David Starlyre, at age 18, is a prince in training at the Royal Academy. He was not born into royalty -- but he has become a star pupil of Princess Skysparkle, Prince Endearment, and White Night. Like Nightlight Sparkleheart, he also has Unicorn Syndrome (the pony equivalent of Asperger's Syndrome). He was a lot like Nightlight just 3 years ago. But now he is exceptionally mature for a stallion.

It is relatively easy for Starlyre to make friends with girls. Many girls have a way of overcoming his natural shyness. It is much harder for him to make friends with stallions. Most stallions seem much further behind in appreciating the power of friendship -- not offering the environment we really need to share our feelings.

For him to open his heart properly, Starlyre needs an environment that makes him feel safe. In reality, we all probably do -- but Unicorn Syndrome can come with an overwhelming desire to feel in control of one's own environment.

He sometimes gets obsessed with routine and organization (overlapping with OCD), a trait he shares with his friend Precious Sapphire -- though might sometimes be more extreme coming out of him. Despite his obsession with neatness, he enjoys some of the messiest games.

It seems that girls are far more likely to show the warmth and friendliness needed to make Starlyre feel in control of the situation -- with White Night and Prince Endearment as major exceptions. He is quite a cool-, athletic-looking boy -- great at sports, music, and academics. In addition to his friendly nature, he has a lot going for him -- when it comes to capturing girls' interest.

Starlyre is an earthbound pony, but he still has some cartoonish superpowers. In addition, he is a skilled spell programmer. He cannot execute spells himself -- but he can help unicorns compile spells and focus their powers.

Starlyre also has some of the most beautiful lyre-playing skills. Through his lyre skills, he's slowly developing a seemingly magical way of relaxing his fellow creatures -- including some dangerous enemies!

Starlyre's current mission is to be the main mentor for Nightlight Sparkleheart -- as she goes on her ultimate quest to learn the joy and power of friendship. Up to now, her big brother, White Night, has been her main mentor. Now White Night has become the Captain of the Royal Intelligence -- and he is about to marry Princess Honeymoon, the mare of his dreams!

In any case, Starlyre is 18, while Nightlight is 16. White Night, on the other hand, is 26. So Starlyre can be a slightly older peer for Nightlight ... a smaller big brother, so to speak.

At age 16, Nightlight Sparkleheart is training to become a princess -- the Princess of Friendship. She shows a classic case of "Unicorn Syndrome": She loves math, science, and spell programming (no magic; this is sci-fi). Unfortunately, she has a hard time opening her heart to someone else. She can be quite shy by nature, but then she can love to talk about her favorite things.

Making friends requires the willingness to be vulnerable. This is something those with Unicorn Syndrome are naturally afraid to do. Nor does it naturally make logical sense to them. These are subconscious feelings that Nightlight cannot quite put her hoof on at first. As mentioned before -- Unicorn Syndrome, similar to disorders on the autism spectrum, comes with an overwhelming desire to feel in control. Making friends means taking the risk that things will get messy.

The Starpony Kingdom (Stellequestria) is ruled by three Princesses and one Prince. All four of them are winged unicorns ("alicorns") -- arguably the most powerful of their kind. Princess Skysparkle is the main ruler. Her co-rulers are the following: her son Prince Endearment Heartwings, her niece Princess Twilight Teatime, and Princess Honeymoon. (Honeymoon is a distant descendant of Princess Stellaluna: twin sister of Skysparkle -- who got banished to the moon 432 years ago. Twlilight Teatime is Stellaluna's daughter.)

Now that Nightlight is 16, Princess Skysparkle is sending Nightlight off on a special quest. She is to live as a normal mare in a normal house in one of the nearby pony villages. To become the Princess of Friendship, she must learn to live as one of her fellow ponies, without relying on her privileges as a rich girl.

Nightlight was born into a rich family. Her brother, on the other hand, can remember when their family was struggling to buy a good home.

All this time, Nightlight has been living in her parents' palace in the Royal Village (Stellequestria [City]). The Royal Village has the close-knitted sense of community associated with a village, even though it is really a city now. Fortunately, Nightlight won't be going too far away. She will be going to one of the outer towns: Friendsville.

Friendsville is about 30 miles north-northeast of the Royal Village. Right around here, the Royal Highway (Skysparkle Highway 1, a cross-country highway) intersects with Friendship Circle (Endearment Highway 145), a giant heart-shaped beltway surrounding the Royal Province. Just east across Fountainheart River is the Wildfree Forest, a Royal National Park (aka the "Untamed Forest").

Starlyre was sent on the same basic mission as Nightlight three weeks earlier. His father's fortune, from his father's mining company, rivals that of many Royal Descendants (the distant descendants of Skysparkle and Stellaluna, regarded as minor princes and princesses)! Since he began his friendship mission, Starlyre has stayed far away from his father's mansion-palace.

In Friendsville, Starlyre has made five new best friends -- a circle of marefriends who are ready to welcome Nightlight, the new unicorn in town! The five marefriends are the following:

* Sonic Rainbow Heartboom (aka "Rainbowbarf") (17) (superpowered pegasus -- can potentially break the sound barrier -- can influence the weather in surprise ways with the butterfly effect of her stirring up and punching through the air)
* Sparklefire (17) (superpowered earthbound pony -- capable of performing wild cartoon gags)
* Dragonshy Flutterstrike Honeyprickle (17) (pegasus with weak wings, but has a "Soft Stare" and a "Hard Stare")
* Precious Sapphire (aka "Octamare") (17) (unicorn with great talent for remote sensing -- especially for finding treasure; also has martial-arts skills that might let her punch out much bigger, stronger opponents -- along with mannerisms that might woo or cow dangerous adversaries)
* Applewood Tenderwolf (17) (earthbound pony, but has great sling and lasso skills -- along with earth and environmental engineering skills; can make crops, and possibly animals, grow extra fast -- for multiple harvests; also developing the ability to buck her way through solid rock)

As far as superpowers are concerned, Starlyre is arguably near the back of the pack -- despite his fairly cartoonish resilience, limited ability to pull cartoonish gags, and limited sixth sense. Even Precious Sapphire, the most delicate-looking of the group, can punch out some much bigger, stronger opponents. Starlyre doesn't really mind getting beaten by a girl -- but it kind of bothers him, at first, to have to be rescued by one.

On his own, Starlyre has a rather limited amount of special powers. But when he is properly tapped into the power of his friendship with the marefriends, he can be the knight he really wants to be for them -- and the knight they really want from him! The more humble he becomes toward the mares -- the more he accepts being a "little big brother" -- the more he gets lifted up. The more he learns how to put them above himself, the more willing they are to follow him as a big brother.

From the outset, he's an awfully humble stallion. Yet -- despite his exceptional maturity, he comes to realize he still has a long way to go. White Night follows the same basic character development -- as he keeps maturing as a big brother and a father figure.

Both of them take a little too much pride being the knights in shining armor -- sometimes needlessly endangering themselves when there are mares better equipped for the lifesaving job. Sometimes they take so much pride in giving advice to the mares -- that they fail to ask for advice from the mares.

Up to now, it has been awfully hard for Nightlight's big brother and her parents to raise her. Nightlight is so much more powerful than her parents. They have had to rely on their much more powerful son to restrain her.

Oftentimes, even White Night cannot quite control her. He and his parents have had to challenge a lot of common wisdom about the need to control children. White Night has learned to approach his little sister as a friend -- appealing to her desire to be a hero and a princess, rolled up into one. Now that Nightlight is 16, her sense of friendship has truly started to flap its wings.

Starlyre, of course, does not have the power to restrain Nightlight -- but he can always send (or threaten to send) a message to White Night if there's a problem. In addition, as a brilliant programmer, he might be able to trick Nightlight into restraining her own powers to some extent. Finally, the power of him plus his five other female friends -- in addition, possibly, to Nightlight's little dragon, Phoenix -- may be able to overpower Nightlight at times.

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Starponys: Crowns of Friendship © and ™ of M. Wayne Howell (starponys87@gmail.com), along with all characters therein.

Slackey Pro © Font Diner – https://www.fontdiner.com

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Visual Description:

David Starlyre's fur is lightish brightish bluish spring green. His hair and mane are bright slightly golden yellow. His hair is short in the back, but he has a prominent bang that curls upward. His hair has that sort of flair between well combed and rugged-looking.

Starlyre's hooves are darker and more bluish than his fur. In the first figure, his eyes are bright slightly bluish cyan. In the second figure, his eyes are lightish brightish slightly pinkish magenta.

David Starlyre's mark is a golden horseshoe-shaped lyre with a tall six-point star floating above (along with three silver strings). The star is bright magenta-pink.