Luster Dawn sighed as she unpacked her boxes.
Her newest assignment from Princess Twilight was to move to Ponyville and learn about friendship from the residents. After all, despite being born there, she'd wanted nothing to do with friendship. Thinking back on when she was a foal brought memories of her mother worrying about her and her father encouraging her to make friends. It had all seemed so silly back then. Now that she had an official assignment it was all the more concerning. After all, her teacher was the Princess of Friendship. Her mother was the head-mare of the School of Friendship and her father was the vice-head-stallion. It would look really really bad if she was terrible at friendship.
Knock knock
"Luster?" called Starlight through the door of the library. "You unpacked yet?"
"Just finishing up, Mom!" Luster set down the last of the potted plants she'd brought from Canterlot and unlocked the front door. In trotted her mother and father.
"This place looks great, Dawnie!" Sunburst complimented.
"Thanks. I've been going crazy all day trying to get everything in order."
"I'm just glad you decided to do this. You have no idea how proud I am of you!"
He threw his forelegs around his daughter's neck in a massive hug. She gently pushed him off her; she was used to the fact that her father was the far more affectionate of the two, while Starlight was the overprotective one. It had taken a lot to get her to allow Luster to go to Canterlot to learn from Princess Twilight at magic school. But now their precious only daughter was returning home. Sure, they had her little brother, but he was still a colt. He was in school and didn't even have his cutie mark yet. She was the one they needed to keep an eye on.
"Pinkie and Cheese are throwing a party to welcome you back," Starlight explained. "It would be rude to not go."
"All right, then. I'll be on my way in a minute."
"Firecracker's looking forward to seeing you again," Sunburst sighed as Starlight headed out. "Don't keep him waiting. He really idolizes his big sister."
Okay. Thanks for the guilt trip.
Luster walked out of the house and glanced around at the ponies and other races going about their day-to-day lives. She could see how this town was known as 'the friendliest place in Equestria'. Yaks, griffons, changelings, kirin, dragons, hippogriffs, and ponies all lived alongside each other in some kind of harmony. The School of Friendship was certainly a big part of the reason, since students and their families moved to Ponyville in order for the student to attend. Not always, but it happened enough that there were substantial populations of each.
She suddenly ran into somebody, falling over as a result of the impact. Shaking her head, Luster got to her hooves and looked to see a kirin mare doing the same.
Make some friends, Luster.
"Um... hello?"
The kirin's eyes widened and she ran off with a gasp.
"Okay, that was bizarre..."
The party was at Sugarcube Corner, as she'd expected, and everybody was waiting for her. Her parents, her brother, the rest of the Council of Friendship, teachers from the School, and nearly everybody she'd ever met in her life. One of the teachers—a unicorn named Midnight—was pulling a pegasus mare out from under a table by her tail. Luster wasn't surprised. Aurora had never been a big fan of social gatherings and more often than not Midnight or Honeycrisp would have to pull her into the action. It was funny but also kind of indicative of how Luster acted, too. Social distancing and all that nonsense.
"Welcome her back," whispered Midnight in a tone that Luster assumed he thought she couldn't hear.
"Can I leave once I do?"
"Yes."
Aurora got to her hooves and trotted over to Luster.
"Hi. Welcome back to Ponyville." Her tone was flat and Luster couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Thanks, Aurora."
"I'm going home now."
"You sure you don't wanna stay for cake?" asked a light blue unicorn filly that Luster didn't know. Her mane was a swirl of dark blue, white, and yellow.
"...fine. I'll stay." She ruffled the filly's hair and the filly giggled before turning to Luster.
"Hi! My name's Starry Night! Your mommy and daddy work with my daddy!"
Ah, she was Midnight's daughter, too. That made sense. He and Honeycrisp had been expecting a new foal when she'd left Ponyville. That meant Starry was about Firecracker's age. She was cute as a button, too.
"I didn't know you were the pony of honor!" said an excited voice behind her. She turned to see the kirin from earlier running eagerly in place. "My name's Half Moon! It's nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Luster Dawn."
"Wowie, Luster!"
"Calm down, Moon," snorted a dark green dragon nearby. "Sorry about her. She's just really excitable. Her mom's the same way."
Luster felt... right. Like these two—she was meant to be with them somehow.
"It's nice to meet you both."
"Name's Alex. Short for Alexandrite. I'm Moon's... best friend, I guess you could say. At least, I'm one of maybe four who can tolerate her excited self for more than two minutes."
"And where are the other three?"
"Running late. Stinger needed to find something that he didn't want me or Moon's help with, and Gemma and Magnus went off somewhere."
"We here now!" announced a young male yak as he entered the room. His steps caused the room to shake a bit. Right behind him was a small griffon and a bright yellow changeling with black markings.
"That would be Magnus. The griffon is Gemma and the changeling is Stinger."
Luster could feel that same tug in her chest with the three newcomers that she'd felt with Alex and Moon. A connection of some kind.
"It's nice to meet you all," she stated. "You're students at the School of Friendship?"
"Yep," Stinger replied. "And you're Princess Twilight's student, right?"
"How'd you know?"
"Your mom hasn't shut up about how proud she is of you," explained Alex.
"Starlight love bragging about Luster," Magnus added. "Sunburst, too."
Luster wasn't surprised. Why wouldn't they brag about how proud they were?
"It's always nice to know they haven't forgotten about me while I'm so far away."
Suddenly, a weight landed on her back. She turned her head to see a unicorn colt with a bright orange coat and a bright red mane. His eyes were a deep bluish-purple. She also knew exactly who it was, despite the fact she hadn't spent too much time with him lately.
"Hey, Firecracker!"
"You're home!" he cheered. "How long are you staying?"
"Until Princess Twilight says I'm done with my friendship studies."
"So forever."
"Yep."
"Mom's not done with hers and she's been studying it longer than Princess Twilight's been on the throne."
"Wow, that's a long time," Alex remarked. "I mean, it's been what, twenty years?"
"Just about," Gemma whispered. "Auntie Gilda talks about it all the time. She met Princess Twilight when she was just a unicorn."
"She was a unicorn?" gasped Moon. "No. Way!"
"She finished one of Starswirl's spells and became an alicorn. That's what Mr. Midnight said in his class on Equestrian history."
"I can't tell you how many times Mom and Dad have told us that story," Luster affirmed, nodding. "It's always nice to hear and remember that Princess Twilight started out right where I am."
"So maybe I'll be a princess one day?" Starry wondered aloud.
"Maybe. But you have to work hard at magic first."
"I will! Daddy's already teaching me and I've been helping with apple harvests by levitating baskets!"
Luster let out a giggle. Maybe making friends in Ponyville wouldn't be as bad as she'd thought...