princess Twilight. She’s super cool.”

Crystal shook a bit. “I know who she is. She’s the one that took me here. What else was I supposed to say when I had two princesses asking me to come out here?”

“You could have said ‘no,’ you know?”

Crystal gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, yeah! Just say no. No way that would have backfired, right?”

“What do you think would have happened if you declined?” asked Pumpkin.

“Who knows? I didn’t feel like finding out. If I went and upset their daughter again Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor probably would have made things hard for my family. Better to play it safe.”

The twins looked at each other, sharing a sad look. Twilight had told them they didn’t have to feel bad on her behalf, but they couldn’t help it. Pound had been teased and bullied for being different until he finally flew. Pumpkin hadn’t experienced ostracizing herself, but she had seen the effect it had on Pound, as well as Flurry Heart during their birthday party. Both of them understood the painful feelings Twilight and Flurry had to go through, even if indirectly.

“What do you think about Flurry Heart?” asked Pumpkin.

“I don’t know,” she said, starting to fidget. "She’s a princess, and an alicorn. What else do you want me to say?”

Pumpkin shook her head. “That’s just stating facts about her. I asked what you think about her.”

“Do you think she’s smart?” asked Pound. “Funny? Interesting?”

“What does that matter?” Crystal asked, getting up and starting to pace a bit.

“It matters because there’s more to Flurry than being a princess or an alicorn. In fact, those are the two least important things about her.”

Crystal stopped her pacing, looking at Pound like he had three heads, her head tilting. “What is the matter with you?”

“I could ask the same to you," Pound replied defensively. "Why do you think Flurry’s parents or Twilight are some evil ponies that would ruin your life just because you said you didn’t want to play with Flurry? The Princess of Love and the Princess of Friendship. These are the ponies you think you need to 'play it safe' with?”

Crystal flushed, looking away.

“Flurry is a nice pony,” said Pumpkin. “She wants to be friends with you. What’s the big deal?”

Crystal’s face went crimson as she glared at them. “What’s the big deal? Maybe it escaped your notice, growing up and being besties with important ponies like the Elements of Friendship, but not everyone is that lucky.

“Not everyone feels comfortable just casually visiting Princess Twilight’s castle to hang out, or has them living in the same house as you. I don’t expect you to understand my feelings. How could you?

“Maybe it’s not a big deal to you just having royalty in your house, but it’s a big deal to me!”

That gave Pound and Pumpkin pause. They couldn’t exactly dispute that. If Auntie Pinkie hadn’t moved into Sugarcube Corner they might never have had any real, personal interaction with most of the Elements of Friendship, let alone Princess Twilight.

Having grown up with it, that sort of thing was normal to them. They didn’t think twice about treating Twilight like they would anyone else the majority of the time.

“You’re right,” Pound said slowly. “We don’t understand how you feel.”

Crystal’s glare grew less pronounced.

“However,” said Pumpkin, “you don’t understand how Flurry feels either.”

“And how does she feel?” she responded.

“Flurry wrote to us about how she was having difficulty making friends. She really wanted to make things work with you. That’s why she went to all the trouble of bringing the both of you here. She was hoping that being around some other regular ponies doing regular things would help you see she’s more than just her outward appearance.”

Pound put a hoof to his chest. “That’s what I meant when I said those were her least important qualities. Being a princess or an alicorn doesn’t make someone good or bad. What’s the most important is their heart.

“I know you feel afraid of Flurry because of her status, but if that wasn’t an issue does she seem like the kind of pony you’d want to be friends with? I mean, you said before that before you knew who she was you had a great time together.”

“I… I don’t know,” Crystal replied, looking awkward now. “The few times we played together after she apologized I was always nervous about screwing things up or upsetting her again. Even though it’s gone well… I just don’t feel close to her. I can’t really call her a friend. Even so, she keeps coming to visit and asking for us to play together.” She shrugged. “I don’t get it.”

“I get it,” said Pumpkin. “The reason she keeps coming back to visit, the reason she brought you here… it’s because she believes you’re a friend worth fighting to keep.”

Crystal winced hard, her eyes clenching shut as she let out a quiet sob. “Why? What does she care? I’m just some nobody. She could have picked any kid in the Crystal Empire and she-”

“AND she chose YOU!”

Crystal was panting. “L-like I said, I’m not like you two. I didn’t grow up hanging out with important ponies like princesses. I was just some kid. And then to my surprise Princess Flurry Heart stopped me by the playground and asked if I wanted to play with her.” She sniffed. “That time it didn’t really matter to me that she was a princess, but then she came to my house. I just wanted everything to go right... but of course things never go right.

“I brought some snacks and juice for us to enjoy, and I wound up tripping over something on the floor, both cups going flying and landing right on her, soaking her mane and coat.”

She clenched again, quietly sobbing. “I felt so horrible, and I just grew so afraid. She just stared at me for awhile, and then without a word she just stormed off.”

She sat down, hugging herself. “Sure, I thought we could be friends, but she didn’t come talk to me again for like two months after that. She must have been furious at me. What kind of friendship would we even have if she’d get so mad we wouldn’t speak for months just for a simple mistake?

“Then she tells me she wants to try again? What’s different now? I know I’m not perfect, so now I’m just waiting for the next mistake to break our ‘friendship’ for good.”

“I’m sorry, Crystal,” came the voice of Flurry from the door.

The filly jumped, her head turning rapidly to the noise.

Flurry had a guilty look on her face. “I didn’t know that’s how you really felt.”

Crystal was trembling again. “H-how long have you been listening?”

“From the beginning. I didn’t actually need the bathroom. I just knew you wouldn’t be honest about your feelings as long as I was in the room.”

Crystal wasn’t sure how to respond, so she defaulted to anger. “Spying is a bad habit, little princess!”

Flurry just met her gaze, and said again, “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Well… well, you did! Okay?”

Flurry sat on the ground in front of her. “If you don’t want to hang out with me again after this that’s okay, but can you at least give me the chance to explain myself?”

Crystal was letting out some heavy breaths through her nose, but after a minute she sat down too. “Fine, then. Talk.”

“I was going through a really bad time in my life that day. I was feeling so stressed out that even little things like spilling some juice was too much. I just needed some time to cool off.”

Crystal crossed her hooves. “And then what about later on? You never came back.”

Flurry closed her eyes. “I just… I just couldn’t deal with things then. You were terrified of what had happened. You even told me yourself to just pretend we had never met.”

Crystal bit her lip. She had said that.

“I was just giving up on everything that didn’t involve studying and learning magic. I didn’t have the strength to try and convince you it was okay.”

“So what was going on? Why were you so frazzled?”

Flurry sighed. “I felt like I was being crushed by pressure. Everyone had so many expectations for me, like taking my mother’s place, or fighting threats to the Empire. I was feeling so overwhelmed.

“I put on a brave face, but I was so scared every day. Since I was born an alicorn, and each alicorn is a ruler of something big, I was afraid of not only losing my parents, but then being put on the throne myself, and at my age.

“That’s why I was so busy studying. I felt like I had to be prepared, so I had to know as much as I could. Every so often my mind would get so filled up I felt like I couldn’t take in any more. I’d want to unwind, so I tried to make some friends, but each of them ended badly, only making me feel worse.

“Most of the time it was my fault. With the pressure I was under I just wanted a perfect friendship, so when something bad happened I just let the friendship go. I couldn’t take any added stress, and I didn’t want to get into a shouting match with anyone. The last thing I wanted was to lose control.

“I didn’t really care that you spilled juice on me. Accidents happen. But I knew if I stayed I would only make you feel even worse, because I didn’t think I would be able to keep my temper.”

“So that’s it, huh?” asked Crystal, her expression inscrutable.

Flurry nodded. “I was living in fear every day, hoping with all my heart that nothing happened to my parents.” She let out a huff. “If only I had told my parents how I was really feeling I wouldn’t have had to go through so much pain.”

“So… why didn’t you?”

“Like I said, when my head got too full I wanted to just relax and have fun. I was afraid if I told my parents about my feelings they would even take that privilege away, and tell me the only thing I was allowed to do was study and learn. I already felt guilty when they didn’t say it.”

“That’s ridiculous! Why would your parents ban you from having fun?”

Flurry sniffed. “I was so stupid. I didn’t know what to think. It sounds crazy now, but back then even the possibility they might say it was too much.

"My parents brought me to the twins birthday party because Aunt Twilight thought they could help me. I was being pretty loud when I opened up, so my parents heard my true feelings, and they told me that all the things I was afraid of had already been planned for and taken care of, so I didn't have to worry about them. It was a huge weight off my shoulders."

Crystal took in a sharp breath. “A birthday party with three alicorns, a prince who is also the captain of the Royal Guard, and probably all the Elements of Friendship?” She put a hoof to her head. “Makes me dizzy just thinking about it.”

“Four alicorns, actually. My baby sister was there too, even though she slept through the whole party.”

Crystal's eyebrow went up. “Was that supposed to make me feel better about things?”

“Mmm.” She thought that maybe that wasn’t the best time to be corrective. “Well, the whole point I was trying to make is that all of them came for two ‘regular’ ponies.”

“Well, good for them, but like I told those two behind you they’ve grown up with these ponies. It doesn’t surprise me that Pound and Pumpkin are in good with Princess Twilight if one of her best friends lives here.”

Pound gently tapped one of his hooves. He wanted to say something, but he held himself back. This was between the two of them. Now that they had made their dent it was time to stand aside and not interfere.

“It wasn’t only big shot ponies there, you know? They also invited a few of their peers, and none of them made a big fuss because they had all met Aunt Twilight before, so they knew what she was like.

“Just like Pound and Pumpkin said, when they’re not on-duty they’re just regular ponies. Even Aunt Twilight likes to just read books and learn new things.

“I’m not any different, but people treat me like I am because I’m an alicorn. I probably like the same kinds of things you like, but you’ll never know that if you don’t give me a chance to prove it.”

“What do you want from me?” asked Crystal.

“I don’t want anything from you except for you to treat me like you would anyone else.”

“How can I? We have a difference in status. No matter what happens in our life you’ll always be a princess, while I’ll just be a subject.”

A tear came down Flurry’s cheek. “But that’s not the way I want it to be! Don’t you get it? I want us to be closer than that. Just like Aunt Twilight has earth ponies, pegasi, and a unicorn as part of her Elements of Friendship I want you to be part of mine.”

“Why?” she responded heatedly. “Why me? What makes me so special? Of all the ponies in the Crystal Empire why pick a nobody like me?”

Flurry stomped a hoof. “Because I don’t think you’re a nobody! I think you’re really cool.”

“Compared to you, I doubt that.”

Flurry let out a scoffing noise. “You want to try this? Tell me how ‘cool’ it really is to be an alicorn. After a few days you’ll be begging to be regular again. Everywhere I go, having to endure the stares and the mocking.

"Knowing that my mother and my aunt both did something incredible to be transformed into alicorns just makes me feel so unworthy of these wings. I haven’t done anything special. I was just born this way.”

Flurry’s eyes clenched shut as she let out a sob. “Pound and Pumpkin and their friends went out of their way to help me, just because Aunt Twilight asked them to. They didn’t know me then. They had no reason to care about my feelings, but even though I was being rude and dismissive they still helped me to face my problems and get rid of all the stress I was going through.

“That’s the kind of friendship I want to have with you.” She looked into Crystal’s eyes, her own shimmering. “I've had several friendships fail because they couldn't see me for me. I picked you because, even though you were scared of me, you seemed like the most real pony out of all my potential friends. I was sure that if you could just look past your fear we could become close friends. I brought you all the way to Ponyville so you could see me just being a regular pony.

"I don’t want you to treat me like a princess, or as someone who’s better than you just because I have a few extra appendages. I want us to treat each other like equals, just like Aunt Twilight does with her own friends. I don’t look down on you for being an earth pony, so I don’t want you to put me on a pedestal because I’m an alicorn. I mean that. The both of us… we’re just ponies.” She put a hoof over her chest. “And I want to fill this hole in my heart with you.”

Crystal blinked, her mouth hanging open slightly. She looked down at the floor. “I don’t know if I can do that,” she said quietly.

“Like you said, you’re not like the twins. I understand it won’t be as quick to get to that point as it was with them.” She blinked the tears out of her eyes. “But can we give it a shot? I’m willing to wait until we build up our relationship. I want you to be real with me. I want you to feel safe getting angry or upset with me. I want us to be true friends, so I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to trust me.”

Crystal was quiet for about ten seconds, then turned away from her, curling up and putting her head on her knees.

Flurry wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. All she knew was that it would be good to give Crystal a little time to think.

Pound could feel Pumpkin squeezing his shoulder, and he knew that she was as eager as him to see Flurry make things work with her friend.

A few minutes passed, and the tension felt thick in the air as the three of them waited for Crystal’s response.

Flurry was biting her lip. Should she say something, or just keep quiet? Was there anything left to say?

She noticed Crystal start shivering, one of her hooves going up to her mouth as she bit it. Before she could ask if Crystal was alright the filly jumped up, turning around toward her with a heated expression.

“You know, you’re not the only one who has feelings, PRINCESS!” she said angrily. “I tried to make the best of things, having someone so high up on the social ladder as a friend. I don’t care if you were going through problems at the time. It still didn’t make the way you treated me right! Some friend you were!”

“Pound!” Pumpkin said sharply as she saw him start walking forward. “We can’t.”

Pound stopped, though he didn’t want to. Even though Crystal deserved to express her feelings he still felt his natural protective instincts kicking in seeing the hurt look on Flurry’s face.

“You complained that no one saw you for you, but you’re a stinkin’ hypocrite, because you certainly didn’t see me for me. You didn’t care about friendship. You only tried to make friends to take some of the pressure off yourself.

“And you know what? I GET that you left because you didn’t want to take your problems out on me. But you still couldn’t even do me the courtesy of apologizing to me until months later, when you made some other friends who helped you.”

She took a step forward, tears coming down her eyes. “If WE were supposed to be friends then why didn’t you trust ME like you did them? Why didn’t you tell ME about all these horrible things you were going through so that I COULD BE THERE FOR YOU? If you had done that maybe you could have gotten through this without their help.

“You think I don’t understand why you brought me here? Even after you fixed your problems you still didn’t trust me enough to tell me about your true feelings. And then you make your friends solve your problem for you because you were too much of a coward to do it yourself?

“What makes you think you’re even worthy of being my friend? Huh? Do you really think I want to be friends with someone who treats others like you do?” She panted slightly.

Pound was now the one squeezing Pumpkin. He felt like they had royally blown it.

Pumpkin had her head against his, both of them quietly crying. They couldn’t force Flurry and Crystal to be friends, but they had hoped they could make it happen.

Flurry looked into Crystal’s eyes, tears coming down her own eyes as well. She stood up, bowing her head. “I understand,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t being a good friend to you at all. I’m not going to make any excuses.”

She sniffed, wiping her face. After a few seconds she said, “I’m a filly of my word. I said you didn’t have to hang out with me again after this. I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll get Aunt Twilight to take you home.”

Pound's teeth clenched. Was it really going to end like this?

Flurry walked a few steps toward the exit, then stopped and returned to Crystal. “Crystal?”

“What?”

“I just... I just wanted to say ‘thank you.’ That’s all.”

That got all three of them looking at her strangely. “Why are you thanking me?” Crystal asked incredulously.

Flurry got a sad smile on her face. “It does hurt to know that I ruined our friendship, but at the same time… I just feel… so happy.”

“Happy?”

“Even if you don’t want to be friends, I really appreciate you being honest with me about your feelings. You did what I wanted you to do all along: treat me like a pony instead of a princess. You called me out on my bad behavior, talking to me like my equal.” Her eyes shimmered, her smile becoming more genuine. “I can’t tell you how good that feels.”

She shook her head, letting out a little laugh. “Oh, forget it. I’m just being silly. Let’s get you home.” She walked with her head held high. If she had gotten nothing else out of today she was grateful that she had finally gotten Crystal’s respect, even if it had come about in a negative way.

The twins felt an odd sense of respect for Flurry. She had taken rejection in such a mature fashion.

Crystal just stared at her oddly. That certainly wasn’t the reaction she had been expecting. “Flurry, wait!” she called out, trotting towards her.

Flurry stopped, turning around. “Yeah?”

Crystal took in a big breath. “Do you know how scary that was for me, saying all of that?”

“I bet. And that’s why I admire you so much for doing it.”

“Look… I’m not really angry at you, alright? I know you were going through some rough times, and you weren’t at your best. I understand that you were confused and scared and you screwed up. I just… I had to know.”

“Know what?” Flurry responded.

“You said that you want us to treat each other like equals, and be honest with our feelings. I was really scared of upsetting you or getting you angry, but I knew we couldn’t really be friends until I let out the anger in my heart toward you and saw how you responded. I didn’t know if you were gonna blast me off the face of the earth, or throw me in a dungeon, but I had to see what would happen if I yelled at you, and see if you really meant what you said.

"I was feeling jealous of Pound and Pumpkin, the way they were so casual with you. I was jealous how the three of you seemed so close. I want us to be like that. We both shared our hearts with one another, and I think it's the first step to a true friendship.”

Crystal smiled, tears coming down her eyes. “I forgive you, Flurry.” She hugged her. “Let’s be friends. For real this time.”

Tears welled up in Flurry’s eyes, and she began wailing as she returned the hug. “Thank you!” she cried out. “Thank you!”

The twins put a hoof around each other, seeing another bond of friendship forming.

Author's Notes:

This was a bit of a long one.

Did you think this was going to have a bad ending? Crystal had to test Flurry's words before she could drop her guard, even if it was the most terrifying thing she had ever done.