//------------------------------// // Chapter 5- Fitting-In and Love // Story: Love Knows No Bounds // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// A Home for the Homeless Chapter 5 Fitting-In and Love _____________________________________________________________________ “Class?” Miss Cheerlie called out to her students, who all went quiet. “We have a new filly joining us today.” She indicated to Rose, who cringed the tiniest bit. It had been a week since she had started living with Twilight. The previous day, a letter had arrived confirming that Rose was now officially Twilight’s daughter, meaning Rose really had a family now. All those ponies she’d met at Hearth’s Warming were now here family. The only downside to this was now she had to go to school, something her time in the hive left her with no experience in or preparation for. In the hive, if you were female and not the queen, you only needed to know one thing: once you were old enough, you were never to return and were on your own. That was the only real lesson she’d ever been taught and now that she was in a real school, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it. “... expect you all to welcome her and be kind,” Miss Cheerlie’s voice brought Rose out of her thoughts and back to the present. A pink earth pony with a slightly light-purple and white mane and tail, blue eyes with a tiara on her flank that looked like the one resting atop her head held up a hoof. “Yes, Diamond Tiara?” Miss Cheerlie asked. “What kind of name is Rose Aphid?” she asked in a snide voice. “Since her name means bug, does that mean she is one?” Rose stiffened. Bug? Had this Diamond Tiara figured out she was a changeling just like that? How? Oh, why? She has a mother now? Why did things have to go so bad now—? “Diamond Tiara,” Miss Cheerlie’s voice, suddenly very stern, made Rose turn to her, shocked. “That’s incredibly rude.” “Well, whoever her parents are, they clearly didn’t care what they named her,” Diamond Tiara continued as if she hadn’t heard Miss Cheerlie. Rose felt tears well in her eyes. She’d always been told ponies were kind, her new mother, her mother’s family and friends had proved that. Why was this pony being so mean? “Her mother,” Miss Cheerlie said, sounding very angry “is Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The sneer was wiped clean off Diamond Tiara’s face as the other foals gave loud gasps. Miss Cheerlie took a deep breath and calmed herself. “Twilight Sparkle adopted Rose just a few days after Hearth’s Warming,” she explained, narrowing her eyes when Diamond opened her mouth, who then closed it. “The paperwork for the adoption only came through yesterday,” Miss Cheerlie continued. “She is Twilight's daughter, so I would prefer if everypony did not tease her simply because of her name. Do I make myself clear?” She was looking at Diamond as she finished. Everypony nodded. Diamond Tiara was just staring dumbstruck. “Okay,” Miss Cheerlie said, returning to her cheerful self and turning to Rose. “You can have the spare seat at the back by Dinky.” Rose nodded and walked over to an empty seat next to a blueish-grey unicorn filly with a blonde mane and tail and yellow eyes. Dinky smiled and said hello and Rose replied back. She noticed no Cutie Mark on Dinky and wondered whether she was a Cutie Mark Crusader too. As if knowing what she was thinking, Dinky nodded, shifted her eyes to her own flank and winked. The day went differently than Rose had expected. All the fillies and colts kept asking her if it was true that Princess Twilight Sparkle was her mother. Every time she told them it was true, them stared open-mouthed, then asked what having her for a mother was like. She mostly hung out with the CMC and Dinky though. Rose found Dinky’s life story very interesting. Her full name was Dinky Hooves. Her mother was a Pegasus mare by the name of Derpy Hooves, looked a lot like her daughter, only as a Pegasus and with a light-grey coat, who was a mailmare and a moving mare. Rose realized she’d seen Dinky’s mother the previous morning. She’d delivered the letter with the papers officially making Twilight her mother. Scootaloo decided they’d all try getting their Cutie Marks after school. Rose had been planning on going straight home and be with her mother, but she decided, since the fillies were now her friends, she should join them. Who knows? If they did something Rose was good at she could use any opening to give herself a Cutie Mark and while it would mean no more crusadering with her friends, she’d still play with them and help them try to find their Cutie Marks. _____________________________________________________________________ Twilight walked back into the library, lost in her thoughts. Her meeting with Princess Luna had gone on for a long time. It was almost six o’clock. But the time wasn’t a pressing issue right now. The issue was what the two princesses had talked about. Pricness Luna’s daughter, Antumbra, had been lost at a very young age, several days before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon. This meant the history was slightly off, even though she’d only seen Luna talk about not standing by and letting everypony bask in Celestia’s light from the memories she experienced when she drank that potion during Discord's Plunder Plants incident. The main reason Luna had become Nightmare Moon wasn’t because of jealousy at Celestia, that had only been part of the reason. It was grief over the loss of her only daughter. Luna had told Twilight that she had loved her daughter dearly and made her Pinkie Promise if any caused her to lose Rose (Twilight had been horrified at the mere thought of this) that she would not let it turn her into a monster like she had let it do to her. With this on her mind, Twilight didn’t hear the door open again or the flapping of small wings. When Rose jumped onto her back, Twilight screamed and leaped several feet in the air. “Got you, Mommy!” Rose laughed as Twilight hyperventilated. “Yeah,” she gave a weak grin and a small chuckle, looking over her shoulder at the filly hanging there. “You got me pretty good.” What Princess Luna said about what she mustn’t do if she lost Rose came back to Twilight as she looked into the smiling face of her daughter and her smile vanished. “Mommy?” the small Pegasus looked worried, clearly wondering why her mother had gone from happy to sad so quickly. Twilight took Rose and held her tightly, a few tears leaking down her muzzle and into Rose’s mane. Twilight gasped when she felt Rose give her an even tighter hug than she was giving as she said, “Don’t cry, Mommy. I’m back. Everything’s gonna be okay.” Twilight couldn’t hold it. She wept loudly, cradling her little filly, never wanting to lose her.