Months passed, and spring is in the air. Everypony are outside in the spring sun and are having a wonderful time with the weather. At the field by Tiger Lily's house, she and Starlight are having a little play time with Snowdrop. Twilight and the others leave for Manehattan for Rarity's new boutique, so the two are having some quality time together, and playing with little Snowdrop who is now about two months old. Snow tries to chew on a block as she plays.
Tiger Lily giggles as she takes the block away, and says, "No, no, no sweetie. Blocks aren't food."
"Starlight, can you pass me the milk bottle?" Tiger Lily asks.
Sure," Starlight answers.
Starlight then uses her magic to levitate a bottle full of milk. Tiger Lily then uses her magic to levitate the bottle while she hold Snowdrop in her hooves. When the bottle is close to her, she grabs the bottle and starts drinking it. Starlight and Tiger Lily simply smile at the little dragon as she drinks her bottle.
"I can't believe it's already two months," Starlight says with glee.
"I know. I remember yesterday she was trying to fly too, but only was able to get a few inches on the ground and for a few second," Tiger Lily says, rocking the baby.
Then Starlight asks, "Can I hold her?"
"Sure," Tiger Lily answers.
Starlight reach her hooves out and Tiger Lily's passes Snowdrop to her. Starlight hold the baby with a smile on her face, and sees the smile on the baby's face as she drinks her bottle. Tiger Lily is very glad that Snowdrop is getting comfortable with Starlight and her friends, but see she is mostly comfortable with Starlight and herself, and around Spike too.
Little Snowdrop takes the bottle out of her mouth and lets out a small burp. Starlight and Tiger Lily smile to see the baby is very happy and relaxed. Just then, Snowdrop sneeze that let's out some cold air. Snowdrop then lets out a little yawn and falls fast to sleep. Tiger Lily and Starlight quilt giggles after seeing the event. Just then, they start to hear some rustling from the bushes close by.
TigerLily asks with caution, "Is there… somepony over there?"
"I don't t know," Starlight answers looking suspicious.
Starlight then passes Snowdrop to Tiger Lily, and says, "You stay here, I'm going to check this out."
"Okay, but please be careful," TIger Lily says with concern, holding Snowdrop close to her.
Tiger Lily sits down at the picnic spot as she sees Starlight crept up to the bushes and admitting her horn of something dangerous attacks. Starlight then sees the bushes move again, and starting to believe that what ever it's in this bush is dangerous. Worrying about danger, Starlight jumps into the bushes and gets into a fight with whatever is inside. Tiger Lily closes her eyes, and hold Snowdrop close to her hearing the fight and struggling, and fears Starlight could be hurt.
Tiger Lily looks at the bush again to see the bush continues to move until she sees two ponies coming out. She can tell that one of them is Starlight Glimmer, and is pinning another pony down. The pony who is a unicorn that has gray with dark black mane, and bright green eyes. He is wearing light gray armor, a gray crown with a green gem by the horn, and a red cape with white fur on the lining.
Starlight who is looking serious, becomes stunned to see who is in the bushes, and asks, "Who… who are you?!"
"My name is Sombra, it's very nice to meet you," The pony introduces himself.
Then he politely asks, "Can you um, let me get up?"
"Um, right… sorry," Starlight apologizes as she gets off of Sombra.
Sombra then gets up, and dust himself.
"Sorry about that, you were hiding in the bushes and I wasn't sure if you're anypony suspicious," Starlight apologizes again.
"That's alright. I was just trying to find something… more like someone," Sombra says.
"Like who?" Tiger Lily asks, as she walks towards the two unicorns.
Before Sombra can answer, the three ponies hearing a mare's voice calling out, "Sombra! Sombra, where are you?!"
"I'm guessing that someone is a friend of yours," Tiger Lily suspects with glee.
"She is," Sombra answers with a smile.
The three look to see another unicorn is heading towards them, but looks different from Sombra. Tiger Lily and Starlight suspects that she's a crystal pony because she has the same fur type as they do. She has light purple fur, light blue mane and tail with matching eyes. Her cutie mark is a gold scepter with a sphere on the top, and two golden snakes swirling around it.
The unicorn mare walks over to them with a smile, and says, "There you are, I was looking for you."
Sombra chuckles and says, "That's funny because I was looking for you."
"Until I pounced him that is," Starlight adds feeling a bit embarrassed.
The pony laughs and says, "I'm guessing Sombra gave you two bit of a scare by mistake."
"Yeah. That's what you get for sneaking around in a bush," Starlight remarks.
The four ponies then start laughing, not long the baby dragon wakes up and starts giggling too. After they stop laughing, and giggling in the baby's case, the four ponies decide that it's time to have a proper introduction, and what is the business that brings them here.
"By the way, I'm Starlight Glimmer. And this is my cousin Tiger Lily," Starlight introduces herself and Tiger Lily.
"And this is my little dragon Snowdrop," Tiger Lily adds, showing the two unicorns Snowdrop.
Snowdrop smiles and cooed at the sight of the two unicorns.
The crystal unicorn mare giggles, and happily introduces herself, "I'm Radiant Hope, and… well, you already met Sombra."
"It's nice to meet you two. What's bring you two to Ponyville?" Tiger Lily asks.
"We wanted to take a break from the search and thought we pay a visit to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends," Radiant Hope explains.
Starlight surprisingly asks, "Wait, you know Twilight?"
"What a coincidence, so do we," Tiger Lily adds with a smile.
Sombra and Radiant Hope becomes surprised on how Starlight and Tiger Lily know Twilight and her friends. For the past three hours, each of them explain to each other their story and how they met Twilight and their friends. Tiger Lily and Starlight explain their separate story and how they met and become a family. They also explain to them about some of their time and adventures together. Sombra and Hope explain how the two know each other, and what happened a thousand years ago, and on how they encounter Twilight and her fiends. They both also mention to them on what they're doing now. When they both finish, both group are very surprised, and Tiger Lily also feels a bit scared about Sombra's story. Especially since Tiger Lily remembers Twilight the others explain to her about who he used to be, but glad because he's a different pony now.
Starlight says looking shocked, "Wow, that was deep…"
"Really deep," Tiger Lily adds with a scared look on her face.
" wasn't one of our best moments, but we were able to work things out, and now Sombra won't have to worry about the Umbrum anymore," Radiant Hope says with a reassuring smile.
"I'm glad you two were able to work things out. I remember when Sunburst and I lost touch when we're little, and I didn't take it very well," Starlight says.
Then Tiger Lily says, "It must have been hard for you for losing Sombra and the empire."
"It was," Hope replies.
"And… I didn't make things by acting like an evil dictator," Sombra adds, feeling guilty.
"Trust me, I know exactly how that felt," Starlight says with a calm smile.
Then she says firmly, "And if you asks me, I think your family are not the nicest ponies to get acquainted with."
"Especially for what they did to the two of you like that. It's felt that they used you to take over the empire," tiger Lily adds.
"That sure what it felt like when I found out what they really look like," Hope replies.
"But I'm glad they're not around now," Sombra adds.
"Agree," Starlight replies.
Then Hope asks, "So do you know where Twilight and the others now?"
Starlight and Tiger Lily look at each other with a little worried look, but they have to tell them where Twilight and the others are right now.
"Sorry guys, Twilight and the others left to Manehattan to help Rarity get her new boutique ready. They won't be back in a few days," Tiger Lily says.
"Oh!" Sombra and Hope reply.
The Starlight happily suggests, "But since you two are here, maybe we can show you two around Ponyville."
Sombra and Hope look at each other with a smile, and nods their heads in reply.
"We would love to," Hope happily answers.
Tiger Lily and Starlight Glimmer, along with little Snowdrop take Sombra and Radiant Hope to a little tour around Ponyville. Sombra and Hope are interested to see Ponyville because it's very different than the Crystal Empire. Starlight and Tiger Lily decide to stop by for some lunch at The Hay Burger. They have hay burgers, apple juices, hay fries, and onion rings. Snowdrop has her usual some warm milk and crushed gems in a bowl. Tiger Lily eats her food a bit at a time while she feeds little Snowdrop. Of course, Tiger Lily has to make funny faces and other ways to get her to eat.
Tiger Lily levitates the spoon of crushed gems to Snowdrop's mouth as she cheerfully says, "Here sweetie, here's come the grown dragon."
Little Snowdrop sees the spoon as it's flying around her. She smiles seeing it, and is ready to have her lunch. Tiger Lily levitates the spoon to Snowdrop's mouth, and the little dragon takes a bit out of it, and eats the crushed gems. She smiles, and claps her small claws in the air with glee. The others see this and start laughing at the baby dragon's playfulness.
Hope happily says, "Aww, the little dragon is so adorable."
"You can say that again," Starlight agrees.
"You know, this is the first time I've seen a snow dragon. They're so rare around Equestria that almost nopony has seen them," Hope says, looking at the baby with a smile.
"I agree, how were you able to find one?" Sombra asks.
"Well, we found it in the Everfree forest and it was all alone, so Tiger Lily decided to raise the little egg, and it hatched after Hearth's Warming Eve," Starlight answers.
"Sounds interesting," Hope replies.
"Having a baby dragon in the house sure is interesting, but I had to make sure she doesn't burn anything or turn my furniture into sculptures," Tiger Lily replies with a giggle.
"I swear, sometimes I wonder if you should fire proof or ice proof your house! I mean, you living in a wooden house for crying out loud!" Starlight remarks.
Sombra and Hope look a bit confused, and wonder about Tiger Lily's ability to take care of a baby dragon that can burn and freeze things with a single breath.
"Sounds to me that you had to deal with some difficult times with Snowdrop?" Hope questionably replies.
Tiger Lily sighs a bit, and says, "I do admit it wasn't easy, but my friends and I have been able to manage it so far, and she hasn't caused any trouble."
"Well, you're doing a good job taking care of her so far, but I wonder how you're going to take care of her when she grows up?" Hope asks.
"I don't know, but by the time she doesn't grow up, she might not need me to take care of her any more," Tiger Lily says.
She then picks up Snowdrop, gives her a hug, and adds, "But right now, I'm going to take care of my baby dragon."
The four then begin to giggle and are having a good time together. After they finish their tour and lunch, the four ponies and the baby dragon are in Twilight's castle. The sun is going down, while the moon is getting ready to rise up in the sky. Starlight decides to have a little sleep over with Tiger Lily, Snowdrop, and their new friends. Right now, they're playing a small game called Dragon Pits, a game that Starlight used to play when she was a little filly. Meanwhile Snowdrop is fast asleep in a basket that is being used like a rocking crib.
"This sure is a fun game," Tiger Lily complements.
"I agree, and I sure glad we get to have fun with our new friends," Starlight adds with glee.
"I have to agree, "Sombra says.
"Yes. Sombra and I used to play together just the two of us, but it sure is fun to play with other ponies," Hope replies.
"I remember you telling us that you two only had each other at the time," Starlight says.
"Yeah. The crystal ponies didn't acted very nice to you," Tiger Lily adds.
"It's true, but I'm glad everything worked out now. All Sombra and I had to do is track down the rest of Princess Amore and we can put her back together," Hope says with a small smile.
"That sounds like it's going to take you two a while," Starlight says.
"I wish there's a easier way to find it, or a way we can help you," Tiger Lily replies.
"It may take a long time to find every piece, but I'll do what it takes to correct my mistake," Sombra says, feeling a little bad about his past.
"And I'm sure you will. I was able to make up all the stuff I did in the past, and I'm sure you will too," Starlight says.
Sombra nods his head with a smile. The four new friends continue to play Dragon Pits late into the night, and fall asleep. Starlight sleeps on her bed while the others sleep in their sleeping bags. The new friends sure have a wonderful time together, and knowing that they will remain friends is what spreads it around.
A few days later, Starlight and Tiger Lily are in the castle library reading some books, while baby Snowdrop is taking her nap in her little buggy. Tiger Lily is reading one of the Daring Do books, while Starlight is reading a spell book to practice her spell casting ability. As they are reading, the doors to the library open and Twilight along with their friend walk inside.
Tiger Lily smiles at them, and says, "Hi guys."
"How was the grand opening?" Starlight asks.
Rarity sighs a bit, and says, "It was a lot of work, but we managed to get everything done before the grand opening."
"You can say that again," Rainbow Dash agrees. Then collapses in the floor.
"But everything turned out s'well at the end," Applejack replies.
Then Pinkie hops over, and asks, "So what did you two do while we're gone?"
"We have some fun at Ponyville, and we had a bit of a sleepover with some new friends that we made," Starlight answers.
"Sombra and Radiant Hope," Tiger Lily adds with glee.
"Huh!" The girls and Spike exclaims with a shock.
"You met them?" Twilight asks, still in shocked.
"Yeah. We had a great time together, and they love playing with little Snowdrop," Starlight explains.
Then Fluttershy asks, "Are stay still in Ponyville?"
"They're gone now, they left so they can find the rest of Princess Amore's statue pieces," Tiger Lily answers.
Twilight and the others are surprised to hear that Sombra and Hope have been in Ponyville while they're away, and they become friends with Starlight and Tiger Lily. In a way, they are kind of glad they met each other and become good friends.
Twilight smiles, and says, "Well, it seems that you both were able to make two new friends while we're away. I was we could have say hello before they left."
"Don't worry, Sombra and Hope said that they'll come back to Ponyville to visit us soon, and hope you're not too busy to hang out," Tiger Lily replies with a smile.
"And I'm sure we'll have more fun by the time they do," Starlight adds.
The two ponies then start laughing and the others start to laugh along with them. Twilight and others told them about their time in Manehattan, but Starlight and Tiger Lily can see that Twilight and the others, excluding Rarity have a difficult dilemma at the new shop. Of course, everypony have a wonderful time in their activity, and can't wait to have some more fun and excitement. They might end up meeting some more new friends.