//------------------------------// // Found // Story: Team Superstars: Winds of Change // by Lulamoon-Crystal //------------------------------// Stardust. A white pegasus filly felt herself floating in… Space? Or so it seemed. There were floating spots all around. She felt like she was asleep. But she was conscious around her. This felt like a dream. But she could feel a cold breeze coming from somewhere. On investigation, she found herself laying on what seemed to have been a path made of stars. ”Stardust!” She heard her name be called. She looked around. Not seeing anyone around her, only a voice. Was that… Princess Luna’s no. It’s didn’t sound like her? Twilight? Where was she? ”You desperately need to warn this world of Dark Matter!” “What?“ Stardust asked. Then she overheard Trixie’s voice as she laid on the starry cloud path nearby. “What!? When? Who?” Stardust gasped as she looked around. Stepping back in  fear as her heart raced. Almost falling off the path of stars. What was that noise? It sounded like splurging. But after a while it was gone. ”They will make a team…” The voice then paused. “You need to find the ponies with the glowing hooves. The magic Dark Matter is weak to.” “Why? Who are the ponies with the glowing hooves?” “They-“ Then suddenly there was a loud noise before Trixie could finish speaking. A giant dark cloud of nebular appeared, growing slightly. Stardust yelped and stepped back. The nebula immediately rushed right into her. Sending her flying back. The starry path started cracking. ”Stardust!” An unknown voice cried. ”Hey!” Stardust cried out as the nebula slammed the starry path. As a result, it shattered completely. As she fell, everything went black. But then Stardust saw something in the darkness. A light blue Pegasus outline with purple eyes with a shining white star in the middle of her. Next to the Pegasus was one of somepony who was unicorn and next to them was one of a teal earth pony. Who were these ponies? Why did they have stars in them? Then she looked to the side to see three more ponies seemingly cheering them on. A green Pegasus, a brownish green unicorn and another Pegasus, a very pale yellow. The figures vanished in a blink of an eye. “Who-?” Then it felt that she hit something. But she couldn’t see anything. Only hear her own voice and a distant voice. She could not hear what it was. “Ouch!” ”You need to find them, Stardust! They aren’t aware of Dark Matter!” The voice cried in the distant, fading away as her consciousness fell. It was a peaceful morning in Maretine Bay. Three ponies, with the names of Pipp, Rocky and Jazz were walking along the beach. Listening to the waves as they walked past. “Don’t you two just love the sound of the sea!” Jazz asked as she splashed in the water slightly. Nearly stumbling over as she jumped on two hooves. Wetting the teal fur on the legs and belly. Rocky chuckled a bit in agreement as Pipp took a selfie of herself. His golden wings glittered in the sun. Soon Pipp found herself getting splashed as Jazz jumped. “Oh Jazz!” She giggled a little. “Stop it! We can’t work at the salon, soaking wet!” “Or can we!?” She laughed back. Making Rocky grumble a little in annoyance. She splashed him slightly. “That’s enough, Jazz.” He told her with annoyance in his voice after he was splashed again. Clearly not liking it. “Alright then… Rocky!” She teasingly bumped him. The three friends talked as they walked along the beach, Pipp collecting ‘perfect’ seashells along the way. She knew she needed something summery for her salon. Summer was only a few months away. She needed something! Luckily shells were an inspiration. She already had a summer song ready. Despite it being a bit early according to her sister. But you can never be too prepared. “Hey Jazz!” A voice called out. Belonging to another mare. Whose name was Dahlia… Pink body with a teal mane. Anyway, Dahlia seemed pretty cheerful as she showed her hooves to them with a smile on her face. Hooves based sakura trees. A light blue background with pinkish brown branches resembling branches with sakura flowers on them. “I just love this hoof style you gave me!” She exclaimed. “It helped me win that spring party last night! I couldn’t believe it!” ”Awww…” Jazz smiled. She had also participated in the event Dahlia was talking about. Witnessing her victory for herself. “I’m so glad you liked it so much, Dahlia!” She didn't win, because her costume included one of the judges’s most hated insects. So she was disqualified instead. Really rude. Each judge was anonymous. So she didn't know who it was. ”Wow! Congratulations!” Rocky exclaimed happily. He didn't attend, due to having to attend an important family dinner. It sucked, he was excited to sing that song he made. He wasn’t really a songwriter like Pipp. But it seemed fun to give it a go. Pipp nodded in agreement. “Your dress was gorgeous!” Dahlia put in a slight smile. “Oh, thank you…” As Dahlia and Pipp spoke about something. Jazz looked around, feeling like she had heard some one calling out. But she shrugged it off, must have been some distance group playing without her. But her gut told her otherwise. But who was it? The only two ponies that were playing nearby were a pair of foals who were building a sand castle. They weren’t calling out. They were talking about knights and a battle to protect their kingdom made of sand as they put some toys down. “Uh… Jazz? Are you alright?”Asked Dahlia. Who noticed she was completely phased at something. ”Oh! Yeah! I’m fine, just thought I heard something, that’s all.” She then looked around and noticed a stallion surfing in the waves. Soon falling off his surf board, his friend called out to him, he surfaced and was completely fine. So maybe that’s who she heard? But the stallion’s voices sounded deeper… ”What are you thinking about? Surfing?” Pipp asked, noticing what Jazz was talking about. “Oh boy, imagine you on a surf board?! That’ll be funny!” She laughed at the thought of Jazz falling off. She’d get the world record time of being the quickest to fall reward of falling with a surfboard in the water. Jazz shook her head. “No. Just some stuff, that’s all. Anyway, you got enough shells?” Pipp looked at her bag and nodded, “I mean, I can always fly over and get more if needed. I think these will be just perfect!” ”Oh good! So, we gonna head back and work on that song?” She asked. Rocky seemed a bit puzzled. “Jazz?” He looked down at her hooves and back at her face. His face seemed pretty confused, like he was seeing something weird going on. Why was he looking at her like that? “What is it, Rocky?” She asked. Then Rocky looked back down and shrugged. Still looking a little puzzled at what he just saw. “Oh nothing, guess it was just the sun shining on that bright hoof polish you used… Made it look like they were glowing!” Jazz giggled a bit. Guessing he was over exaggerating. “Too bright?” She asked jokingly, nudging him. Hoof polish can’t be that bright, can it? Well, not ones she used, since the ingredients were nothing magical. Just an extra glossy blue with pink spots. Even Pipp looked down at her hooves, then it hit her. Has glow-in-the-dark hoof polish been made popular yet, or even at all? Which made her think, that would not be a bad idea. The three of them smiled a bit as they spoke while walking back. Pipp hummed to herself as she flew above the duo. Then Jazz stopped in her tracks as she heard something. *”Jazz!”* ”Wh-what?” Jazz answered quietly. Looking around for who said her name. Assuming someone said her name and weren’t just talking about music. She had enough embarrassing moments where a pony was talking about how jazz music is too noisy and she thought they were talking about her. Or the other away around. *”Jazz!”* The voice exclaimed. “Wh-who’s there!?” She shouted, not hearing anyone who could be possibly calling out to her. The voice also sounded slightly distorted, was it a prank of some sort? Her hooves were glowing as she looked all around her for the source of the voice, getting shocked. “H-hey!” She yelped. She started shaking her hooves to make the glowing go away, she proceeded to stomp them around in the water untill they stopped glowing. This happened many times before. But it was a mystery on why it was happening. It had nothing to do with the polish, or earth pony magic. It was not happening to anyone else, either. “Stop glowing!” She scolded her hooves as the glow started to go away. “You coming, Jazz?” Pipp called out. ”Y-yeah!” She said before catching up. Taking a single glance back to where she had came from. Feeling rather concerned and confused at the voice she was hearing. No one else heard it, and it seemed to activate this glowing problem she had with her hooves lately. Dahlia had already left elsewhere. That afternoon, Jazz sat in the salon, looking out the window at the ocean. Feeling something was’t right. She had the urge to go to the beach, a really strong urge. She didn’t know why, it was like something was calling her. But she hadn’t heard that voice since she left the beach. She sat on the couch, head rested on her hooves as she gazed. The whole day she couldn’t stop thinking about the beach. Where someone was calling her. What was it? A siren? Nah, she was still in control of herself. A friend who saw her? Nah, “Jazz!” Rocky exclaimed, snapping her out of her thought. Realising her hooves were glowing once again. “Ah!” She yelped, shaking one of them again, trying to shake it off. Hoping somepony would find out why this was happening already! Not everypony had seen her glowing hooves, some times she’d wake up at night with them glowing when she had a strange dream. But only recently had they been glowing in public. Rocky, Zipp, Pipp and Sunny were the only ones that saw their glow so far. “Yes, Rocky?” Jazz asked, giving up on making the glow vanish, thankful there were no customers present to see her distress. “What are you thinking about?” He asked. “Oh… Nothing much…” She lied, not wanting him to worry about her. “I actually think I’ll be going for a walk,” She got up, walking towards the door. “Coming?” “Nah, I got a customer arriving in a few minutes.” “Oh. Well, send me a text if a customer is needing a hoofi-cure. I’ll be back in a flash!” She smirked. “Heh, sure will!” Rocky agreed as Jazz left the building. Jazz returned to the beach, with Dahlia following her. Who was curious on what Jazz was doing. Wondering why she looked so determined about heading to the beach. She seemed so serious. ”Where are we going?” Dahlia asked. Despite the fact that she was following Jazz and could leave anytime she wanted. It wasn’t like she was being forced to follow. ”I don’t know… But I heard something… But it seems like it was calling for me! Who knows-.” Then she felt Dahlia pat her shoulder. ”Huh? Like that movie where that mare had to leave her island and return the heart to some angry lava giant? Jazzoana?!” She then laughed. Thinking Jazz was pretending she was in such movie. She smiled even more then she pictured Rocky dressed in a grass skirt, tattoos, hook and tattoos. Dancing happily. Jazz froze in confusion at her. “I’m not making a movie reference? I actually heard something. Like something was calling me…” Then Dahlia watched Jazz’s expression, waiting for her to smile and reveal the joke. Which never happened. Her face dropped as soon as she realised she was serious. Maybe Jazz wasn’t very… Okay at the moment. “This isn’t good!” She Dahlia grabbed hold of her. “What isn’t?” Jazz asked. Wondering why she was suddenly so concerned. “This!” “Walking on the beach at sunset to figure what a noise is even if some of us can’t-“ ”Yeah! I think we should see a doctor!” She exclaimed with concern. Ears straight back. ”What? No! It’s not what you think!” Jazz answered. Concerned. “I just feel like I need figuring this out. I don’t know why! But it’s almost like a fresh new hoof design begging me to use it. Or bare hooves just begging to be painted with a wonderful design of many options!” Dahlia nodded slightly. Trying to pretend to be interested, not like she wasn’t. ”If you’re convinced it’s not a mental illness… What if it’s a siren!”She explained. Recognising them from an old book that she read. Who knows what it could be. If seaponies and dragons are real. Then surely the same could be for sirens! Their stories were so dark, calling in sailors and killing them violently. Not a trace besides shards of the boat… “I’m sure we all would have heard it…” Jazz responded with a slight smile. “And I’m not in some sort of trance?’ She questioned. She felt normal, but she did not even know what that felt like. But she still felt like herself. “Maybe it’s talking treasure!” “Rocky is right…” Dahlia sighed before finishing. “You are still an energetic hoof-full.” She groaned a bit as she followed Jazz as she walked across the sand. The sun was setting, giving such a pretty view that a few ponies were watching. She wasn’t usually this stubborn, unless a customer really needed their hooves fixed and wouldn’t agree or wouldn’t stay still. She wasn’t sure what she was going to expect. It was like her heart was racing across the beach. Maybe… It was just a big misunderstanding and it was just a couple of ponies talking nearby. This all felt odd. Neither of the two mares knew what to expect. Dahlia was even questioning why she decided to even follow Jazz. She assumed she was going for a nice sunset walk on the beach. But her curiosity got the best of her when Jazz said she was going to look for something odd. Perhaps treasure? Nope! Just some imaginary voice. Then Dahlia bumped into Jazz’s rump as she stopped and gasped. ”Let me guess… You found the treasure?” She didn’t get an answer until Jazz rushed forward. Picking up a soaking when filly who was unconscious. “Oh no… no no no!”She looked down. Sighing in relief as she found a pulse. An injured filly is not what one pony would want to find. The idea of finding where the call was leading was out of her mind now. She could check on that later. ”Wait, what!?” Dahlia exclaimed as she hurried over. Watching as the filly get up. Followed by a sigh of relief. With a yawn as if she simply had a nap. “Who?” It was a white Pegasus filly. She had a short pink mane and blue eyes. ”Are you alright?” Asked Jazz. “Heart racing slightly as she stared at her.” ”Oh yeah… I had a great dream!” The filly responded. Dahlia sighed. “Nice. But next time, don’t sleep so close to the waves! You could create panic!” She scolded.“Don’t you know how that would look to ponies who aren’t aware of you having a nap!?” ”I was? What?” She asked them as she looked at the water. It was as if she did not even know she was at the beach. Which was odd, how could she not be aware on where she was sleeping? Was she sleepwalking? Odd. “What do you mean?” Then noticing her reflection, she gasped and looked at her whole body. As if she just realised something. Or lost something. She touched her hooves, then her chest, tail, wings and face. Her hooves ruffled her fuzzy pink mane and her ears twitched. She looked all over at her white coat and back at her reflection as she stood on her rump. Wings drooping down as she stared in shock. All Dahlia and Jazz could do was watch. Wondering what she was looking for. Did she have something with her? Judging by the way she was looking all over her body. It must have been an accessory. Like a bandana, jacket, bag or something that was on her body. “I’m a pony!?” The filly exclaimed in shock as her mind processed. Jazz and Dahlia looked at each other. Puzzled. Jazz nodded her head as a result. To agree with her. Hoping she wasn’t hurt in anyway. Where were her parents anyway, how long was she out here for? Why did she exclaim in shock that she was a pony? “Yes… You’re a Pegasus pony…” Dahlia bluntly responded. “How could you not know this?” “Why!?” The filly shouted. “But I’m not a pony! I’m a dragon!” The two mares glanced at eachother. Hoping the filly didn’t hit her head or something. Hopefully it was something like she was wearing a dragon costume or had a dream where she was a dragon. “No. You certainly are a pony!” Dahlia looked with worry, “Are you okay? Where are you from? What’s your name? I’m Dahlia and this is Jazz!” The filly paused as she looked at herself and then at the ocean. Wondering where she was. Why were two ponies talking to her… Who was she? Oh yeah! A pegasus pony who’s brain was all fuzzy now. But she knew another thing. Her name. ”Stardust!” She exclaimed. Then she paused and smiled a bit. Finding something a little funny apparently. But this was a serious situation. It was time to get back on topic. “Right, Stardust.” Jazz nodded. “Was anyone else with you?” ”Who are your parents?” Stardust looked up at them both. “I… Don’t know my parents… But I remember a voice…” “You don’t know your parents names? Do you recall what they looked like?” Jazz asked, sadness in her voice. “I… I think i remember someone with a gem as their name?” “Ruby? Onyx? Rocky? Citrine? Agate? Jasper?” Jazz suggested. “Jasper sounds like a meany!” Stardust hissed. Not knowing why, but Jasper sounded like it would be the name of a big jerk! Dahlia looked at Jazz with concern. “What do we do? She’s clearly confused! We can’t leave here!” Being a responsible mare. Jazz decided on her next move. “Stardust. Come with us. We know some ponies who will be able to help!” “You do? Ponies? Are you sure?” “I’m sure… Hitch is the sheriff of the town.” Dahlia smiled, “He has a child of his own, if that makes you feel better…” ”Well… I guess so… Sure!” Stardust looked at the town with awe. Ponies lived here by themselves? It was so lovely, even at sunset. Later, in that afternoon. When asking her where she’d like to stay for the night or whenever she needed some shelter. Much to everyone’s confusion, Stardust was perfectly fine with staying in an old tree house and cleaning it up for herself. Hitch, of course made sure the tree house was sturdy and safe and made a few checks. Dahlia also offered an old blanket and pillow for her to use. ”Alright..” Hitch said as he climbed down. Dahlia was using her earth pony magic to help the treehouse be more stultify and pleasant. “Are you sure you want to stay here?” He asked. It wasn’t a very big tree house. It would possibly only fit about two follies and a grown up comfortably. It was abandoned for a while, belonging to Dahlia when she was a foal. But she allowed Stardust to have it as she seemed pleased with the idea. Or she wasn’t comfortable staying with strangers she just met. Which was completely fine. ”I love it!” Stardust said happily. She had agreed that every day that Dahlia would check on her. And to leave if it got unsteady or any serious damage was noticed. But it was absolutely safe, thanks to replacing a few planks, repainting and repairing. “That’s great!” Dahlia exclaimed as she stared at the treehouse. It was kinda bittersweet, actually. This treehouse she loved as a foal, being handed down. She remembered that day she met Jazz and they played together. Despite being about four years apart. They got along well, being 5 and 9 years old. Pretending to go on quests and such. Till an incident when Jazz was 11 and Dahlia was almost 15 that left the treehouse abandoned. She had revisited it a few times since, but it wasn’t the same. That was about 6 years ago… She wasn’t sure what the incident was. But Jazz was never the same. Acting more nervously, shy and worried. Whatever happened must have been traumatising. Even tho it was years ago. Jazz still felt uncomfortable when it was brought up, she never told anyone about it. She snapped back to reality and wasted as Stardust climbed. “Take care of it, okay?” “I will! This will be a great home for the team!” Dahlia smiled a bit. Not knowing what team she was talking about. But ponies at her age do tend to have imaginary friends. So it wasn’t a big deal. Likely she meant a team of them. She closer to the tree and sighed a bit, observing the bark. Finding something ingraved in the back. It was old and clearly made by some foals a long time ago. She looked at it a little sadly. ‘Jaz, Dahlia and Sugar’s treehouse’ the ingraving read. With ‘Sugar’ having a line through it. Jazz was indeed misspelt as Jaz. The filly was only about 5 at the time. The treehouse was well loved then and would be now. “I wonder what happened back then.” She said softly. Remembering the day Jazz stopped coming to play with her. When Hitch made his way to the sherrif station, he slowly opened the door and watched as Zipp sat near Sparky. Reading a book to him. About few ponies searching for a bear. ”I just don’t get it…” Zipp said, disappointed in herself. Not a single pony recognised this filly. Anywhere! She searched everywhere, the last few days in Zephyr Heights, Hitch checking over Maretine Bay again while Alphabittle checked with everyone in Bridlewood just in case. This was not good. She even made a royal announcement earlier, now it was the late afternoon, no one fessed up yet. Surely some pony would have recognised this filly. Surely her parents, guardians or whoever took care of her would be sobbing. Panicking and be extremely worried for their little one. Surely there was a pony, searching everywhere. So why hasn’t they seen the announcement that was put online or even saw Zipp flying around, asking if anyone lost a foal with a pink mane? Was she abandoned? Zipp remembered when she herself went hiding from her mother one day. It when she was about the same age of Stardust. Maybe a little younger. It caused panic in the palace pretty quickly. She remembered the guards running around, the queen shouting her name. The search didn’t last long as she soon came out of her hiding place under her bed shouting. “Peek-a-boo!” The queen was in tears. Hugging and kissing her. Ugh. But she was so worried. Like any parent or guardian would if their foal went missing for ages without a trace. She was also a little mad, too. Pipp wasn’t a much of a panic situation, as she was found quickly in a nearby pot plant. In the throne room, when Haven started calling her daughter's names for something. But the whole place was searched before Zipp came out. She could remember the scolding, too. ”Zipp! Never do that again. I was so worried! She didn’t ban hide and seek from the palace, like she felt at the time. But told her to let her know if she wanted to play that game. Or else she wouldn’t know and she'd thing something horrible had happened. It made sense when she was that young. Eventually, Zipp would tell a guard where she was going if she was leaving the palace. To go to the shops, to go for a walk, while most the times she was actually going out and doing some parkour on the rocks. Eventually, she started sneaking out as a teen. Nothing bad happened. Maybe it's because she had a phone and texted her mother that she was at the park, shops or somewhere when asked. Nothing bad ever happened. Besides a few scratches from parkour mistakes that she assured her mother weren’t that bad. Plus, she always kept her phone with her and didn’t stray too far from any guard patrol routes. In case of anything happening. Zipp snapped back to reality. She mentally scolded herself for going off topic. This wasn't about her. ”You alright, Zipp?” Hitch asked. ”Yeah… I just- It’s just this filly. She puzzles me like Misty did… but worse. I feel like there’s more to her that we think…” She looked at Sparky sadly.“When Sparky went missing the first time… You went a lil crazy. But you did everything you could to try and find him… You looked everywhere and had friends to help. Any good parent would do that. So why isn’t Stardust’s doing the same?” She groaned.“I’ve been checking my phone more than Pipp did on her last birthday!” She complained. Hitch knew the last line was a little over exaggerated. Even if Pipp was more interested in the surprise party that day than her phone. “Hey, I’m sure we’ll find them…” He felt bad at how defeated she seemed. “Maybe… They haven’t looked yet, or… I dunno… I just hope she hadn’t been abandoned.”