As I had nearly gotten the tears to stop, I heard a few small knocks on the door and as I looked, Twilight walked in but stopped as she made eye contact with me, quickly she ran over to me and as she ran, I stood up to face her, but as she came closer, I noticed that my eyes only went to the top of her legs. Now in front of me she stopped, sat down and without hesitation, she pulled me in for a tight embrace.
As Twilight held me I could feel the dam I had used to hold back my tears and only leaked so far, that dam became completely destroyed and as she embraced me, I began to cry uncontrollably, streams of tears ran down my face and landed on Twilight.
All the memories from the last couple of days flooded me, the coldness of the night, the heat of the sun, the lack of water, the pain as I sprained my arm, the fear of dying alone, the pain that happened in the mirror, the feeling that I would never return home. It all crashed down on me and I couldn’t take it anymore.
While I sobbed on her, Twilight began to rock from side to side, as she whispered sweetly into my ear ‘’Shhh… Shhh… It’s okay, it’s okay. Let it all out, I’m here.‘’ My sobbing increased as she began to hum a sweet melody.
As she hummed and rocked me from side to side, I pushed myself away from her and hugged her as tightly as I could while I continued to sob with no control.
After some time my sobbing stopped and as I did my final sniff, Twilight asked with a sweet voice ‘’Do you feel better now?‘’
I looked up at her and said ‘’Uh-huh, I- I think so, thanks.‘’
She gave me a smile and rubbed my muzzle with her muzzle as she said ‘’Anytime.‘’
As she rubbed her muzzle on mine, it felt so warm and it was like all my worries in the world had stopped, but as she took her head back, I felt it like a blanket being taken away and I just stared at her, she looked straight at me as she smiled and asked ‘’Did you like it?‘’
I nodded and asked ‘’What was that?‘’
‘’It’s called a nuzzle. Do you want me to continue?‘’ Twilight asked and with no thought, I nodded and her head again came down and as she nuzzled me, I felt so warm and safe, it caused my mind to fall half asleep, as I nuzzled her back.
We continued to nuzzle for a while, before she moved her head back and said ‘’We better get going soon.‘’
Out of my almost trance and a bit embarrassed of what I had done, I stumbled to find my words as I said ‘’Twilight, I… Um, I’m sorry, I didn-‘’
‘’It’s okay, you needed it.‘’ Twilight responded as she stroked my hair.
As she was about to put me down, I looked down to place my hooves properly, but as I did Twilight said with a small chuckle ‘’Hehe, be careful with that.‘’
Not knowing what she was talking about, I asked curious ‘’Be careful with what? My hair?‘’
She shocked her head and her horn lit up and a small mirror floated over in front of me and again, I saw my reflection, but this time more calm and since I now could see out off both my eyes, I saw a pink horn as Twilight said ‘’You’re a unicorn, which was definitely a surprise, as you couldn't use magic before.‘’
As I looked at it, a rush of emotions came like a shiver down my spine, but it focused on my horn and I said bewildered ‘’I didn’t know, but now, I can feel… Something.‘’
Excited she asked ‘’Really, you can already feel the magic. Even with no training?‘’ With a proud voice she continued ‘’That could mean that you are gifted, but you’ll still need to train to focus your skills.‘’ Being told that I was gifted made me really happy for some reason and with a smile Twilight asked ‘’Are you okay with walking yourself or do you want me to carry you?‘’
‘’I’m okay with walking, I’m just a little bit slow.‘’ I said.
Twilight then asked the question I never thought I would hear, at least before today ‘’Are you okay about being called a ‘her’, ‘she’, ‘filly’ and other female pronouns?‘’
I took a deep breath before I said ‘’I guess that I am a ‘her’ now after all. And if I can’t go home, then I guess I would have to get used to it.‘’ She gave me a soft smile.
As we were still in the room, I gave out a big yawn, Twilight noticed as she asked ‘’When did you wake up?‘’
‘’Um… I’m not sure.‘’ I answered.
Twilight looked at one of the windows and asked ‘’Hmm, do you remember where the moonlight was?‘’ I nodded and told her the angel of the moonlight I saw, when I woke up. She thought to herself before she said ‘’I believe that was… Three hours ago…‘’
‘’Three hours? Well, I can just sleep when I’m home again.‘’ I responded but as I felt my eyelids as they became heavier, I let out another yawn.
‘’You’re not going anywhere until you had some rest.‘’ Twilight responded.
‘’Really Twilight, I’m fine.‘’ I answered as I just wanted to get home.
Stubbornly Twilight said ‘’You’re clearly still tired and you haven't had anything for breakfast either.‘’ She then walked over to the bed, levitated the sheets, which were still on the floor into the air, before she said ‘’Come on and don’t worry. While you get some more sleep, I will get you breakfast and then we’ll get you home.‘’
Thinking that if I again ended up in a far away location, then it would be for the best to be well rested and have a full stomach, so I nodded in agreement and walked over to her.
When I came to the side of the bed Twilight lifted me up in her hooves and in her magic she shook my pillow, lay me down, pulled the sheet over my body and tucked me in, it felt weird, but nice, so I didn’t protest. As she was done and I was tucked in, she kissed my muzzle and stroked my hair before she said ‘’Get some rest.‘’
A yawn escaped me as I said ‘’I will.‘’ As I felt more and more tired and as I fell asleep, Twilight hummed a sweet melody as she stroked my hair.
I woke up as Twilight nuzzled me and whispered ‘’It’s time to wake up now.‘’ I yawned, she continued ‘’Was it good to get some sleep?‘’
I nodded and said ‘Yeah, I needed it.‘’
I was interrupted by a growl from my stomach as Twilight giggled and said ‘’Guess you are a bit hungry.‘’ I gave a small soft smile and she got me out of bed and onto the floor and I walked with her to a table that wasn’t there before, we then sat down and began to eat.
As Twilight was done with her plate and as I felt my stomach was a black hole, I continued to eat as Twilight said ‘’You said before, referring to your mane, calling it hair? You know it’s called a mane, right?‘’
I swallowed and responded ‘’I do now.‘’
Some time passed, but as I ate, I began to fear that I wouldn’t be able to go home and as I was done I asked ‘’Twilight?‘’
‘’Yeah, are you full?‘’ Twilight responded cheerful, I nodded in response but as I didn’t know how to bring it up, Twilight took her head down to mine and asked in a concerning voice ‘’Hey, what’s wrong?‘’
‘’Oh, it’s nothing.‘’ I responded.
A, not happy with that answer Twilight, placed her leg around me as she softly said ‘’Please, tell me. Let me help.‘’
‘’It’s stupid really, I was just wondering if you still don’t break any promises.‘’ I responded as I believed I would go home soon, so it didn’t matter.
Twilight pulled me into a hugged and whispered ‘’I won’t break my promise.‘’
As I was done we walked towards the throne room.
As we walked Twilight told me that her friends wanted to meet me when I woke up, but they had to go home to their jobs and she continued ‘’But Spike is still here.‘’ As we came to the stairs, I stopped and with that Twilight levitated me onto her back and walked down. As there was now no more stairs, Twilight levitated me down on the floor and said ‘’I know walking for you is good practice and all…‘’ She paused for a moment, looked at me and continued much more quiet ‘’Unless you don’t believe you can go home.‘’ I looked away and we walked on, as I knew Twilight hid something from me, but what I didn’t know.
As we now stood in front of the first doors Twilight opened them, we went in and I knew that if I saw this room again, I would stay here and after the first set of doors closed, Twilight opened the second set of doors and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there alongside the mirror.
When we came to a stop and I was about to bow, I realized that I had never seen how ponies bowed, but before I tried Princess Celestia said with her calm voice ‘’No need to bow young filly, I’m happy to see that you are fully rested. Are you ready to go home?‘’
I nodded and said ‘’Thank you Princess, I am ready.‘’
Twilight came next to me and took a leg around me and pulled my head to her and whispered into my ear ‘’Be safe you hear and take care.‘’
‘’You too, thank you Twilight.‘’ With that, the Princesses opened the portal.
I walked towards the mirror, up the steps and as I was about to go into the portal, I hit it like a mirror, it startled me so much that I went on my rear legs and I took one step back and stepped on my tail, fell backwards and landed on my back.
After I had gotten over the fact that I fell and Twilight held me in her hooves, Princess Celestia with her head down and a sadness in her voice said ‘’I’m sorry…‘’ She paused for a moment before she continued ‘’I do not know what to do now, as your arrival is still a mystery to us… But for now, it looks like you will have to stay in our world.‘’ I felt tears started to form as Twilight hugged me even tighter and even though I feared I couldn't go home, I still hoped it would work.
As silence came to the room and my tears had stopped I asked ‘’But, now what?‘’
Princess Celestia thought for a moment before she said ‘’I’m not sure, but you’re welcome to stay here in the castle, as our guest, until we find out what to do next… But since you now have to live here in our world, I don’t believe ‘Stef’ will be a good pony name for you, so maybe a new name.‘’
I thought for a second, before I remembered that pink star I had seen every night so far and said ‘’I have actually thought of a name.‘’
Twilight, surprised by that, asked ‘’You have?‘’
‘’Yes… Every night I have been here, I have seen a pink star at night, so, will ‘Star’ be okay?‘’ I asked a bit unsure if it was okay.
Then for the first time I’ve heard Princess Luna talked as she asked surprised ‘’Would thou name themselves after a star from our night?‘’
As I didn’t know Princess Luna that well, I answered nervously ‘’Only if it’s okay, of course.‘’
Now for the first time I saw Princess Luna smile and it must have been okay as Princess Celestia asked ‘’Do you wish another name to go along with ‘Star’?‘’
‘Another name?’ I thought.
As I thought, Twilight asked ‘’How does ‘Star Sparkle’ sound?‘’ I looked at her puzzled as she smiled and said ‘’And if you want to, my parents will love to adopt you as their daughter and then become my little sister.‘’
A tear formed under my eye, I smiled and by instinkt I hugged her, but before I could say anything, Twilight hugged me as she answered ‘’I will take that as a yes.‘’
Twilight levitated a piece of paper over to the Princesses and after Princess Celestia had read it she formally said ‘’Then it is decided, Star Sparkle, now adopted daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, little sister of Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor. Welcome to Equestria.‘’
Now that I was adopted I looked at Twilight and asked ‘’Will I then live with you?‘’
She smiled and nodded while she levitated another piece of paper over to Princess Celestia and as she nodded, she said ‘’Have a safe journey home to Ponyville.‘’
Both Twilight and I said ‘’Thank you.‘’ We then went on our way back to Twilight’s room, to where Spike waited.