After a long day of hard work, there was nothing Starlight enjoyed more than being able to relax in her home with a nice cup of tea. And so, with her kettle boiling, se was just making the finishing touches to her favourite chair, getting her pillows in just the right arrangement she liked so much. It wasn't long afterwards when she finally heard her water finish boiling, and so she went over and, lighting up her horn, poured the water into the tea pot. There was nothing else important she needed to be doing right now, and as such, she saw no issue in simply standing to one side and waiting until the tea had brewed properly. When it had, she took the pot and promptly poured it into a cup she'd already prepared earlier. Smiling to it, she carefully levitated it over as she walked to her chair. After taking a few moments to just snuggle up on her pillows in just the right way, she took a single sip of her drink.

"Ah...perfect."

But then, to her surprise, she heard a knocking upon her door. Though not expecting this, she nevertheless took it in stride, placing her tea cup to one side for the time being. Walking to her door, she opened it, and saw that there, waiting on the other side, was Twilight.

"Oh! Princess? I wasn't expecting you."

Twilight smiled to that.

"Is it alright if I come in?"

Starlight was a little uncertain, but even so, she too began to smile in response, standing to one side and silently giving consent to her guest. Twilight nodded to this before entering, and as Starlight closed the door behind her, she turned to face her.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Starlight shook her head.

"Not at all. I was just getting some tea. Would you like some?"

Twilight chuckled slightly.

"I would love some."

And with that, Twilight watched her host make her way back to the kitchen, and in her absence, she picked out a chair and sat down, waiting for her to come back. Thankfully, that wasn't long, and within moments, the young Princess too had a cup of tea to enjoy. Starlight herself got back to her chair, looking on as Twilight took her first sip.

"Wow! This is really good!"

Starlight smiled.

"Thanks. I used to be total garbage at making tea. But then Herbal came to town and...well...you can probably figure it out."

Twilight nodded.

"Yeah..."

The tone she'd spoken that in made it clear that there was something that was on her mind. Starlight picked up on it immediately, but for a while, she said nothing, instead wanting to give the Princess her space. However, as a silence fell over the two mares, Twilight became more and more lost in thought, occasionally glancing up to Starlight before looking once more back down to her tea. Then, after having done this for some minutes, she let out a long sigh.

"Starlight...I owe you an apology."

Now that did surprise Starlight, and she looked to Twilight with an overt look of being taken aback. But then, after having gathered her thoughts, she replied.

"Um...for what?"

Twilight looked up to her.

"From the moment I set foot in your home, learned about your way of life, I was convinced that something was wrong. That something terrible was waiting to be found. I looked to you, to your neighbours, as being involved in something strange, unheard of...and that maybe you were a problem that I needed to fix."

Shame came to her.

"But I was wrong. Everypony here has been good to us, and I rewarded that good nature with suspicion and mistrust."

Starlight's face softened.

"Twilight...I appreciate that...but you're hardly the first pony to be uncomfortable with what we do here. Almost everypony you see here would have had that same difficulty at one point or another."

But Twilight shook her head.

"I'm the Princess of Friendship, Starlight! I'm not supposed to just go around thinking the worst of people like that!"

Thinking on that, Starlight let out a sigh of her own.

"You know...if it makes you feel any better...my reasons for starting this Town weren't...entirely altruistic...at least at first."

Twilight looked to her with confusion, and after a while, Starlight stared down at her tea, before beginning to explain herself.

"When I was a filly...I had a friend named Sunburst. He and I were inseparable. We did everything together. We learned magic, made plans for our future...and we thought we'd always be together."

Briefly, a grimace came to her.

"Then...one day...he got his cutie mark, and before I knew it, he was whisked away to a prestigious unicorn school...and I never saw him again."

She took another sip of her tea before continuing.

"Without him, I realised just how much I relied on him. My magic was good, but it was always him who found the spells, learned about them, helped me to understand them. As I grew up without him, I came to realise how much better off I was having help like that...and it wasn't long before I could see that kind of thing in others."

Slowly, she looked up to Twilight.

"All through my years, I saw ponies who needed help. Who had some sense of...some sense of needing more, so they could accomplish more."

Then, a smile touched her lips.

"That's when I learned about the Conduit. It was a small thing at first, some rumour spoken of in an old dusty tome...but it started me off on a journey...and that journey led me to...well...you know how things ended up."

Twilight nodded, understanding.

"That's...quite a story."

But Starlight still looked guilty about something.

"I may have ended up making something good...but it all began with, let's be honest, a fairly childish thing. Me losing my friend and feeling sad over it."

This time, however, it was Twilight's turn to once more look ashamed.

"That may be...but you've still done good, Starlight. The community you've made, what you're trying to achieve...it's all so...so much better than I could have thought."

Starlight looked to her, sounding more serious now.

"Don't think this a perfect place, Twilight. There are issues here, just as they are anywhere else."

Twilight tilted her head.

"Like what?"

Another sip of tea was taken before Starlight carried on.

"Well, for one thing, if somepony came here with ill intent, connected to the Conduit, and decided to use those new talents for...let's say less-than-selfless reasons...it might be a problem."

Twilight thought on that.

"True..."

Her eyes narrowed.

"...but that pony would still be surrounded by a whole population just as capable as they were. They may be made better, but it's still only bringing them to the same level as everypony else here."

Starlight nodded.

"You're right...but still...it's something that gives me pause for thought sometimes."

Turning, she looked out of her window, and could see a small group of fillies and colts, playing out in the street. A smile came to her, albeit a faint one.

"And then there's the matter of the children."

Of course, a statement like that caught Twilight's interest immediately.

"The...the children?"

Starlight nodded.

"Yes. You know that silly little thing they often have towards fillies and colts with no cutie marks? That whole blank-flank thing?"

Hearing that, Twilight giggled a little.

"Yeah. In fact, both Applejack and Rarity have sisters who get called that every now and again."

Starlight smiled.

"Well...here, it's a little different. There's still that pressure to get a mark. But instead of just getting one, it's getting one the Town doesn't already have. The kids...they want to feel like they're helping out, and if they get a mark that isn't new...they end up feeling like they can't really do that."

Twilight took that in.

"Yeah...I suppose that would get a little disappointing for them."

She shook her head soon afterwards.

"But even so, compared to everything else...that's a small problem, Starlight."

The town founder took another sip of her tea.

"I know...but I just wanted to let you know that, in spite of how proud we are of our home...we have problems like everywhere else. Things we need to work out."

Thoughtfulness came to her.

"Sometime in the future...I don't know when...our Town will become known to Equestria as a whole. Many will look at what we do here as...wrong. We've all talked about it, and we're ready for when it comes."

A look of sadness took hold in her face.

"But even so...it won't be pleasant when it finally happens."

For the longest time, Twilight thought hard on those words. Everything she'd learned about this place, everything she'd heard from the ponies she'd met here, it all swam around in her thoughts. And amidst it all, a new thought began to take root. An idea, and one that had never occurred to her before now, began to grow and grow. Her eyes widened, realisation coming to her, and even a little shame. She let out a long sigh, and looked upwards, to Starlight.

"I...I think I finally understand why the Map called us here."

Starlight looked to her, intrigued.

"Oh?"

Twilight nodded.

"I think...it wasn't you who had the problem...but us."

Starlight seemed taken aback by that.

"You?!"

Twilight looked away.

"We have a responsibility now. To go out into Equestria to make things right between friends. But...that was never going to work if we went to these places assuming the worst of the ponies we met. And that's exactly what my friends and I did here."

She looked back to Starlight.

"We had to come here, to learn this important lesson. There are people who do things differently to how we do, both here and beyond...but that doesn’t mean we can't be friends with those people."

Slowly, she got out of her chair, walking towards her host.

"I want to be your friend, Starlight. I want all of us to be your friends. And with the people of your Town too. We may be different...but that shouldn't divide us."

A small smile came to her.

"If I'm going to continue undertaking the tasks the Map has for me...learning to accept those differences will have to be a part of how I think from now on."

Starlight, as one would expect, wasn't quite sure of how to take all of this. But, she knew her guest had meant every word of it. So, slowly, she too began to smile, and carefully hopped off her chair. After a while of saying nothing, she reached out her hoof, offering it to Twilight. The young Princess looked to it, then to Starlight's face, before smiling again and accepting the offered hoof.

"So...friends?"

Considering that, the unicorn mare nodded.

"Yeah...I think we can be."

Then, to Twilight’s slight confusion, Starlight started to look down to her flank.

“Um...Princess?”

Turning, Twilight saw, to her own surprise, that her cutie mark was beginning to glow, which was a sight that prompted an obvious question on the part of Starlight.

“What...what’s that supposed to mean?”

Thinking on that for a moment or two, Twilight eventually resumed her smile, looking back to her new friend.

“I think...it means my purpose here really is finished.”

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