The train from Canterlot made its way down the mountainsides at a sedate pace, the clouds above having broken to allow the rays of the midday sun to flood the world below, warming it and slowly beginning to dry the many puddles and drops of water upon the leaves of the trees and grass. As the train quickly made its approach, the ponies within made do with either sleeping the time away or finding other ways to occupy themselves.

The Element Bearers sat in the front cart along with the crusaders and Spike who had woken up some time ago. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a hoof wrestling contest while Pinkie and Scootaloo cheered them on. Rarity had taken Sweetie Belle aside and began to fuss over the little one's mane and tail, much to Sweetie's chagrin and Applebloom's amusement.

Fluttershy had taken up a window seat and watched as the scenery passed by with a smile, enjoying the view of nature and the many animals that the train would pass from time to time.
The only two who sat away from the rest were Spike and Dimmed Star, who held one another in a soft embrace while they watched the others enjoy themselves.

As the train pulled around the edge of a cliff, the small town of Ponyville came into sight.

"We're almost there!" Fluttershy let out excitedly, catching everypony’s attention. With laughs and smiles, the ponies almost climbed over one another as they rushed the windows.

"It feels like it's been ages since I've been in my own bed!" Rainbow exclaimed as she tried to spy her cloud home from the window, she could just catch a glimpse of it floating within the clouds. Applejack took her hat off and dropped it on top of Applebloom who gave a startled shout.

"Ah know what ya mean Dash. It'll be good to see Granny an’ Big Mac again. Not to mention ah'm sure we got plenty of chores backed up and waitin fer us." She winked down at Applebloom who's bright smile quickly drained into a look of horror.

"Awe come on!" She complained, dropping from the window to sulk in the seat and leaving the others to laugh at her misfortune.

Dimmed Star watched as the girls gushed about what they missed most about being home, and how much longer it would take until they arrived. Her chest felt warm and her lips formed a small smile as she gazed upon them. Once upon a time, she would have been next to them, laughing and carrying on happily.

'Things are different now though...' She thought as she raised a hoof, going over the stained surface with a critical eye, her smile fading to a straight line as she thought about the day before.

'I may forgive them in time, but it will never the same, not with how I am now.' A soft touch on her hoof pulled her from her thoughts and she found Spike's claw resting softly on her hoof. He smiled brightly at her as she gazed upon him.

"Everything's gonna be fine Star, I just know it." She had told him of her name change shortly after he awoke, and though he was visibly upset by it, he accepted the change. However, that did not stop him from choosing exactly which part of her name that he would use. When she had asked him why he only chose to call her Star, his response had shaken her.

'Because a Star is a light, and no matter how dim it gets, it can still light the way when you need it most.' She'd had to bite the inside of her cheek rather roughly to stop herself from crying. Even after seeing her now, after being told of everything that had happened at the wedding and even what she had done, he still held onto hope for her. It wasn't long after that they fell into the silence that they had enjoyed up till now.

The sound of a stomach rumbling caught them both off guard as she grinned at the blushing drake.

"So-sorry, we haven't had anything to eat yet today." He mumbled out an excuse while she could only chuckle.

"We'll have to see if we can find you some gems when we get there." She poked at his scaled belly with a hoof, causing him to chuckle at her.

"Did somepony say they needed gems?" Dimmed Star and Spike looked up to find Rarity had approached them, a smile on her face. Dimmed Star felt a grimace coming on but chose to suppress it in lue of manners. Spike only smiled at his crush and gave a half-hearted grin.

"Yea, we were just talking about getting some food when we got home." At the word food, suddenly the sound of multiple stomachs complaining of emptiness went off around the cabin. Rarity and Fluttershy both looked mortified while Rainbow and Pinkie burst into fits of laughter. Applejack could only shake her head and the crusaders clutched at their own stomachs with bright smiles.

"Well, it looks like we may not make it home in time before we all starve!" Applejack grinned while she walked over to her seat and pulled a bag out from under it, beginning to rummage through its contents.

"I cannot believe that just happened." Rarity grumbled, her ears folded back and her face beat red. Applejack only chuckled at her expense as she pulled out a smaller sack from the bag and opened it to reveal several large apples.

"Ah know it ain’t much for a lunch, but these oughta tide us over till we get home." The girls each took and apple, grateful for the food. Spike smiled at Dimmed Star as he stood and walked over to the farmer. She finished giving apples to the crusaders as he approached and handed him the sack.

"They're two left, so yall enjoy." He nodded and accepted the bag.

"Thanks, Applejack." Turning back to Dimmed Star, he quickly returned to sitting in front of her while reaching inside it to produce two juicy apples. He took a bite from one as he held the other out for Dimmed Star, who looked to it cautiously for a moment, before accepting it with a smile.

"Thank you, Spike." Taking the apple in her hooves, she sniffed it carefully, noting that it smelled odd to her for some reason.

'Normally the smell of an apple would have made me even hungrier... but for some reason, it's like... I can't discern its scent.' She thought idly as she turned it over in her hooves, before merely shrugging her shoulders and opening her mouth wide to take a bite. As her teeth sunk through the flesh of the fruit, it's juices flooded forth, filling her mouth and dripping down her chin. She bit off the large chunk and chewed carefully, her face twisting funnily as she fought to keep the food in her mouth.

'What.... why does it taste so? ... Oh my gosh!' Her confusion turned to panic as her eyes widened, the taste of the fruit in her mouth, which had already been unpleasant, began to turn sour and made her stomach churn. Quickly grabbing the empty sack from Spike, ignoring his confusion, she relieved her mouth and stomach of their contents. Everypony looked to her in shock as she began to wretch, her sides clenching as her body rejected the act.

"Star!?" Spike asked in a panic, dropping his half-eaten fruit to the floor and rushing to her side, gripping her mane and pulling it up and behind her head, worry etched across his face.

"Are you alright darling!?" Rarity asked as she and the others rushed to her side, the crusaders hanging back a bit.

Dimmed Star breathed heavily as her body shook, slowly trying to recover. She pushed the now full sack away, some liquid staining the bottom and slowly beginning to seep out, much to everypony's disgust.

"I... I don't know..." She gasped out as she held her sore stomach, Spike releasing her mane and rushing to take the sack to a nearby trash bin. She looked to him in thanks as he returned with a few napkins from their bags. Taking them, she wiped at her mouth, grimacing at the foul taste.

"Was it a bad apple?" Rainbow asked as she looked to the remains of her own fruit, holding her stomach as though preparing for the worst. Applejack glared at the mare in the offense.

"Ah'll have ya know these are from the farm! Each one of em was hoof picked by me!" Rainbow rolled her eyes at this, before turning on her.

"Yea, but we've been in Canterlot for nearly a week! How long has that bag been in your stuff?" Applejack snarled as she and Rainbow began to butt heads, while Pinkie Pie picked up the apple that Dimmed Star had bitten into and looked it over carefully.

"Hmmm." Spiked looked to the baker, hopeful, while Dimmed Star tried to sit up a bit more comfortably.

"Nothing wrong here! Just a perfectly normal apple as far as I can tell, although it IS a smidge smaller than the one I had." Her comment caught the attention of Applejack, who pushed Rainbow's face out of her own and trotted over to her.

"Lemme see that." Pinkie tossed the apple to her hooves and she looked it over as well.

"No bruising, no holes, no age markins', this apple is just fine." Taking it to her mouth, everypony held their breath as she took a bite on the other side from where Dimmed Star had. She chewed it carefully and savored the flavor, before swallowing loudly and shaking her head.

"Ah don't feel any different." She looked the apple over once more, trying to see if there was something she was missing.

"You don't feel any different, because it's not the apple that's the problem. It's Dimmed Star herself." Everypony looked in surprise as Fluttershy spoke out. Dimmed Star glanced at the shy mare inquisitively as she gave Dimmed Star a look of understanding and concern.

"What are you talking about dear? What could be wrong with her?" Rarity glanced to Dimmed Star out of the corner of her eyes, before looking back to her friend.

'Outside of the obvious of course...' She dared not voice that out loud.

Fluttershy sighed as she trotted forward and came face to face with Dimmed Star, who looked her over critically, wondering what she was thinking.

"Could you open your mouth... um, if you wouldn't mind that is?" Dimmed Star blinked at her in surprise, before slowly complying and opening her mouth wide.

Two rows of sharp, jagged teeth sat before the shy mare as she nervously inched closer and inspected her friend's mouth. The rest of the Elements each tensed as she grew closer to those jaws. After barely a minute passed, she nodded to herself and backed away from her.

"You can close it now." Dimmed Star did just that, licking her lips as they felt a bit dry.

"Well?" Dimmed Star asked impatiently as Fluttershy walked back to her own seat, pulling her saddlebags out from under it and trotting back.

"It's simple, you couldn't eat the apple because you can't eat apples... not anymore." She shied away at everypony's confused looks. Ignoring them for the moment, she once again approached Dimmed Star and opened her bag, sorting through it. After a few moments, she pulled out a medium-sized tin can that held the image of a fish on top.

"Your teeth aren't flat anymore, meaning you can't exactly chew food like you used to. Also, though you can bite into things such as fruits and vegetables, your body will reject them because they don't have the nutrients that you need anymore." She gripped the tab of the can in her teeth and pried it open, revealing two dead fish and causing most everypony in the room aside from her, Spike, and Dimmed Star to reel away from the stench.

"Gah! Fluttershy what are you doing carrying around dead fish!?" Rainbow complained as she held both hooves over her nose. Fluttershy didn't bother to look at her as she answered while holding out the tin towards Dimmed Star, who raised an eyebrow.

"I always carry a variety of foods when I go on a trip, I never know what kind of animal friends I might come across. But the real question isn't why I'm carrying around dead fish, but rather... why Dimmed Star's mouth is watering right now..." Everypony snapped their attention back to Dimmed Star to see that indeed, her mouth was slightly open and a bit of her black drool had begun to leak from the corner of her lips. Having been caught drooling at the sight and smell of the fish, Dimmed Star wiped at her mouth with the napkins again and gave a small cough of embarrassment.

"We both know the answer to that, don't we Dimmed Star..." Fluttershy and Dimmed Star shared a glance before she nodded while stretching a hoof out and accepting the tin.

"I'm a carnivore now." Barely giving the others a glance, she reached forward and gripped one of the fish in her teeth, before pulling it out and beginning to tear into it as the others watched in horror, with the exception of Fluttershy who only looked on knowingly.

"Ewwwww!" The crusaders all gagged as they immediately looked away, their exclamation breaking the tension. Applejack gave Dimmed Star an odd look, before idly taking another bite of the apple in her hooves.

"Well... at least it wasn't the apple." Rainbow looked to her for a moment, before shaking her head.

"You and your apple pride." Applejack chose to ignore the comment and continued to eat as Rarity finally managed to bring herself back from the brink of disgust.

"Oh, dear... I hope you don't mind me asking darling, but, however are you going to get by now? With you having to eat... that from now on, I'm unsure if Ponyville will be able to accommodate you." Dimmed Star looked up in thought as she munched on the remaining half of the fish she had been eating. After a moment, she opened wide, snapping her jaws around the rest of the meal and visibly gulping it down in one go, causing most of the others to turn green, before speaking.

"When they had me in the dungeons, I decided to go for a stroll through the Canterlot gardens." They looked to her in surprise at this, but she continued without giving them a chance to ask.

"While I was near the ponds, I had gotten really hungry and had been about to reach for some of the local fruit, when I spotted a rabbit instead. I wasn't entirely aware of why I did it, but I felt the urge to go after it." Fluttershy frowned at this but didn't say anything against it.

"When I caught up to it, I was going to just catch it, then let it go. I had thought I was just having a bit of fun... But when I reached out for it, instead of grabbing it gently as I had intended, I snapped its head off in my mouth..." Rarity was no longer able to keep her own apple down as she rushed to the trash bin that Spike had used earlier.

"The burst of flavor surprised me, and before I knew it, I had eaten it whole. It was sometime later that I returned to the dungeons, having eaten two more rabbits and dragging the carcass of a deer with me for a later snack. I hadn't even thought to try any fruits or vegetables." Having said her piece, she let her tongue slither forth and wrap around the tail end of the second fish, before dragging it to her jaws to be shredded just as the one before it.

The girls and Spike looked to her in slight shock, witnessing her devour the fish had more than helped to reduce the impact of her words, but it didn't make them any less jarring. Fluttershy took a moment before nodding and digging into her bag once more, pulling out a few more tins of fish that she placed in front of Dimmed Star.

"I understand, prey need to have predators just as much as the predators need to have prey. It keeps populations in check and helps to provide balance. I can put you in touch with a good meat grocer from Manehattan, she's always willing to help me out with getting food for my animal friends." She smiled as Dimmed Star swallowed the last of the fish, before reaching forward and pulling the tins closer. She looked down at them silently, before glancing up and smiling back at the shy mare.

"Thanks." Fluttershy blushed as she ducked behind her mane.

"O-oh, it's no trouble." Everypony chuckled as Fluttershy returned to her more timid state, the crisis of her friend's food problem having been averted for the time being. Rainbow placed a hoof to her head and groaned in annoyance while Applejack looked to her confused.

"Greeeeeaaaat, now I gotta send a letter to Gilda." Pinkie bounded over to her with an odd look on her face.

"Gilda? Do you mean your old griffon buddy? I thought you two weren't friends anymore?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she looked to bounding ball of energy.

"Technically we aren't, not after her last visit anyways. But if there is one pon- er, Griffon, I know that would have a good idea of where we can get some meat other than fish, it's her." Pinkie nodded quickly.

"Oh! That's a great idea! And I can look up some recipes to make some new meals! Ohhh, do you think meat would hold up in a cupcake?" Rainbow looked to her strangely as the two began to discuss the impossibilities of meat as a substitute for sweets.

Dimmed Star looked at each of them in turn, her smile growing ever so slightly. No matter how hard she had pushed them away, here they were, brainstorming ideas on how to help her get food. She watched as Applejack walked over to assist Rarity, who was still retching over the trash bin. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were laughing as Pinkie began to spout out new baking ideas involving meat, each one more ridiculous than the last. The crusaders had opted out of the conversation, not that she could really blame them, deciding to watch the scenery fly by out the window. Spike was sitting at her side, taking the tins of fish from in front of her and carefully using a quill to jot down the expiration dates on the tins on a small slip of parchment, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he tried to write in the moving train.

She looked over to Fluttershy, the one who had surprised her the most in this situation. The mare was no longer looking back, now in the process of taking her saddlebags back to her seat. She pushed them under the booth as Dimmed Star watched her.

'Honestly, it shouldn't surprise me as much. Fluttershy works with animals all the time, to her I must just seem like another animal friend.' As depressing as the thought was that she might have been viewed as a wild animal, the thought did not stick as when Fluttershy turned back, she blushed at Dimmed Star's gaze, smiling softly at her, before taking a seat and brushing at her mane with her hooves. Dimmed Star took a deep breath, before letting it out.

As cold as she could be, right now, she didn't have the heart to tell them that she wouldn't be getting her food from anypony else. She thought back to when she had hunted those animals in the garden, the thrumming of her heart, the blood pulsing in her veins, the feel of her teeth and jaws closing around the necks and flesh of the struggling creatures. She shivered and almost drooled at the thought. Glancing over, she debated on snagging another of the fish tins, but seeing that Spike had already put them into their bags, she could only frown in mild disappointment.

'Perhaps later.' She gave a huff of feigned annoyance, only to smile as she peeked out the windows to see Ponyville getting closer by the second.

The girls and Spike made their way through Ponyville, the small town much more lively than Canterlot had been. Dimmed Star had elected to carry her luggage with her horn's black magic this time, rather than the tendrils. At first, Dimmed Star had expected a reaction similar to when Zecora had first come to town, but it seemed that the ponies had learned their lesson about not judging a book by its cover.

' Unlike a certain princess I could name.' She thought with a bit of venom, the memory of getting blasted apart was still quite fresh, and no matter how tough of a front she tried to put on, that had hurt, A LOT. Ignoring that for the moment, however, she did notice that although they weren't outright running from her in fright, they did give her a wide space when she and the others passed. A few gave tentative waves, but their nervous smile belied their true feeling, they were afraid. She scoffed as they neared the fountain, the center of the town market. It was only Tuesday, so there weren't many open shops and many of the carts were only there as place holders for when market day came on Saturday.

Stopping at the fountain, she turned to face the others as they reached her. For a few moments, they all stood in awkward silence.

"I suppose this is the part where I say, ' thanks for coming and I hope you had a great time,' but we all know that isn't going to work at this moment." They could only respond with awkward coughs and looking away from her. She grunted at this, before turning and beginning to walk in the direction of her home, Spike sitting nervously on her back and waving back to them.

"Wait!" Her ears flicked back, catching the voice of Applebloom. Looking back in slight surprise, she found the young pony and her two friends had moved to the front of the group. Now that they had her attention, they each looked to one another nervously, before Applebloom was pushed forward by Scootaloo. She looked up to Dimmed Star with wide and nervous eyes as she stumbled over her words.

"W-we were wonderin’.... u-um... c-could we come play with Spike tomorrow? Y'know, after school?" Spike leaned around Dimmed Star's head to look down at them in surprise as well before a smile split his face and he looked to Dimmed Star pleadingly.

"Can they Star? I promise I'll do all my chores and everything before they even get out of school!" She looked between them all in awe.

'What in Equestria happened between these four while I was away?' She asked herself in confusion, before sighing and feeling her heart submit.

"Very well, but only if your chores are done and none of you bother me too much. I have a few things I need to study. You also need to check with your families." Turning to the crusaders, she nodded towards Applejack and Rarity, both who smiled brightly at them.

"Ah don't see a problem with it, how bout you Rares'?" Applejack turned to Rarity who was tapping her chin carefully with her hoof, causing Sweetie Belle to begin to beg.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease! I'll be good I promise!" Rarity gave a thoughtful hum, before grinning and laughing.

"Of course you can dear, it will give me time to check in with a few clients in the meantime." Both crusaders gave a shout of victory and clapped their hooves together. Dimmed Star gave a light smile at them, before turning her attention to the last of their group, Scootaloo looked as though she wanted to say something, but held her tongue and only smiled back nervously.

"I... I'll be fine, my parents are cool with me hanging out with the girls anytime." She held up her own hoof and clapped it together with the other two, both who cheered. Dimmed Star raised an eyebrow at her response, however, but chose to ignore it.

'I don't care too much I suppose, so long as they leave me to my studying.' She nodded at them as she turned once more and continued on her way.

"See you girls tomorrow!" Spike called from her back as they each trotted off, heading home.
As Dimmed Star and Spike walked through the town, she couldn't help but notice that without the girls there, she felt a bit colder, more alone. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she merely listened as Spike rattled off his many ideas for games for the next day. She smiled fondly, if only he could make more friends his age.

Blinking, she had a sudden realization as they stopped at the door to their home.

'Why don't I have him in school? Because I've been teaching him? Because he's my number one assistant?' She felt the impact of her choices hit her as she realized that although she had given him a great education, she had neglected to provide him with the simple joy of just being a kid. He did all the chores, he cooked, he cleaned, he took care of her. Of all the knowledge that she had accumulated over the years, did she even know how to make a daisy sandwich?

'.... I've been so selfish... How could it be that it took the crusaders asking to play with him for me to realize...' She grit her teeth in anger at herself as she pushed the door open and proceeded inside.

As they entered through the door, she levitated their bags to the nearby couch and made her way towards a shelf in the back of the library main entrance. Spike hopped from her back and rushed to the bags, opening his own and beginning to unpack.

"Spike, I have a question for you." She spoke idly while searching though the many titles of the books before her, occasionally levitating a title off of the shelf and adding it to a nearby desk. Spike looked up from his unpacking, a paper crane in each claw.

"Sure, what's up Star?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, a mischievous grin playing on her lips as she found a particular text that she had been hoping to find. Pulling it to her, she began to flip through the pages until she found what she wanted and tore the paper from the book, it's perforated edge easing the task. Trotting over to him, she floated it down in front of him so that he could read it himself.

"A school enrollment form? What would I need that for?" He asked curiously, setting down the cranes to take the paper.

"I had a thought on our way back, something I'm ashamed to say hasn't crossed my mind until now." She frowned as she sat down before him.

"Spike, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I haven't been fair to you. But I want to make it up to you, and this is the only way that I can think of. I want you to go to school, not for the education, anything you learn there you will already know anyways, but to make friends. To spend time with those your age and to have fun. It's something that I never got to do, but that was my own choice. It's only now that I realize that I haven't given you that choice, so I want to do that now." Reaching forward, she tapped a hoof on the paper in his claws as he looked down at it once more.

"I don't want you to answer me just yet. Take the rest of this week and think about it, you can give me your answer on Sunday. If it's no, then that's it, we'll set this aside and I won't bring it up again, but a few things are still going to change around here with how I have treated you. If you say yes, the same applies as before, with the exception that we'll go Monday morning to talk with Miss Cherilee and have you enrolled." Spike looked at the paper intensely as his mind wondered as to what he should do. Leaning forward, she placed her hoof now on his shoulder, making him look up to her.

"Don't worry about it right now Spike, you've got all week. Now go ahead and unpack, I've got some things I need to do and tomorrow we'll discuss a new set of chores for you." She smiled as his eyes widened, small tears just being held back within his eyes. Jumping forward, he hugged her tightly as she hugged him back.

"Thank you... Twilight..." She frowned slightly at his use of her old name but said nothing. If there was anypony that she wouldn't mind calling her that name, it was him. But that didn't mean she would let him get away with it all the time.

It was sometime later that the two had finished unpacking and Spike was now laying in his basket in the room, the Sun setting in the distance. Dimmed Star had not moved from where she sat at the desk downstairs, a small candle illuminating the pages of the books that surrounded her. Her face was twisted in frustration and annoyance as she lifted the book before her and tossed it aside, only to replace it with another.

"Where is it!?" She growled in anger as she flipped through the pages rapidly. This text, like all the others before it and all those that would come after, was a book on Changelings. Each one titled after their habits, their biologies, the way they hunted, and even possible breeding rituals. But none of them had yet to give her what she needed most.

'WHERE IS THE DAMN HIVE!?'

Author's Notes:

Twilight: You can't seriously still be mad?

Shaded: I'm not talking to you...

Dimmed Star: Hate to burst your bubble of self pity, but we're the only ones here.

Shaded: HAH! That's where you are wrong! Get in here already!

* crickets chirp*

Shaded: ..... Fuck....

Twilight: Were you expecting someone?

Shaded: He's late... just... do the disclaimer... please...

Dimmed Star: I don't feel like it.

Twilight: Me either.

Shaded: Well someone has to... Oh no...

* Sounds of screaming and pain filled yodeling.*

Twilight: More cooperative now?

Shaded: YES! FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODDESS YES!!!

Twilight: Disclaimer?

Shaded: I DO NOT OWN MLP FIM OR THE EQUINOX PONIES!! * Cries*