Spike tilted his head in confusion. "You mean the ghost?"

Starlight—eyes still as wide as they were when she started running—could only nod numbly.

"Oh, yeah," Spike said with a shrug. "Twilight told me to just ignore it. Something about the more attention you give it, the more power it gets."

Starlight's heaving chest was finally slowing down. "Like looking into the Crusaders' eyes when they want something?"

"Exactly." Spike resumed cleaning up his room as he continued. "You should probably just ignore it, too—"

He quickly realized he was talking to an empty room.

[hr]

Starlight replayed in her mind the moment she first saw the ghost—opening up a door like any other and seeing the pale, translucent form of a pony. It was at that point that Starlight ran away faster than her hooves had ever carried her before.

That wasn't going to happen again, though. She looked up at the door and—after a breath to steady herself—pushed it open. This time, however, the room was empty.

Nothing a spirit-summoning spell couldn't fix.

Starlight's horn flared and with a flash, the ghost appeared before her. The ghost looked up in shock and soundlessly ran to the far side of the room. When the ghost came to a stop and curled against the wall, Starlight got her first good look at her.

Her mane seemed to flow in a gentle, ethereal breeze and just faded, rather than coming to an end. She looked cold, but Starlight knew that, due to the fact that a ghost lacked a corporeal form, this couldn't be the case.

Which only left one explanation: the ghost was scared.

"Um, hello?" Starlight said quietly. When the ghost seemed to relax, she continued. "What's your name?"

"W-W-Willow," the ghost finally said. "W-Willow Wisp."

"And why are you here, Willow?" Starlight asked as she took a careful step forward. The irony did not escape her that she was trying not to spook a ghost.

"This is..." Willow looked around slowly. "This is the Castle of Friendship..."

Starlight froze in place.

Willow turned back to look at her.

"...right?"

[hr]

Starlight sat with Willow and listened to her story—the story of a pony who wanted nothing more than to make a friend. A pony who was too shy to follow through on those feelings. A pony who fell ill and lacked the strength to meet somepony, even if she had managed to build up enough courage to. A ghostly tear trickled down her cheek as she recounted the story, spilling and trailing like a drop of ink into water.

"I-I'm so sorry," Starlight managed to say.

Willow shook her head and pressed on. "That's why I came here, to the Castle of Friendship. I thought—I thought somepony here could..." She looked up at Starlight and, for the first time since they had met, smiled to her. "You're the first pony to talk to me since I came to this castle."

"Well, to be fair," Starlight said awkwardly, "not everypony knows how to cast a spirit-summoning spell."

And then Willow did something neither of them would've expected: she laughed. Her laughter was like the ringing of bells, and the sound made Starlight smile.

As her laughing slowed down, she looked at Starlight with a misty look in her eyes. "Is this what it's like?" she asked. "Is this what having a friend is like?"

"Oh! Um..." Starlight fumbled for an answer. "I-I'm still learning what it means to be... to be a friend."

Willow stood up and Starlight quickly mirrored the action. "Thank you for staying with me and listening to my story." She reached out, and to Starlight's amazement, pulled her in close. Somewhere along the way, Willow had gained the power to become solid enough to give her a hug. It was unexpectedly cool yet comforting, like a sudden breeze on a sunny day.

"...And thank you for coming back for me." She pulled back from the hug and smiled to her as she began to glow. The light became too intense for Starlight to look at and then faded all at once.

And Starlight was alone.

[hr]

"Welcome home, Twilight," Starlight said, stepping aside to let her in.

"Thanks, Starlight." The two walked through the halls together at a casual pace. "Did anything interesting happen while I was away?"

"Oh, well, the ghost is gone," Starlight said. A small smile spread across her lips as she turned her gaze skyward.

"...And I also made a friend."