I looked at my new home. Ponyville, a small town tucked away from the rest of Equestria by the great Everfree Forest that looked like it went on forever. At least from a young colt's point of view. Well, it was tucked away from everywhere, except for Canterlot, which rested on its great mountain in the distance. I heard a rumor that if you stood on the highest hill in this rural village and looked hard enough at Canterlot, you could see the shine from one of the Princess's crowns. But that was back home. Well, in my old home, Fillydelphia.
"Stars Shine," I heard my dad say. "Can you help me unload the carriage?"
I turned away from the picturesque view of my new town and walked over to the moving carriage in front of my new house: A house that looked like it was a tree with all the overgrown leaves and vines covering the roof, with several birdhouses that were falling apart resting on it. The former owner, I had heard from my mom, before she passed, ran some kind of informal veterinarian service and owned a lot of animals. I stopped at the carriage, levitated several boxes and walked into the house.
Fine white sheets covered the furniture, though the sheets were dirtier from doing their job of keeping dust off. As I entered with the boxes, my mom was levitating the sheets off the furniture and using her magic to open the formerly barred windows. Rays of sun streamed in as she did so and the song of birds could be heard, tweeting outside probably on a nearby tree.
"That's much better," my mom commented as I placed the boxes down in front of her. She opened the first box and started levitating snow globes out of it and placed them down on our new mantle, hanging over a dead fire place.
"Now it's beginning to feel like home," my dad said, trotting in while levitating more boxes. "We'll have this place looking good as new in no time."
"I don't think it'll be too hard," my mom replied. "Well Stars Shine, what do you think?"
I looked at the ground, rubbing my left leg with my right hoof, "Its pretty nice…I guess."
"I know this move is hard for you. But you'll make plenty of new friends here in Ponyville and learn to love it like you did Fillydelphia."
I looked up at my parents and beamed at the both of them, hoping they would be right.
"Why don't you check out your new room while we finish unpacking?" Mom suggested. "It's the first one on the left upstairs."
I smiled at her and ran upstairs to see my new room. It wasn't huge but it was the right size. The walls were painted green, not exactly my favorite color but I didn't want my room to be re-painted. There was a wooden desk that sat next to the window so one could ponder out the window as they wrote. I sat down on the bed that was already in there. It was stiff but oddly comfortable. The faint scent of rabbits wafted through but it didn't bother me. I was a mix of nervous, tired and sad. Nervous because I didn't know what to expect; tired from the trip; and sad that my friend's and child hood seemed gone forever. I would never go back to them. Sure, I'd visit Fillydelphia but we'd stay in a hotel, not our home. The place I was born. I felt a tear creep down my face and I wiped it away with my hoof.
But I was hopeful that things would be great. I didn't want to shy away from any challenge. I was ready to start my life here in Ponyville. I was set. I was…kind of scared.
Within a few days, we cleaned up the house and after, my mom took me down to the school in Ponyville to get enrolled. It was a one room school house, jarringly different from the three story brick building I had attended back in Fillydelphia. My teacher was Autumn Mane, an brown Earth pony with a dark orange mane. My mom took care of everything, chatted with Autumn Mane for a bit and started to head back home. I followed her out, looking at her with a frown.
"Don't worry," she said, nuzzling me. "Everything is going to be alright."
She trotted away, not turning back to smile at me. I sighed and headed back into the school.
The seats were organized into four rows of five desks. There was an empty seat in the front of the first row, so I slid in there. It was right in front of a red-orange pony with a tuft of blond hair peeking out from a cowboy hat.
"Hey," he said, as I sat down. "I ain't seen you 'round Ponyville before. You new here?"
I nodded. "Yes, I just moved in a few days ago. My name's Stars Shine."
The pony sat up and smiled, extending a hoof. "Welcome to Ponyville. My name's Apple Tarts and ah live over at Sweet Apple Acres." I took his hoof and he grasped mine with a great amount of strength. As soon as my hoof was free, I pulled back, stretching my fingers to make sure they weren't broken. "Where you from?"
"I moved in from Fillydelphia," I said. "I didn't know there was an apple farm in Ponyville."
"Darn tootin' there is!" Apple Tarts exclaimed. "We provide apples for nearly most of Equestria. We even provide apples at any royal event and we do the catering."
"Wow, that's really cool."
"Thanks. My family's always had a special relationship with the royal family."
Before I could reply, a loud crash came from behind me and a green blur slammed into the seat beside Apple Tarts'. When I got a clear look, it was a bright green Pegasus pony. He adjusted himself, fixing so he sat properly in the seat.
"Nice entrance, Thunder," Apple Tarts commented, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm working on it," the Pegasus said. "You should've seen me yesterday, I was doing loop de loops and swivels and I even started doing a tornado over the-." He stopped when he noticed me watching the conversation. "Hey…who's the new kid?"
"That there's Stars Shine," Apple Tarts informally introduced me. "Stars Shine, meet Thunder Bolt."
"Nice to meet you," I said.
"Nice to meet you too, Stars," Thunder Bolt said. "Like Tarts said, my name's Thunder Bolt but what he failed to mention is that I'm the most awesome pony in all of Equestria! Just a bit of info since we're gonna be friends."
Friends? "We're…friends?" I asked, slowly and somewhat unsure.
"Of course! You seem like a cool guy and the awesomest, coolest, and most athletic pony needs cool friends," replied Thunder Bolt.
"Uh, 'most athletic,'" Apple Tarts matter-of-factly stated. "I could beat you with a hood tied behind my back."
"Yeah right. You couldn't beat me when we raced last week," Thunder Bolt scoffed.
"No, ah couldn't," Apple Tarts replied, with a smirk. "But ah did beat you in that apple bucking contest. In fact, ah've beaten you for the past two years in that same competition."
Thunder Bolt blushed. "Well, I've been training this year and I'm definitely gonna beat you next time!"
"Oh yeah?" Apple Tarts narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah," Thunder Bolt narrowed his.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!!"
As they argued back and forth, a unicorn strolled in and sat in the desk next to me. He had a white coat with long white hair and streaks of purple running through it. After he sat down, he turned and looked at the duo.
"Ugh, what are they arguing about this time?" He asked me.
"Oh, uh, they're arguing about whose more athletic," I said.
"Again?" He moaned, watching them for a bit more before turning towards me. "You're new around here?"
"Yes, I moved in a couple of days ago and I was just enrolled today. My name is Stars Shine."
"He extended a hoof. "Nice to meet you Stars Shine. I'm Prized Gem. My family and I live and own the Carousel Boutique. We make clothes but mostly dresses and suits for special events."
"That's really cool," I said. "You design everything you make?"
"Yeah," he said. "I mean, my older sister does most of the designing but I plan to follow her in her hoof steps when I get older."
Finally, Thunder Bolt and Apple Tarts stopped arguing and turned towards Prized Gem and me.
"Hey Prized," Thunder Bolt said. "Have you met Stars?"
"Yep," Prized Gem replied. "I just introduced myself."
"Alright class," said Autumn Mane. "It's time to begin."
"See you guys later!"
I waved at Apple Tarts, Thunder Bolt and Prized Gem as they walked away and waved back at me. They were going to Apple Tarts' house for cookies and milk and I was heading back home. But I had agreed to meet up with them later. I was excited: My first new friend's in Ponyville. I couldn't to play with them.
I had to walk through the town to get back to my house, since my house was on the opposite side of town compared to the school house. On the way, I passed a building shaped like a cupcake and, peering inside, saw it was a bakery. My lips started to water at the sight of all the delicious sweets lined up behind the glass cases. But I moved away, deciding I would come back another time to sample all the sweets.
All of a sudden, I heard a gasp and found myself flying to the ground as I felt some pony push me. I wasn't looking at the ground for long though as I was flipped over and found myself looking into the face of a blue Earth pony with a blue afro and green stripes running through it. He looked about my age, if not a bit older.
"Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" He said excitedly. "Are you new here?!"
Wide eyed and a little frightened, I said, "…yes?"
"That's awesome! A new pony in Ponyville! We should have a party to celebrate your arrival!"
I continued to stare at him for a bit longer, till I asked, "Can you get off me?"
"Okie dokie," he said, hopping off me.
I sat, wiping the dirt off my coat. "My name's Stars Shine. What's yours?"
The blue pony took a deep breathe and started to sing:
Laughy Daffy
Super happy
I like cupcakes
And salt water taffy
Parties are so much fun
I love to party till the day is done
I love meeting new ponies
How are you?
I can tell you are new
Let's be friends; let's be pals
Let's be buddies in the best
We'll be like a milkshake blend
Now will you be my friend?
At the end of it, though poorly written, Laughy took some deep breathes and smiled at me.
"So wait," I began to ask. "Why didn't I see you earlier at school?"
"That's because I don't go to school, silly," he said.
"Oh…why don't you?"
"I'm learning to be a baker at Sugarcube Corner! That way when Ms. Cake retires, I'll be the one to take over the bakery!"
"Oh, that's cool," I said.
"You bet! And when I take over the bakery, I'm gonna invent a whole bunch of new cupcake flavors and icings and everything!"
"Wow," I said, pretty impressed about the future this pony had.
"Laughy!" A voice called from inside the bakery. "Come back here and clean up this mess!"
"Be right there, Ms. Cake," Laughy Daffy called back, before turning back to me. "I gotta go. But come by the bakery sometime and we can hang out!"
"Okay," I said. "Goodbye."
"Goodbyeeeee!" Laughy said, as he ran inside, faster than any pony I remember.
Finally, I walked across the small bridge over the small creek and got in: I was home.
It had been an interesting day. I went to school, found my way around Ponyville and meet some interesting ponies, all of whom I was now friend's with. It had been a really good day, in fact.
"Stars Shine, is that you?" My mom called from the kitchen. I ran inside to meet her and found her making lunch. "There you are. I was wondering when you were going to get home. How was school?"
"It was great," I replied. "I made a bunch of new friends today."
"That's wonderful," she said, smiling at me. "I'm glad you had such a good da. Oh, I almost forgot: You got a letter from Fillydelphia. It's on the table. I think it might be from Tuxedo Boots."
"Tuxedo Boots?!" I exclaimed, racing to the table to find it. Tuxedo Boots was my best friend in Fillydelphia. We did everything together and we hung out what seemed like all the time. He told he was going to write a letter but I didn't know when it was gonna come. But there it was: Sitting on my kitchen table, in his messy handwriting, a letter from Tuxedo Boots. "Thanks mom!"
I raced up to my room and sat down on the bed, tearing open the envelope and carefully pulling out the letter so I wouldn't accidentally tear it and started reading:
Dear Stars Shine,
How are you and how's your new home in Ponyville? I miss you here in Ponyville. We all do! Pisces, Rosemay, Tucker and even Ms. Green Hoof! I hope you'll come back and visit soon. We'll be able to hang out again and tell each other stories. I'll tell you what's happening here while you tell me all about your new life. But of course, you can always do that through letters! I can't wait. Hope to hear from you soon,
You're Pal,
Tuxedo Boots
I reread the letter once and rushed to my desk, pulling out some paper, a quill and an bottle of ink when I got there. I couldn't wait to write back!