This chapter feels... rough. Like a rough draft at an ending (err... almost an ending). It also feels short, like I should've added more, but I don't know where. I've been working on it for several days, and this was the very best that I could come up with. Kinda disappointed, but don't entirely dislike it.

Regardless, there's only one more chapter to go (woo-hoo!)

Chapter Twenty:
“Trusting"

Starlight and the princess now stood in a quiet, sunny town staring at an ordinary looking home. “What are we doing here?” Twilight asked quietly.

“Look,” Starlight told her bitterly, pointing to the window. Then she went silent, letting Twilight watch the scene unfold. However, Starlight didn’t watch with her. She already knew what would happen.

She let the princess watch as she and Sunburst played around a table stacked high with books. She let her watch as she bumped into it and the stack came tumbling down on her. She let her watch as Sunburst caught the stack with his magic and kept it from falling onto her. She let her watch as Sunburst got his cutie mark and, almost immediately, his parents came in to take her friend away from her.

"That's what a cutie mark did to me," she told the princess, trying not to get choked up. "It took away the one friend I ever had and left me alone,".

Twilight paused, trying to decide her next few words carefully. Finally, she said, "I understand what happened to you, and how you must have felt… but you have to try and make new friends. You can't use that as a reason to take away other ponies cutie marks,".

"I tried!" Starlight yelled, giving in to telling Twilight how she felt, tired of holding in her problems. "I didn't want to be alone! I tried for years to find somepony to be friends with, but no one ever wanted to be, and I… don't know why!".

Starlight paused to catch her breath, and just before Twilight could say something, continued, "And then the first time I made new friends, you came in and drove them away! The first time I wasn't alone, you had to come in and ruin it!".

"I'm sorry that I made you so upset," Twilight tried to apologize, "and I'm sorry you were so alone, but you can't trick ponies into being your friend,".

"I wasn't tricking them!" she said, trying to defend herself. "What I told them-"

"I know you don't think you were tricking them," the princess interrupted, "but telling them you don't have your cutie mark and saying that cutie marks are bad is tricking them. At the very least, it's lying to them,".

“What was I supposed to do? Stay alone? Keep on trying and failing to make friends since nopony likes me?”. Her voice was cracking by the end of the sentence.

“Why would you think that nopony likes you?” the princess asked, confused.

“Cause they don’t!” was Starlight’s angry reply. “They treated me like dirt! They ignored me and acted like I didn't exist, and they wouldn't tell me why!".

“That’s not an excuse to lie and steal other ponies cutie marks! I know how bad you must feel, but how you went about it was wrong! You have to keep trying to make friends!”

“And what? Fail? Over and over again? I was happy, and then you came in and ruined my life!”

By this point, Starlight was in tears. She tried to keep from crying in front of the princess, but couldn’t help it. She’d kept everything bottled up for so long, she couldn’t control herself now that she was telling somepony else.

“You couldn’t have been happy,” Twilight whispered, “having to lie to your friends,”.

“It was better than being alone like I’d always been,” she said bitterly. “But you don’t care. You think I’m worth less than everypony else,”.

"That's not true,"

“Then why did you drive them away?” Starlight yelled at her.

“Starlight, if I thought you were worth less than everypony else, I wouldn’t be trying to talk to you right now,”.

“You’re only talking to me because you care about your own life as princess,”.

“That’s partly true, but it’s also because I care about what you’re going through,”.

Starlight wanted to believe her. At that point, she wanted to be convinced she was wrong. She was tired of being upset and angry and alone. She wanted to be convinced that she wasn’t worth less than everypony else, but after what she’d been through in her life, she was having a tough time.

“You didn’t seem to care before, when you first met me,”.

“You’re right. I didn’t care, and I was wrong. We might not be where we are now if I did,". She paused for a second, then continued, "But Starlight, going down this road isn't going to change anything for you. I know it might sound selfish, but ruining my life isn't going to make yours any better, and I don't think it'll make you feel that much better either,".

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she asked the princess teary-eyed.

"You have to keep trying," the princess said softly. "Keep trying to make friends. Lying and taking ponies cutie marks is not the way to do it,".

"I don't want to keep being alone!" she screamed. "I don't want to keep trying and failing to make friends when I know that no one likes me!".

Starlight huffed as she watched Twilight think. The princess was thinking of a way to convince her. Starlight wanted to be convinced. She hoped she would be convinced. She wanted to believe that there was another option, that if she kept trying she wouldn't be alone. However, she was skeptical.

Finally, after a long silence, Twilight said, "I'll be your friend,".

Starlight began to get angry again at this suggestion. "Don't lie to me!." she told her. "You don't like me. You don't care about me. You just don't want me to take away your friends,".

"I don't want you to take away my friends," the princess said honestly, "but I also don't want to see you be alone,".

"You're lying! As soon as I give up, you're going to abandon me, just like you made my village abandon me! You think you're better than me, just like everypony else!".

"That's not true-"

"How do I know?"

Once again the princess paused, and once again, Starlight hoped she would be convinced. After a brief silence, the princess told her, "You're right. You don't know. I could abandon you, and if I were in your position, I would think the same thing. But I need you to put your trust in me, because you have to know that continuing down this road isn't going to change anything for you, except maybe seal your future,".

Starlight clenched her jaw in frustration. She didn't want to put her trust in the princess, she wanted to be convinced by the princess. She didn't want to have to put her trust in the pony who took everything away from her. However, she knew the princess was right. She knew that continuing down this path wasn't going to change anything. But still, she didn't want to have to trust Twilight.

"I don't believe you," she told the princess. "You don't care about me. At best you just feel bad about what you did to me, and I don't want to be there just for you to feel better,".

"Starlight, I stand by what I did. But I also stand by what I said before. I care about what you're going through. I understand-"

"Don't tell me you understand!" she yelled angrily. "You don't know what it's like to be alone! You don't know what it's like to have to go day after day, week after week, year after year with no one to talk to, with no one who even acknowledges you! And then, when you finally do find friends, to have somepony come along and take that all away. And then, after all that, to have to put your trust in the pony who ruined your life!".

The princess paused again for a moment, seeing how upset Starlight was, then started, "I know our situations aren't exactly the same, but I was alone once, too. In my case, I didn't want friends. I thought they were ridiculous, and I thought it was even more ridiculous to have to trust somepony else. But you have to trust other ponies. You can't make friends without it. You have to trust that they'll be there to help you, or, in your case, you have to trust that they won't abandon you,".

"The last time I trusted somepony, a cutie mark took them away. The last time I tried to make friends, they treated me with indifference,".

"I know, but you have to trust that that won't happen. I know it's hard, and I know that I've done nothing to deserve your trust, but I need you to trust me when I say that I won't abandon you,".

She hated this. She hated the way this was going. She hated the fact that she was likely going to have to put her faith in the princess to be there for her, and she wasn't convinced that she would. She knew that if she gave in, the princess would just leave her alone. But still...

"Why did you have to ruin my life?" she asked her with a mix of anger and sadness.

"You're life isn't ruined. You have to trust me when I say that. There's still tomorrow available to you. But like I said, if you continue down this path, nothing's going to change, and your life will be ruined,".

Starlight began to shake again. She knew everything the princess was saying made sense, but she wasn't convinced. She didn't want to have to put her fate in somepony else's hooves. She didn't want to be lied to, and she didn't want to be friends with the princess. But more than that, she didn't want to be alone. She clenched her jaw harder and closed her eyes tight. What was she going to do?