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Original Description:

Here we see four extremely unfocused students not paying attention to the lecture before them. Moondancer and Sunburst have scholarships while Starlight’s parents are paying for her, and Shining Armor is paying out of pocket for classes he wants to do better in magic for the sake of the Royal Guard. Right now they are all in Spellcasting 2… Shining Armor is taking it for a second time. LOL

This is within the first year of their college journies and takes place some time back. Luna isn’t even back from the moon yet. Sunburst and Starlight are 18-20, Shining is in his mid 20s, and Moondancer is a shocking 16 or so because she took dual enrollment in high school and even graduated early, so she’s already well on her way to a degree.

When all is said and done, Moondancer will end up graduating with a bachelor’s in biology, a Masters in History of Magic and doctorate in Magic Physiology. Meanwhile, Starlight will have one Bachelor’s degree in Spell Creation, Shining will just barely pass the few magic classes he paid for, and Sunburst will drop out before he can even get an Associates.

Maybe they all could have been friends, in another life. However, as it stands…

Shining Armor honestly was never very scholarly. While training for the royal guard, he would oftentimes pass off the book-related homework from the guard to his little sister. He just wanted to protect others and try and find his missing sister, not learn about all the different magic runes and history of Equestria or whatever! Even when he had his sister explain it to him, it seemed pointless and complicated.

Though it wasn’t required to excel at magic to get into the guard, he did want to improve his magical abilities to be better at work… So he decided to take some college classes to help him out. Still, he ended up asking Sunburst for help, and the orange unicorn obliged. They would have tutoring sessions after school whenever Shining was available, and they became pretty good friends up until Sunburst ran off to who knows where.

Sunburst, totally and utterly gay, would happily assist Shining Armor with his work, even for free! Since Shining was doing these classes at the same time as training in the guard, so his schedule was always busy, and yet he still found time for Sunburst… maybe university wouldn’t be so hard after all.

Sunburst himself struggled with expectations from his parents and burnout from getting Valedictorian in high school to make up for the fact that his sister has been banished to another dimension and his little brother is overshadowing a rising pop star. The magical spark that got him into Celestia’s school for gifted foals faded a long time ago… His spellcasting and abilities are nowhere near as good as he used to be when he was a carefree kid, but he’s here on scholarship and so can’t disappoint. He’ll just sweep up the dying embers and make a fire out of them, easy! At least he’s not as bad as this Shining Armor guy… (World’s lowest bar.)

Starlight, on the other hand, came here for two things: get some kind of magic degree, and Sunburst. Mostly Sunburst… who is apparently a stallion now? Whatever, that’s besides the point.

No matter what she does, Sunburst doesn’t seem to recognize her from the good ol’ days. She made sure to sit next to him, sometimes bringing out snacks and toys that they used to play with as kids, accidentally knocking over her stuff so that the both of them have to pick it up or something…

…but he’s hardly one for conversation except with that Shining guy! Is he just ignoring her? Weren’t they supposed to be best friends? All this time she’s struggled to find someone even as remotely in sync with her as Sunburst was when they were kids, and now that they’ve finally met again… they’re strangers. What the hell was the point of coming here then!?

Right. Degree. Her years of private school life with snobby jerks left her jaded and jealous of Sunburst’s miraculous feat of getting into Celestia’s school for gifted foals. And now that they’re here together, at the highest ranking university in Equestria…

It was embarrassingly clear that she was better at magic than him, and probably everyone in this class. What did she even look up to him for? What had she been chasing after this whole time? Why wasn’t she chosen all those years ago? Every revelation makes her angrier and more interested in seeking out those dark arts she’d read up on so long ago in those nights of desperation where she wished for her friend back. But as of right now, she has no friends, and thus, nothing to lose.

Moondancer, not yet abandoned by her friend Twilight, finds Starlight to be extremely attractive and cool and awesome and just SO good at everything. She was the only one who seemed to really get it, you know? She saw how corrupt this world was, how unfair it was that exploring certain aspects were seen as taboo and “wrong”…

Whenever she tried to share these ideas with Twilight, she kinda brushed it off and went back to her books, preferring to talk about her own books about…whatever. Which was fine. Nobody else would listen to Moondancer, after all. Twilight is her only friend and she should be grateful for that!

Up until she leaves without any warning. And Moondancer…just kinda sorta snaps. The years of college continue, and when Starlight finds herself staying at the Canterlot Dorms, she might just find that her previous roommate has been replaced with some new, timid 18 year old girl who can’t keep her eyes off her or her hooves off of her stuff. Starlight pretends not to notice as the months pass, but this girl is right around every corner and in her every class.

And yet she hasn’t said a word to her! At least not directly. In fact, Moondancer is incredibly hostile whenever she’s addressed, and is prone to storming off and slamming doors when people oppose her or disagree or even look at her the wrong way. It’s a little embarrassing. Starlight shrugs it off because she’s not really bothering her, and she does the chores around the dorm, so whatever… She isn’t stupid, either, which is good. During their peer reviewing sessions, Moondancer’s work is always the most adventurous and impressive, almost on par with her own work. If someone of her caliber is infatuated with her, she’s not complaining…

…and maybe Starlight likes having a follower. She deserves it, in fact! She wouldn’t mind more, really…