(Crystal Empire) Finding Friendship (PM for Invite)

[Lux]

The train began to slow as it reached the station, as Twilight stared out the window at the sight of the Crystal Empire coming into view. It felt like forever since she was here, but this time she wasn't visiting because of a Princess Summit or to visit her friend and former foal sitter Princess Cadance and her brother Shining Armor. This time she had an important mission for her traveling companion: help her to learn friendship. Rather than just contain their lessons in Ponyville, Twilight thought it would be a change of pace for Starlight Glimmer to learn to make friends in the Empire where few ponies knew of Starlight's plans of taking over Equestria. She hope that this plan would work, that Starlight could make friends on her own with the Princess's help. 

 

"We're almost there," Twilight said with a relieved sound in her voice, "How are you feeling?" 

[Lyipheoryia]

Starlight closed her eyes for a moment, before taking a deep breath.  So much had changed in these past weeks, and she hadn't quite caught up.  All of her memories seemed a bit jumbled, and her friendships were a bit cross-lined.  Everyone she thought she had knew switched sides...including herself.  She looked outside the train window, then at the Princess that had claimed her mentor ship.  The purple alicorn that had been so quick to forgive her, and her friends as well.  She exhaled, and gave a smile, "I'm...ready to do this," 

 

Okay, so maybe the old Starlight would have given another answer.  A chirpy, sarcastic, rude answer.  But-hey-that Starlight was gone now; right?  She had been given a chance at redemption, and a chance to reform her cruel nature.  And she had taken it.  ​Whatever happened to old Starlight...she's long gone. 

 

"I'm ready to take a new chapter in life, Princess,"

[Lux]

There was still some uncertainty in Twilight's mind about Starlight Glimmer. After all she not once but twice tried to hurt her and her friends and everypony around her all for the sake of having things remain the same. There was no doubt about the fact that Starlight had great magical power, perhaps as great as Twilight did, but power without direction or used for ill will was very dangerous. She could have easily just banished Starlight to Tartarus for what she did as it was her royal ability to do so, but looking into the unicorn's eyes made her see that she was a pony in pain, and that she deserved a second chance. This was not without restrictions as Twilight made it a top priority to monitor her reformation, specifically making friends. Without finding a friend to fill the void lost by her former friend when she was a filly, Starlight might regress to her old self, and Twilight knew that no reconciling like she did before could help the pink unicorn. 

 

"I'm ready to take a new chapter in life, Princess,"

 

"I'm glad to hear that Starlight, but remember that you're not doing this alone. There are ponies that care about you, me included. And that's why we're here. They Crystal ponies are very nice and have an innate magical nature to empathize with others. I have a pony waiting at the station who will meet us at the station and will help us tour the Empire and introduce us to others." 

 

The train shuddered as it came to a stop at the station. 

 

"Time for us to get off. I think you'll be surprised seeing the Crystal Empire. I know I was when I first came here!" 

[Lyipheoryia]

Starlight stared at Twilight...but it wasn't a true stare.  She was still bounded by feelings of disgrace and shame, so her eyes were downcast while her head was held high.  The Princess's words had reassured her several times this past while, but she wasn't so sure about half of them.  Making friends?  Yeah-Twilight had that right...it was a whole lot more fun spending time with friends than doing it alone.  Meeting ponies?  It had been...easier than expected...but also harder.  The feelings that coincided within herself made it constantly a struggle to feel like she fit in amidst the tightly knit peer group.

 

"Thank you, Princess Twilight.  I'm...,"  she trailed off for a moment, desperate to find the words that would fit her emotions, "most grateful for your generosity,"  

 

That didn't come out as smooth as she had expected.  Those words weren't as fitting, either: most grateful?  She gave herself an inner facehoof.  Lame...Starlight.  Lame~

 

As the Princess announced their arrival, excitement filled her.  This was the first time she had been to the esteemed Crystal Empire, and she couldn't wait! 

[MetalBronyATL]

"UUUUUGH!"

 

 

Yet another grunt of frustration rang out from within the Crystal Empire Observatory as a lime green crystal pony slid away from the massive telescope pointed towards the heavens. 

 

"This is ridiculous. C-1803 should have been passing by the Horsehead Nebula hours ago." Moonshield said rubbing his head. He walked over to a nearby desk covered with maps of star systems and data on various celestial objects. He sifted through several pieces of paper until he finally stopped to examine one of them. After taking a moment to read over it, Moonshield sighed and dropped it on the table. "...and of course, my data is wrong. C-1803 will pass by the Horsehead in the next two hundred years." He reorganized his research and walked over to her personal desk, taking a sip from a glass of water. "This is the last time I let those useless interns handle research. I don't have time to keep fixing their mistakes." 

 

Moonshield was the Empire's head astronomer, and had been watching the skies above Equestria since he got his cutie mark. He spent many years conducting research and tirelessly gazing at the worlds beyond the atmosphere to get to the position he was in now. Although Moonshield was general a friendly, helpful pony, he's workaholic tendencies sometimes got the better of him. 

 

A trait that wasn't much different from that of the esteemed guest he was soon to meet. 

 

Moonshield looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost time. "Guess I better get down to the train station and meet Princess Twilight." He said to himself, turning off the lights and walking out the door, locking it behind him. He was told that Princess Twilight would be coming to the Empire to introduce a new friend to the Crystal Ponies. A very nice gesture in Moonshield's mind, but he was curious why this particular pony needed such a crash course in friend-making. 

 

Moonshield saw the train pulling in as the station came into view. "This should be very interesting." He thought.

[Lux]

Based on the way Starlight Glimmer answered her, Twilight could tell that there were a number of things on the unicorn's mind. She was sure this excursion and even the possibility of finding friends was foreign to Starlight, perhaps even scary! But there was still the lingering doubt the young mare felt for her past actions, too, something that try as Twilight could even the Princess of Friendship found difficult forgetting.

 

"Don't worry, we'll take this one step at a time," she said with a smile as they exited the train, "But first we need to find our guide. I think his name is Moonshield."

 

The Princess had a general idea of who to look out for, a lime colored stallion. Her first scan of the area yielded no results, but then she saw a pony approaching the platform.

 

"Hello. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is Starlight Glimmer. Are you Moonshield?"