As soon as the duo made it back to Ponyville’s one and only Castle of Friendship, Starlight made her way to the nearest piece of comfortable furniture and plopped down with a tired groan. She was absolutely exhausted and it was only afternoon. Water Lily still had the rest of her day at school before she needed to be picked up and told her situation. Twilight had apparently finished all but one of her classes, and had gotten Rarity to sub for her. This gave Starlight a decent amount of time to relax and talk to Twilight about the past couple days and their events. She wanted to start by inquiring about what had happened when the alicorn spoke to Tiger Lily the previous night.

“Nothing really.” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “I didn’t say anything suggesting we were suspicious of her, at least, I don’t believe I did. Our conversation was pretty straight forward and uneventful. I asked her if Water Lily was social at all with family or friends, and asked out of curiosity why she’d been registered with my school. At this point though,” The alicorn puffed out her cheeks and gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes, “I’m sure it was just to get Water Lily out of her mane.”

“Did you see Water at all last night?”

“Yeah, I did.” Twilight answered, “She was just reading a book. I waved hello, but we didn’t really talk.”

“I see…” Starlight had wanted to ask further about any conversation between Twilight and the filly. But seeing as how they didn’t really speak to each other, that line of questioning was severed. Instead, Starlight decided to push for smaller details. Not necessarily related to the conversation itself. “Did you notice anything about the home? Was there any mare or stallion around the house we could talk to? Anything that seemed peculiar in anyway?”

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, pondering the question. “Well,” she started slowly, “there wasn’t anypony else there. If someone besides Tiger or Water lives there, they weren’t home while I was visiting. While talking to Tiger I did stop to admire her bookshelf. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but she does have quite a few books on magic. Some that I myself own.”

“Such as?” Starlight cocked a brow.

“A few that caught my eye were ‘Ancient Equestria: The History and Development of Magic’, ‘Elemental Magic and Matrix’, and a personal favorite of mine, ‘Starswirl the Bearded Anthology: A Collection of Memoirs, Magical anecdotes and Mystical Writings.’” That last book title Twilight recited with a certain enthusiasm. “There were others of course. Those are just a hoof-full off the top of my head.”

“Elemental Magic?” That sounded promising. “Like electricity spells? Like maybe Modica Inpulsa?” Modica Inpulsa was an odd spell for the average unicorn to know. A non lethal type of electrocution magic, used mostly in combat situations. It was more so meant to stun somepony than to cause lasting damage. Save for a burn where the spell hits. And of course, a magical scar much like the one Water Lily wore under her wing. “Assuming Tiger is generally familiar with magic, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to learn the spell if she knew where to look. Though it’s also possible somepony taught her the spell.”

Twilight’s face shifted into an incredulous look. “But who in Equestria…?”

“Just a possibility.” Starlight interrupted.

“Right,” The princess nodded. “Of course, that would raise more questions were that the case.” That it most certainly would. Had Tiger learned that spell of her own devices, the only question to answer would be why. If she’d been taught, that opened the floor to who taught her, when, why, and how.

“Let’s just remember it’s a possibility and nothing more.”

“Very well,” the princess agreed, flashing a small smile. “Well, these last forty eight hours have certainly been eventful if anything. Foal Protective Services should be with Tiger Lily pretty soon, and Water still has her last few classes.” Twilight said, glancing towards a clock hung on her crystal walls. “When school lets out for the day, I’d like you to go pick Water up. She seems to be comfortable with you. Until then, I need to go take care of some paperwork.”

More out of curiosity than anything else, Starlight asked, “What sort of paperwork?”

“Nothing interesting.” Twilight sighed. She seemed wistful as she spoke of the mountainous amounts of paperwork that always seemed to need doing. “Princess-y stuff, various forms and verifications for the school, that sort of thing.”

“ooh là là, sounds like you’ve got a fun evening planned.” Starlight nudged her mentor playfully, smirk dancing across her face.

“I wish.” Twilight smiled, meeting the unicorn’s playful gaze. “But alas, it must be done.”

“Well, best of luck with that. I’m sure I’ll be able to keep myself busy.”

The conversation came to a close, both mares leaving to go do other things. Twilight had her paperwork, but Starlight didn’t have much to do. Aside from sitting around killing time by doing nothing. She could go out and try to find a friend to talk to. Trixie may have had her wagon parked somewhere around Ponyville, and Maud was probably in one of the town’s few caves conducting geological research. But she didn’t much feel like going out. Starlight settled on passing her hours with a book. She levitated it over, flopping down on her bed. Though she read, she couldn’t focus on the words filling the leather bound pages. Her mind kept wandering to Water Lily.

Finally, the school day was over. Starlight skipped out her room, down the corridor, and through the doors of the crystal castle. She had bounce in her step, knowing happily that Water Lily wouldn’t be staying with Tiger that night. It didn’t take long at all to reach the School of Friendship, seeing as how it was practically attached to Twilight’s castle. Starlight waited eagerly by the entrance for the little pegasus filly she’d become quite acquainted with.

The wait wasn’t long. A couple minutes was all it took for Water Lily to appear in front of the school. She started her trot down the walkway but stopped when she saw Starlight waving at her. “Oh, hi Ms. Glimmer,” The filly greeted shyly. “Why did you run off earlier?”

“Actually, Water Lily.” Starlight moved closer to the little pony, making sure to give her a warm and loving look. “I’d like to talk to you about that. Do you think you could come with me to Twilight’s castle?”

Water Lily’s first instinct was curiosity, going off the puzzled look she gave upon hearing the request. But quickly it turned to apprehension. “Um… I don’t think mommy wants me being late coming home.”

“Don’t worry,” Starlight reassured, “me and Twilight spoke to your mother and-”

“Wait!” Water Lily’s eyes shot open, fear shone through them. “Like, not when Head-mare Twilight came to see us last night? Like today? Wait, wait, I thought you said you weren’t going to tell her!” Water’s wings fluttered nervously.

“Water Lily, calm down.” Starlight sternly interrupted the young one’s panic. “Your mother isn’t going to hurt you. In fact, that’s part of what I need to discuss with you. See, tonight you’ll actually be staying with me and Twilight in the castle and-”

“Huh?” The pegasus immediately went from being uneasy to being extremely confused. “I’m staying with you and Princess Twilight tonight? In the big castle?”

“That’s right.” The purple mare cooed. “Let’s just say that your mom is being visited by some important ponies right about now. And Celestia said we could look after you until…. Well, until everything is figured out.”

The filly’s eyes grew wider than they’d been moments ago at the mention of visiting her mother. “C-Celestia said…?”

Starlight nodded yes, “Yup. Let’s just say Celestia has taken notice of your situation, and just like me and Twilight, she wants to help.”

“Well…” Water Lily seemed unsure. Which was pretty reasonable. To her credit, she smiled and agreed to come to the castle after only a moment of thought. Which had to have taken guts given what all she’s been through.

Starlight led the little filly down to Twilight’s castle. It was a short walk filled with light banter and small talk. Looking down at the little pegasus, Starlight’s heart melted seeing her smile. She really was a precious little thing. Starlight hadn’t much experience with children. But the warmth she felt knowing she was doing something good for this little filly filled her with a special kind of happiness she hadn’t felt before.

Hopefully she’d eventually get a chance to talk to Water Lily without fear for her safety being a constant looming stormcloud. For now though, the unicorn needed to focus on the issue at hoof. As they entered the Castle of Friendship, Starlight looked down at Water Lily and prepared to sit her down for a talk.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally gonna be longer, but I decided to split it into two shorter chapters. Next chapter is gonna have some interesting stuff in it, so look forward to that I guess.

I have a one-shot written and completed. Like I said was a thing in the authors notes on the last chapter. I don't think I'm happy with how it came out though. So I think I'm gonna start over on it.

(It was a pinkiedash shipfic. )