//------------------------------// // The Space Ponies Arrive // Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Out of This World // by Robobrony //------------------------------// The Wayward Traveler From The Stars The Space Ponies Arrive It was a peaceful night in Equestria, every pony was resting peacefully after a day of partying to celebrate the return of one of Equestira’s princesses, Princess Luna. After turning into a wicked and powerful mare bent on making an everlasting night, being banished to the moon for a thousand years, returning to Equestria, and being purified by powerful magical artifacts known as the elements of harmony wielded by six ponies, Luna had come back and returned to Canterlot with her big sister, princess Celestia. Luna was restored to her former self and was now happily reunited with her big sister. Every pony rested soundly and dreamed. Unaware of a strange object that hovered above them in space. It was shaped like a triangle with fins at the back. Inside, there were two creatures looking over the planet. One looked older than the other as it was bigger than the other. They both had green fur, fins instead of a mane and tail that was yellow at the bottom and faded to orange at the top. There were three spines that connected a membrane along the backs of their necks. Three other spines similar in appearance for the tail connected by a membrane, they walked on four legs and looked very much like ponies, their eyes were orange and bulging like an insect, yet a yellow orb could be seen from behind the orange, like it was the pupil of the eye. Finally, they both had a pair of antennae on their heads. “Big brother, are we going to make our home here?” The younger one asked. The older one had a mark on his flank, three gems, one red, one white, one blue, with a hammer next to them. “I hope so little brother, we just need to land and make sure the natives don’t see us. Since its night, they should all be asleep and we can land quietly.” The older said as he looked at his younger brother. “We’ve been traveling for so long, I hope we can live here, we never found a planet before that can support life like this one can, right Nova?” “That’s right Starburst, I’m sorry that you never knew anything outside this ship, but hopefully that will all change here.” Starburst came up to his big brother’s side and looked up at him. “I can’t wait to see what it’s like, I really want to meet others.” “I know you do Starburst, but remember, we have to keep our identities a secret, we don’t know how they’ll react if they knew we weren’t one of them.” Nova then turned his attention back to the console in front of him. His antennae began to glow yellow and the controls sprang to life. The ship engaged a kind of cloaking device that made it invisible, it began its quiet descent to the planet. The ship quietly flew over the sleeping town of Ponyville. It hovered over a one story house for a moment and a blue light shone from the bottom of the ship briefly before disappearing. The ship continued and came to a rest just outside of the town. The ship dropped its cloaking and landed, then began to change shape. It made itself look like the house it scanned, inside stayed the same. The side of the ship on the outside looked like the front of the house that was scanned. “Ok Starburst, we better get some sleep. We’ll begin exploration of the town tomorrow.” Nova walked away from the console with his little brother following. He came to a stop at a door on the right side of the ship and entered, inside were beds with metal frames, they were completely enveloped by the metal except for the top. Nova climbed into his bed while Starburst climbed into his own. “Goodnight little brother, hopefully tomorrow will be the start of our new lives here.” “I hope so too big brother.” Starburst said with a smile. “Goodnight.” The lights in the room shut off and the two went to sleep. *** Morning arrived and the two aliens woke up feeling well rested. “Good morning Starburst.” Nova said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes with his right foreleg. “Morning Nova, ready to start exploration?” Starburst said excitedly. The two crawled out of bed and made their way out to the main room of the ship. On the left side of the ship, next t to the door that led outside, was a table with a glass panel. The two made their way over to it. “Morning meal first Starburst.” Nova said. “Let’s see, what do you feel like having this morning?” “Ooh ooh, can we have snorbler fruit this morning, that’s my favorite.” Starburst said excitedly. Nova looked at his little brother with a smile. “All right, snorbler fruit it is.” Nova turned to the table as they sat in front of it. “Snorbler fruit and chizzle berries.” Nova announced. A beeping emitted from the panel and blue lights started to flash, two pear shaped objects appeared looking purple with green dots on it and red bumpy round things next to them. “YAY, chizzle berries too, thanks Nova!” Nova chuckled. “You’re welcome, now eat up.” Starburst wasted no time and dug in. Half way through his meal, Starburst had a thought. “Say, big brother, do you think the food here will be edible for us, I like our stuff just fine, but it would be interesting to try something different.” Nova looked from his meal to his little brother. “I don’t know Starburst, but we can find out with that scanning spell I taught you. Just don’t go nuts with it out there, but before that, I need to go out on my own first and look around, see what the locals look like. You’re going to have to wait here first, then when I get back, we can go out together.” “Awwe, no fair.” Starburst complained. “Starburst.” Nova said warningly with a stern look. “Ok, I’ll wait here.” Starburst said with disappointment. The two then finished up their meal. “Ok, I’ll go out and look around for a bit, then I’ll come back and we can disguise ourselves.” Nova informed. “Please hurry back Nova, I really want to look around.” “I know, I’ll try to be quick.” Nova’s antennae then lit up with its yellow aura and Nova shrunk down to the size of a bug and had a pair of insect like wings on his back, they buzzed as they flapped quickly. He turned around and the door to the ship slid open to the side. From the outside, it looked like the front door swung open. Nova flew out and headed for the town, the door closed behind him. The first structure nova came to was a large tree with windows, a red wooden balcony on the side of the tree, and a red wooden door on the front. Nova flew to one of the windows and landed on the sill. He simply stood there and observed the occupants inside. One of them was a bipedal creature with purple scales, green spines, and a lime green underbelly. The other was a creature similar in form to Nova. This one had a purple coat, a dark blue mane and tail with dark purple and pink streaks. It had one protrusion from its forehead and a pink star on its flank with five white sparkles surrounding it. “Interesting, I wonder which of them is the dominant species here, and what are they?” Nova asked himself. “Spike, can you find me that book I was reading last night?” The purple creature asked. Nova deduced that from the sound of the creatures voice, she was female. “Right away Twilight.” Said the scaled creature. Nova deduced this one was male. “Hmm, it seems the bipedal creature is the servant, they also speak the same language as us, this is good news and will make things easy, but further observation is needed.” Nova then turned around and flew off to the rest of the town. As he made his way further, he saw no other creatures similar to the bipedal creature he saw in that tree. The whole town was made up of creatures like the female purple one he saw, he also noticed that some of them had that same single protrusion on their foreheads, while others had wings, and some had neither. “Fascinating, these quadrupedal beings must be the dominant species then. A simple disguise spell will do just fine.” He continued his observation through the town and saw two of the winged creatures talking. Nova hid in a nearby potted plant to listen to them. They were sitting at a table with an umbrella on it. One had a sky blue colored coat with a rainbow colored mane and tail. This one had a white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt. The other had a soft yellow coat with a soft pink flowing mane and tail. “I can’t believe it, how cool is it that we’re national heroes now?” the sky blue winged one said. “I don’t know, I don’t like all the attention.” The yellow colored one said in a timid way. “Hmm, not only do they share the same language, but they all also seem to have skill signs on their ends, I wonder if they are the same as mine. I’ll just have to wait and see. I’d better head back to the ship.” Nova decided he had seen enough and made his way back to his ship. The door opened upon Nova’s approach and he flew in, the door closed behind him. Nova returned to his normal size and the wings disappeared. “Well, what are they like, are they weird, do they have extra eyes, extra heads, what did they-“ Starburst asked excitedly until he was interrupted by his big brother sticking a hoof in his mouth. “Starburst calm down, you’ll see for yourself, they aren’t too different from us in shape. A simple disguise spell will be enough, now do as I do, ok?” “Ok.” Nova closed his eyes and concentrated on his magic. His fins soon sunk into his body and hair emerged, his bulging eyes flattened out, his two antennae merged together and formed a single horn. Nova opened his eyes and revealed normal pony eyes, they were orange with black pupils. His mane was yellow on the bottom and faded to orange up to the top. The same with his tail, from the base, it was yellow and faded to orange as it went out. “There we go, now you Starburst.” “Ok.” Starburst said eagerly. He closed his eyes and focused his magic, his antennae started glowing yellow. He started to change and soon matched his big brother in appearance. “I did it, wow, look at us. So is this what the natives look like big brother?” “Of course, I wouldn’t have you look like this if they didn’t, now there’s one more thing before we go.” “Oh come on, how much longer are you going to keep me cooped up in here?” Starburst complained. “Relax Starburst, I just need to gather some things, perhaps I can sell the gems I have for the local currency.” Nova then went to the bedroom, went to the closet next to his bed and levitated out a pair of white squared saddlebags with light blue trimming. Nova then placed the saddle bags on his back and went over to the table. He opened up a drawer and took out a whole mess of gems and placed them in his bag. “Big brother, this feels weird.” Starburst commented. “Well, you’re going to have to get used to it, you’re going to look like that whenever we go out. Now remember, stay close to me, do exactly what I say, and don’t talk to any strangers unless I say so, ok?” “I promise big brother, I’ll stay close to you.” Nova turned to face the door and Starburst came up next to him. “All right, here we go, let’s go meet the natives.” The door opened and the pair exited their ship. “During my exploration, the first place I saw had a bunch of information storage units, but they looked different than what we have. We’ll head there first and see if we can get a location assistant.” “OK, were one of the natives there?” “Of course, but there was another creature there, he spoke the same language as us, as did the local in the place.” The two crossed over a bridge and headed into town. The whole time, Starburst looked around with wonder at the sky, the ground, the grass, at everything. “WOW, this place is amazing, it’s so pretty, much better than the darkness of space.” Starburst commented. “I have to agree with you, this planet is very nice, just remember though, we have to be careful here, we can’t let the natives know who we really are.” “I know, I know, I’ll be careful.” Starburst said as the two approached the tree with the red door. “Look Nova, their written language is the same as ours.” Starburst noticed as he pointed at a sign in front of the door. It read Golden Oaks Library. “So it IS an information storage facility.” Nova said. “But it says library.” “Must be the native tongue for that.” Nova then walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened and revealed the purple pony on the other side. “Hello there, welcome to the Golden Oaks library, I’m Twilight Sparkle, how can I help you?” Twilight asked cheerfully. Nova began. “Hello there, my name is Nova and this is-“ Before he could finish, Starburst rushed in right up to the bipedal creature as he was carrying a small stack of books. It was so sudden, it startled the purple scaled creature that he dropped his books. “COOL, look at this big brother, what is it? I know.” Starburst then focused his magic and a yellow beam fanned out from Starburst’s horn and went from the two legged creature’s head to his feet. “WOW, you can eat gemstones, breath fire and have tough scales? That is so cool.” “Umm, hello?” Spike said. “STARBURST, what did I tell you, that’s rude!” Nova shouted. Starburst cringed at his big brother’s shout. “Sorry big brother.” “Get over here.” Nova commanded. Starburst obeyed and got next to his brother. “I’m terribly sorry about that miss Sparkle, you’ll have to excuse my little brother, he’s…….excited to…….be in a new town.” “Oh, that’s quite all right, and you can just call me Twilight. But, what did your little brother do just now?” Twilight asked. “It’s a simple scan spell I taught him, it lets one learn just about everything about the object it is used on.” Nova informed. “Wow, that’s amazing, but how is he able to use magic at such a young age? I’ve never met a unicorn that can use magic at such a young age.” Nova grew nervous at this statement. “I’ve been…..working hard with him to teach him how to use magic, he’s very good at it.” “That’s amazing, he must be very gifted then.” “So what is that anyway?” Starburst asked as he pointed a hoof at the little creature. “Starburst, your being rude again.” Nova scolded. “Sorry.” Starburst apologized. “This is Spike, he’s my number one assistant here.” Twilight introduced as Spike walked up next to her. “He’s a baby dragon.” “Fascinating.” Nova said quietly. “Cool, I’ve never met a dragon before, hi there Spike, I’m Starburst.” Starburst said with a smile. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Spike said with a smile. “So what can I help you with today?” Twilight asked. “We are new in town and was wondering if you had a locator assistance device.” Twilight looked at Nova with confusion. “I’m sorry, a what now?” “A locator assistance device, you know, a device that can help one locate and identify places?” Twilight still wore a look of confusion. “You got a map we can borrow?” Starburst asked. Nova looked down at his brother disapprovingly. “What?” Spike giggled at this. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle too. “Hm hm, sorry but we don’t have a map. However, since your new, I wouldn’t mind giving you a tour of the town myself.” Nova looked back to Twilight. “Thank you but I wouldn’t want to trouble you.” “It’s no trouble at all, let me show you around and give you a tour of Ponyville.” “Well, if you insist, thank you very much Twilight.” Nova said with a smile. “Spike, would you mind watching things while I’m out?” Twilight said to Spike. “No problem Twilight, I can watch things here.” Spike answered “Thanks Spike, let’s go you two.” Twilight then began to lead the two into town to begin the tour. “So where are you two from anyway?” The two brothers then stopped in their tracks. “Uh, where are we from? Uh.” Nova stuttered, not sure what to say. “Were from……um.” “NOWHERE!” Starburst blurted out. “Were not from anywhere.” He said again with a nervous smile. Nova looked at his brother nervously, then back to Twilight who was looking at them curiously. “What do you mean you’re not from anywhere?” Nova thought fast for an answer. “What he means is….that…..we……traveled around a lot. We never had a town to call home.” “You….never had a home, you mean that you’ve been on the road all your lives?” Twilight asked with sympathy. “You could say that, yes.” “That must have been hard, how did you get by?” “We managed.” “I can’t imagine life on the road like that. It sounds hard.” “It was, but we got by.” “And boring.” Said Starburst. “Which is why I decided we’ve done enough traveling and figured we could settle down somewhere and make a home for us, it’s really more for Starburst’s sake, life on the road is no life for a young one.” “I think I’ll have to agree with you.” Twilight said. The first place Twilight took them by was a large building that looked like it was made of sweets, with candy canes, peppermints, and frosting lining gingerbread like walls. “Whoa, what is this place?” Starburst asked. “This is Sugarcube Corner, it’s Ponyville’s number one bakery, the best place to come for all your needs for anything sweet.” Twilight informed. “Can we go in big brother, PLEASE?” Starburst gave a pleading look. Before Nova could answer, Twilight answered for him. “I’m afraid it’s not open for the day yet. You’ll have to come back later to check it out.” “Awwe.” Starburst was very disappointed at this. “Heh heh, come on Starburst, lets continue on.” Nova said. Twilight soon led the two brothers to the center of town where dozens of stands were set up, ponies from behind them were calling out to other ponies passing by to buy their stuff. It was mostly produce stands. “This is the town market, every day the local farmers come into town to sell their produce.” Twilight informed. “Brother, look at all those things, they sure do look funny.” Starburst whispered to Nova as he noticed all the different fruits and vegetables being sold. “I know, I’ve never seen anything like them before.” Nova whispered back. “Do you think they’re safe to eat?” “I don’t know, but we can find out easily enough.” Twilight led the two to one stand in particular being run by a mare with an orange coat, a blonde mane and tail, and wearing a western style hat. She also had three white freckles under her eyes. “Howdy Twilight, good ta see ya.” The mare greeted. “Hello Applejack, how are you today?” “I’m doin just fine, thanks fer askin. Who are yer friends?” “She talks funny.” Starburst blurted out. “Starburst, that was rude, you really need to be more careful about what you say.” Nova scolded. “Sorry big brother.” “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to her.” Starburst then looked up to the mare and spoke. “I’m sorry miss, I didn’t mean to insult you.” Applejack just smiled at Starburst. “Well shucks, that’s all right youngin, I realize I don’t talk like most other ponies, no hard feelins. Names Applejack by the way.” “It’s nice to meet you Applejack, I’m Nova, and this is my little brother Starburst, sorry again for his comment.” Nova stated. “That’s all right, like I said, no hard feelins. So what brings ya’ll by my stand?” Twilight answered. “They’re new in town, I’m giving them a tour of Ponyville.” “Well that’s mighty nice o ya Twilight.” A soft rumbling was soon heard. The group all looked at the source, it was Starburst’s stomach. “Heh heh, guess I’m a little hungry.” Starburst said. Applejack came around from behind her stand. It was then the mark on her flank was visible. It was of three apples. “Why don’t ya help yerself to an apple pie youngin?” Nova interjected. “That is very nice of you to offer, but we don’t have anything to pay you with.” “Shoot, don’t worry none about that, think of it as a welcoming gift, besides, I can’t stand seein a youngin hungry.” She then picked up a pie from off her stand and lowered it to Starburst. “Really, thank you Applejack.” Starburst said happily. “Yer welcome Starburst.” Starburst was then about to take a bite, but then the pie levitated out of Applejack’s hoof and in front of Nova. “Hold on there Starburst, let me check it first.” “Awwe.” Starburst cried. Twilight and Applejack looked at Nova in confusion. Nova cast his scanning spell on the pie. “Hmm, the chemical makeup seems safe, doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.” He said to himself. He then noticed the odd looks he was getting. “Oh, I…..uh….just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything in it that Starburst would……be allergic to.” With that, he then levitated it back to Starburst. “Here you go Starburst, eat up.” Starburst smiled, took hold of the pie in his hooves, then took his first bite of the pie. “Mmm, thish ish good, you got to try thish big brofer.” He said with a mouthful. He then separated a piece of the pie and held it in front of Nova. Nova took hold of the piece in his magic grasp and took a bite. After savoring the piece and swallowing, he spoke. “Mmm, that is good, thank you very much Applejack. That…..what did you call it again?” Applejack looked at them curiously. “Apple pie, ain’t ya’ll ever had an apple pie before?” “No, and I must say, this apple pie was very delicious.” Nova said. Applejack’s smile returned. “Well thank ya kindly, I’m glad ya liked it.” “We should probably continue on so you can get back to your sales, thank you again for the pie.” “All right then, I’ll see ya’ll around.” “Bye Applejack, I’m sure we’ll see each other soon.” Twilight said. “You betcha.” Applejack said back. As the three walked on, it was then that Nova remembered his gems. “Twilight, before we continue, is there a place I can sell some things for some money?” “That depends, what do you have to sell?” The three stopped in their tracks, Nova used his magic to open his saddle bag and levitated three small different gems from the bag. “I have these special gemstones I want to sell.” Twilight looked on in wonder at them. One gem stone was a red ruby and looked like the sun, at its center was an orange orb glowing brightly. The second was a white diamond with a small white glowing orb at the center. Finally, the third one was a green emerald with a pattern carved into the center that looked like a leaf. It too was letting off a faint glow. “Wow, Nova, these are amazing, where did you find these?” “I made them myself. It’s my skill after all. I call that red one a red ruby sun. The diamond I call a white dwarf star diamond, and finally, the emerald, I call a leaf emerald.” Twilight kept her look of wonder. “You made these? This is amazing.” “Thank you, so do you know of a place I can go to sell them?” Twilight smiled. “I know the perfect place, come on, I’ll show you.” Nova put the gems back in his bag and the two brothers followed Twilight. They soon arrived at their destination. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, my friend Rarity runs this place, she’s a fashion designer, she used gemstones in her designs, so I’m sure she would love to use some of your gems in her work.” She then led the two up to the front door and walked in. A little bell sounded to announce the arrival of customers. “I’ll be with you in a moment dear.” Came a feminine voice from another room in the back of the store. Nova and Starburst took the opportunity to look around. They saw ponyquins with dresses on them, a small stage to the side and three mirrors on the other. “Great galaxies, look at all these dresses.” Nova commented to himself. “So, these are clothes you told me about?” Starburst asked in a whisper. “Well, yes but, they look different from what I recall, must be the fashion style on this planet.” Nova whispered back. The owner finally emerged. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is sheik, unique, and magnifique. Twilight darling, how good of you to come by. What can I do for you?” The owner was a unicorn mare with a white coat, a violet mane and tail styled in curls, and had three white diamonds for a cutie mark. “Hello Rarity, I brought some new friends by, I’m showing them around town. This is Nova and Starburst.” Twilight introduced. “Hello.” Starburst simply greeted. “It’s nice to meet you miss Rarity.” Nova said. “Always a pleasure to make new acquaintances, what can I do for you?” Rarity asked. Nova began. “I have some gemstones I want to sell, Twilight here says you might be interested in purchasing them.” “Well normally I can find gemstones myself, I don’t really have need to have someone selling them to me.” “But these stones are unlike anything you’ve ever seen Rarity, trust me, you won’t regret it.” Twilight said. Rarity then became curious. “Well, all right, let’s see what you have.” She led Nova over to a counter near the front door and got behind it. Nova opened his bag and levitated his gemstones out of the bag and presented them to Rarity. She looked over them and levitated four to look at them carefully. “Good heavens, these gemstones are amazing, I’ve never seen anything like these before.” One of the gems Rarity was looking at was a long dark purple gemstone shaped like an octagon, there was a kind of sparkling from the inside of the stone. “This one looks like there are stars in it, this is most intriguing, wherever did you find these?” “I made them myself, I just used a few enchantments I learned and shaped the gems like how you see them.” Nova informed. “That red one I call a red ruby sun, the white one I call a white dwarf star diamond, the green one I call a leaf emerald, and that purple one I call a stardust gem.” “These are absolutely gorgeous, and you say you made them yourself?” “Yep, so what do you say, are you interested?” “Am I ever, I’ll take the whole lot, I could make such magnificent dresses with these. How does 300 bits sound for all of them?” Nova was surprised by this. “WHOA…..is that a lot?” Starburst asked. “Rarity, are you sure you can afford that?” Twilight asked. “Of course I can, I wouldn’t have offered if I couldn’t.” Rarity answered. “You got yourself a deal miss Rarity, and thank you very much.” Nova said with a smile. “Your quite welcome, with a talent like yours, you could open up a wonderful business. And I would certainly be more than happy to purchase more of your merchandise once you have more. In fact, I don’t suppose you would be able to make a gem look like anything, could you?” “Sure, no problem, why?” “Splendid, I could start up a new line of dresses with personalized gemstones with your help, we could make a lot of bits with this. What do you say, care to start a business deal?” “Wow, this is great big brother, you can already start earning the money here.” Starburst said. “Again, you got yourself a deal miss Rarity, you let your clients know about me and how I can make a gem more personal for them and I’ll make it.” Nova said. “Splendid, this is sure to make us a lot of bits, thank you so much for coming Nova, and I look forward to working with you.” “Wow, this is quite the first day in town for you, already you got a deal to make some serious bits. Not a bad first day in Ponyville.” Twilight said. “And where will you be staying dear, I need to know how I can contact you after all.” Rarity asked. “Oh, I have a house just outside of town, near Twilight’s library.” Nova informed. “Really, I don’t remember there being a house there.” Twilight said with curiosity. “Really, well, it’s there heh heh, you know how it is with development right? Houses just seem to crop up overnight.” Nova said nervously. “We should probably get going, I’ll see you again soon Rarity.” Rarity levitated a small brown bag full of bits and levitated it over to Nova, Nova took Rarity’s bag of bits and placed them in his saddle bags. “All right then, I’ll see you all later, and welcome to Ponyville.” Rarity said as she waved a hoof goodbye. Once outside, Starburst was jumping for joy. “This is great big brother, we can already start making a living here, does this mean we can call this place home now?” “I guess so Starburst, we have found a home.” Nova said. “ALL RIGHT! WE HAVE A HOME!” Starburst cheered. Twilight was smiling big at the display. “Gosh, he’s really excited about all this isn’t he?” “You have no idea.” Nova said with a smile. “By the way, I think Sugarcube Corner should be open now if you want to go take a look.” Twilight informed. “Can we go Nova, please please please?” Starburst asked pleadingly. “All right, we can go check out this bakery.” Nova said with a smile. Twilight led the way to the place and they soon arrived. “Here we are. Come on in, another friend of mine works here.” Twilight was the first to walk in. Nova and Starburst walked in and noticed the lights were out. “Twilight, are you sure this place is open? The lights are off.” Nova asked worriedly. Suddenly, the lights came on and a large crowd of ponies sprang out and shouted. “SURPRISE!” Nova and starburst both cried out in fear. “AAAHHH!” Starburst quickly took shelter behind his brother while Nova took a defensive stance. “Say back, I’m warning you, you better not hurt my brother!” Nova declared to the group. “Nova, calm down, it’s just a surprise party.” Twilight informed. Nova quickly looked to Twilight with confusion while Starburst continued to shiver in fear with his forelegs over his muzzle. “A WHAT?” “A surprise party silly, hi there, I’m Pinky Pie and I threw this party just for you cause your new in town and I just love to throw parties for new ponies what’s your names?” A pink coated mare with a dark pink puffy mane and tail and three balloons for a cutie mark said as she hopped up and down in front of them. “Look you, I don’t know where you got the idea its ok to scare others like this but I don’t appreciate it, you scared my little brother.” Nova scolded. Pinkie stopped hopping up and down and frowned. “Awwe, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just thought you might like a big party to celebrate your arrival here.” Pinky said. “How did you even know we were here?” Nova asked. Pinkie smiled again. “I always know when a new pony is in town.” Nova was now confused. “But how?” he asked again. Applejack stepped up next to Nova. “Sugar cube, it’s best not to question it, trust me.” Applejack then noticed Starburst. “Is he gonna be all right?” She asked concerned. Nova turned to his little brother still cowering. “Starburst, it’s ok, you can look now, it was just a misunderstanding.” Starburst slowly lifted a foreleg and peeked out from under and looked at his brother. “Nova, what happened?” “I don’t know, but appearantly, it’s some sort of welcoming custom.” Nova whispered. “Come on Starburst, its ok, you can get up now.” He said a little louder. Starburst slowly stood up and got next to Nova. “um, hello.” He said, still shaken up by the scare. “Awwe, aren’t you a cutie, hi there, I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name.” Pinkie said excitedly. Starburst backed up into nova. “Big brother?” He said with a bit of fear. Nova just looked down at Starburst, then back up at Pinkie. “I think we’ve seen enough, we’ll be going now.” He declared. Pinkie frowned. “Wait, please don’t go, I’m sorry for scaring you, I really didn’t mean to, please stay for the party. I threw it just for you to welcome you here.” “I don’t know.” Nova looked down at Starburst. He spoke a little quietly. “What do you think Starburst?” Starburst took a good look around, as he saw all the colorful streamers and balloons, his eyes lit up in wonder. “Whoa, Nova, look at all this stuff, what is it?” Pinkie gave a smile. Nova then spoke. “Starburst, are you sure you want to be here for this……party?” “Nova, look at this, what’s that, hey look at these, these look real tasty.” Starburst said as he zipped around the room looking at all the decorations and sweets. “I guess that answers that question.” Nova stated. Pinkie smiled bigger. “YAY, I promise you’ll have a lot of fun.” “Starburst, wait, don’t eat that yet!” Nova called as he saw Starburst about to eat a cupcake. He quickly rushed over just in time to snatch it away from him. “Hey, I was gonna eat that.” Starburst complained. Nova leaned in and whispered to Starburst. “We don’t know what this stuff is made of yet, it could have an adverse effect on us, I need to scan this stuff first before we eat it.” “But that apple pie was fine, why wouldn’t this stuff be safe to eat too?” Starburst asked in a whisper back. “Just let me scan these first.” Nova then cast his scan spell across the table to check the contents of the sweets. While he did this, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and two other ponies walked up behind them. “Um, what are you doing?” One of the ponies asked. Nova turned around and saw the sky blue winged pony with the rainbow mane and the yellow winged pony with the pink mane standing before him, the rainbow one asked the question. “I’m just making sure that there isn’t anything in these that Starburst here isn’t allergic to.” Nova informed. Starburst also noticed the two other new ponies, he cringed a little and got up against Nova. Nova looked down at his brother. The pink maned winged pony saw this and cooed. “Awwe, it’s ok little one, we’re not going to hurt you, we just wanted to meet you. I’m Fluttershy, what’s your name?” “I’m Starburst.” Starburst introduced himself, still a little shaken up from his scare earlier. “That’s a nice name, it’s nice to meet you.” Nova then introduced himself. “I’m Nova, it’s nice to meet you too.” “Um, h-hello.” Fluttershy said timidly. “I’m Rainbow Dash, best flyer in all of Equestria.” The rainbow pony introduced herself. “Hello, so what do we do at this…..party?” Nova asked. “Well DUH, you have fun silly, haven’t you ever been to a party before?” Said Pinkie. “To be honest……no, we haven’t.” Pinkie let out a huge gasp. “YOU HAVEN’T, I don’t believe it, I’ve never met a pony that’s never been to a party before. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to have fun, just stick with me.” Starburst was clinging to Nova’s right foreleg at this point as Nova looked down at him. Nova looked back up at Pinkie. “Look….Pinkie was it?” Pinkie nodded. “I think we’ll be fine on our own. Thanks anyway.” Pinkie frowned. “What’s your problem?” Rainbow asked. Nova gave a small glare at Rainbow. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Pinkie here didn’t exactly make a good impression on my little brother here.” Rainbow dash glared back. “She said she was sorry, what more do you want?” “Nova?” Starburst said, it seemed that Rainbow Dash was starting to scare him now. “I want my little brother not to be scared.” Nova declared. “All right you two, that’s enough, Rainbow, back off, you ain’t exactly helpin the situation, yer scarin the poor little guy.” Applejack intervened. “Whatever.” Rainbow then walked off. “Sorry bout her, she can be a bit of a hot head sometimes.” Applejack said. She then looked down at Starburst with a smile. “You all right there sugar cube?” She asked softly. Starburst just looked up at her and nodded. “I’m ok, I guess.” “Why don’t ya’ll help yerselves to the sweets here and you can join in on the games whenever yer ready.” Applejack said to both of them. “Thanks Applejack, I think we’ll do that.” Nova answered. Pinkie then walked up with a small smile. “I’m sorry for scaring you’re little brother, I just get so excited when I meet new ponies, can you forgive me?” “It’s really up to Starburst since you scared him the most.” Nova said. “Well little brother, what do you say?” Starburst released his grip on his big brother and stepped forward to Pinkie. “Well, this place is real nice, and you said you set it up just for us?” Pinkie nodded. “Weeeellll……OK!” Starburst said with a big smile. “So what can we do at this…..party that’s fun?” “Oh all kinds of things, I got a bunch of fun games set up we can play, like pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, twister, we even got a piñata set up.” Nova and Starburst looked a little confused. “You know what Pinkie, I think we’ll take you up on your offer to show us how to play these games.” Nova said. “You got it new friends.” Pinkie then hopped off with Nova and Starburst following. The others followed as well. Nova turned to Twilight and asked her something. “Say Twilight, how did you know Pinkie had a party set up for us to welcome us here?” “I didn’t, It was really a surprise to me too that it was set up. Just good timing on our part I guess.” Twilight said. The first game they came to was the bobbing for apples tub. “This game is real simple, you just dunk your head in the water and try to pick up an apple with your mouth, like this.” Pinkie instructed then demonstrated as she dunked her head in and brought it back up with an apple in her mouth. “Ta daa.” She the spit the apple out and back in the tub. “Now you try.” “Can I go first Nova?” Starburst asked. “Go ahead.” Starburst walked up to the tub and immediately encountered a problem, the tub was too tall for him. “How am I supposed to do this?” “Hold on, I got a solution.” Pinkie announced. She zipped off and came back with a stool. She set it in front of the tub, then picked Starburst up and set him on it. “There ya go, now dunk your head in and get an apple.” Starburst didn’t waste any time, he quickly dunked his head in the water and moved about as he tried to grab an apple. After a couple seconds, he pulled out and had an apple in his mouth. “Ook, I id it, I id It!” He cheered with the apple in his mouth. He then spit it out and spoke. “I did it big brother, did you see?” Nova chuckled. “I saw Starburst.” “Come on Nova, you try.” After Nova’s successful attempt at bobbing for apples, they moved on to another game. Pin the tail on the pony, Rainbow Dash was in the middle of her turn when they came to it. Nova noticed she was wearing a blindfold and carrying a fake tail in her teeth, making her way to a picture of a pony. She managed to pin the tail close to the target location. She removed her blindfold and saw how she did, she was a little satisfied with her attempt. She then looked over and saw the two brothers. She walked over to them. Starburst got closer to Nova upon her approach and looked a little fearful. “Hey.” She said softly. “Sorry for how I acted before, I tend to get a little tempermental, we cool?” Nova looked down at Starburst, then back to Rainbow Dash. “Think you can apologize to Starburst?” “Sure.” Nova looked back down at Starburst. “Go on Starburst, it’s all right.” Starburst looked up at Nova, then back to Dash, he then took a few steps towards Rainbow Dash. “Sorry for scaring you Starburst, I didn’t mean to, we cool?” She said with a smile. Starburst smiled back. “Ok, we’re…..cool.” “Come on, I’ll show you how to play this game.” Rainbow offered to Starburst. He looked back at Nova. Nova made a motion with his hoof to say ‘go on’. Starburst happily followed Rainbow Dash to the area. Nova just sat on his haunches and watched Starburst with a smile. “You really care about him, don’t you?” Came Twilight’s voice, she was sitting on his right when she asked. “Of course I do, he’s all I got, and I’m all he’s got.” Twilight looked at Nova with concern. “What do you mean by that, what about your parents?” “It’s…..not easy to talk about, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask.” “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer.” “I had to be the one to take care of him, we’ve been on our own for so long and lived a sheltered life, I have to do what I can to keep him safe, but at the same time, I want him to be happy. It can be scary starting a new life, meeting new….ponies.” Twilight became confused by Nova’s statement. “How could you live a sheltered life if you traveled around?” Nova froze for a moment, not sure what to say. “You see…..what I mean is….we just kept contact with others limited and never really settled in a town long enough to get to know others.” “I see.” Twilight smiled. “You know, we have a school here you can enroll Starburst in, it would be a good chance for him to meet other ponies his own age and make some friends.” “I don’t know Twilight, we just moved here, I don’t know if he’s ready for that yet, we still need to get settled in. Besides, how do I know this school is any good.” “It’s a great school, the little ponies love the teacher, she’s real nice.” “Well, I’ll have to think about it.” “NOVA, LOOK, I DID IT, I WON!” Starburst cheered. Nova and Twilight looked over and saw Rainbow Dash holding him up in front of the picture, the tail was right on target. “When does the school start?” Nova asked. “In a few weeks.” Twilight answered with a smile.