Plaket Blue blinked her sea-green eyes, cocking her head slightly at the revelation Starry had just dropped on her. It was not every day that a Marquess' daughter ended up in Ponyville, but Plaket hand only nodded and held up a hoof when Starry tried to explain.

"You don't have to spill everything-" She chuckled ", This is our first time hanging out, so let's just enjoy it."

Starry nodded, accepting another helping hoof from the deep sea mare before the two continued walking down the street to mid-center Ponyville. The conversation remained quiet until the two reached a large building that looked like a massive cake, plastered in sticky sweet saccharine toppings and sugary goodness that Starry had never seen before. 

She stared up at the building, eyes wide and mouth a gap, only to hear the slight laughter of Plaket next to her.

"You haven't seen Sugarcube Corner yet?" She asked, trotting up to the building and pressing the pink swinging doors open, the smell of baked goods and pastries filled her nose. Starry couldn't help but step through the doors as Plaket held them open for her.

Starry had never seen a place that appealed to her sweet tooth as much as this bakery.

The mares started with milkshakes, Starry with Vanilla and Plaket with Strawberry, before they walked along the streets, laughing and watching as late foals made their way to school. After a wonderful trot through the parks, they made their way back to the center of town where merchants sold their wear.

Starry stopped when she saw a stand selling earrings and other jewelry, grabbing Plaket's hoof with her own and pointing out the stand.

Being mares, Starry and Plaket rushed over. Lines of silver and gold in different shapes and designs, gemstones and wires twisting to create art made of metal. Plaket held up a single fish-shaped earring made of gold to her ear with a smile, "Look at this one!"

"That would look really cute on you-" Starry said with a hoof up "- But maybe see if they have it in silver. Silver matches dark coats better."

Plaket smiled with a slight tilt of her head, "You know a lot more than you let on, Starry Specter."

Starry couldn't help but laugh, sheepishly looking away from the other mare, "Yeah- my Mother didn't let me wear a lot of silver."

"You're mum sounds like a real character-" Plaket laughed as she held up an earring similar to the fish ", My mom babied me like there was no tomorrow, and sometimes I think it's to my own fault-"

Starry glance at her, raising her brow in confusion ", My mother never babied me. It was always school, instrumentals, and dinner parties with stuffy unicorn and pegasus families."

"That's what Koi told me it was like-" Plaket said, holding the silver earring up to her ear ", The parties were boring, the fun was frowned upon, and forget being queer in that society. It's like a death sentence to happiness-"

Starry let out a slight hum, tipping her head to the ground as she stared at a lion ear charm resting on her hoof. Had she always been so blind as not to notice when things were wrong in the elite? When had she ever seen a mare and a mare or a stallion and a stallion together? Never, not really. She had seen them in the square and heard her mother and father scoff, but that was it.

Was her world, a world that she thought she knew well, all a lie that she hadn't seen? How long had it been like that and she had just never seen it?

Starry kept her gaze on the charm, studying the wirework of the lion shape and the yellow topaz for its eye. And for a second, it reminded her of the cutiemark on Stone River. She paused that thought away as quickly as possible, no time to be thinking about stallions when she was making friends.

"Hey-" Plaket said from over Starry's shoulder. 

The unicorn mare jumped slightly at the suddenness of the earth pony mare, clasping the charm to her chest with a small squeak.

"Plaket!" She yelped ", You scared the stars out of me!"

Plaket laughed with a shake of her head, resting a hoof on her shoulder as she relaxed.

"Sorry- You were really eyeing that charm," Plaket smiled ", Do you plan on buying it?"

Starry smile back at the other mare with a slight shrug ", Not sure. I might come back for it."

Plaket nodded slightly, watching as Starry set the earring back on its pillow and turned to a collection of star and moon earrings. The pegasus stallion who ran the stand trotted over the mares, smiling and attempting to strike up a conversation with them. 

Starry had to turn down every offer that the stallion made her. Despite the new and comfortable job, the biweekly paychecks and saving made it hard for a mare to go out and have fun. Starry had made sure that she would have enough to buy Plaket and herself lunch, and that was it.

Soon enough, the mares were on their way again, shopping at stores and laughing as they went.

Starry's heart felt full in a way that it hadn't in some time.

Friends in Canterlot were a status boost, not something to take lightly or have too much fun with. Starry's 'friends' if she could call them that, were the ponies she talked to at balls and noble parties, not ponies she spent time with at any other point. Nova had more friends than Starry, but Starry was far more focused on her future than her sister. At least until she had lost that future.

But she hadn't lost that future.

Sitting across from Plaket, eating hayburgers and laughing over childhood storied, Starry didn't feel like she had lost a thing. The mare felt as if she had gained something she hadn't in a very long time, and it felt nice to have something like it in her life. The warm bubbly feeling of having fun with someone that didn't bring up such sour memories of her father or her mother, or even Hoverstep.