“So, what do y’all think of him?” Applejack asked.
“He seems pretty cool to me.” Rainbow Dash said. “When I met him I thought he was a real jerk at first. He ruined this awesome stunt routine I was working on and we got into a bit of an argument.”
“How does all of that make you think he’s cool?” Twilight asked, curious.
“Well, I kinda crashed into him while he was sleeping on a cloud. Apparently, he knows that spell you used to visit me in Cloudsdale for the Best Young Flyer’s Competition. So, when I saw that he was underneath me when I crashed I kind of hit him in the face.” Rainbow Dash said with a nervous chuckle. “Then, when he saw that I hurt my hoof, he totally changed. He wasn’t angry anymore. Instead he looked concerned. He even offered to fix it for me.”
“At first I didn’t trust him, but in the end I let him fix it for me. Then we talked a little and we had a little race. He used this really freaky spell he said he made that made him go insanely fast. I actually had to use the Sonic Rainboom to beat him!”
“Well, my meeting with him was not quite as… eventful.” Rarity said carefully. “He came into the boutique and asked me to make a jacket for him. We had a small conversation and I ended up giving him my old violin from when I was a foal and he played it for me. It was lovely: sad, sweet, and even a little mysterious. It was like his emotions were pouring out of the strings. I could tell just by watching that he enjoyed playing.”
“Wow,” Twilight said. “It sounds like Blackstar is a pony of many talents.”
“How did you meet him, Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“Well, he came by the library this morning and we talked for a little bit. He said that he wanted to study magic with me. As it turns out, he’s also a personal student to the princesses.”
“What!” The rest of the group cried out.
“He never said anythin’ like that t’me.” Applejack stated.
“Yes, and he told me that he graduated from Magic School.” Rarity said with a shake of the head.
“Well, he didn’t exactly tell me.” Twilight replied. “You girls know how I get a copy of the Canterlot newspaper sent to so I don’t miss home quite as much?” The others nodded before she continued. “Well, he was on the front page of one of them. The article talked about him being a student to the princesses.”
“Why would he lie about something like that?” Rarity asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “When I asked him how he convinced the princesses to make him their student he just said it was a private conversation.”
“What do you think he’s hiding?” Rainbow Dash asked with a stern look.
“Maybe he isn’t hiding anything.” Fluttershy offered. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to draw attention towards himself. Twilight, you know what it’s like to be a student to the princesses. Have you ever felt like ponies have judged you just for being Celestia’s personal student?”
“Well… I,” Twilight stuttered. She couldn’t say that she had never felt that way. In fact she knew it was true. Whenever she walked through Canterlot growing up she could overhear whispers from several ponies, some of it was positive, but not all of it. “I guess I can see your point. He did say he wanted to stay low-key. And other than how strange he acted when I brought up the conversation with the princesses he seemed very nice.”
“How ‘bout you Fluttershy, you wanna tell everypony how you met ‘im?” Applejack asked.
“Well,” Fluttershy started, rubbing her fore-hoof against her leg. “I was feeding Angel Bunny, but as usual he was acting picky. I was begging Angel to eat his carrot when Blackstar showed up and tricked Angel into eating the carrot. At first I didn’t know what to make of it. I mean, it usually takes me forever to get Angel to eat, but Blackstar did it in a minute. Then he asked me if I wanted any help with the animals and I let him. He even played with some of them. He was: gentle, funny, and extremely nice. He also has this odd twinkle in his eye. I don’t know how to describe it, but it seems… bitter-sweet.” Fluttershy finished suddenly, as if she was aware at how much she had said.
“That sounds lovely.” Rarity said a wistful look on her face. She then straightened herself out and looked toward Applejack. “Well, Darling, you’re the only one of us that hasn’t told all of us how you met Blackstar.”
“Yesterday, Ah found him asleep in the orchard. Ah was upset obviously, but he apologized and told me that he didn’t know that it was an orchard. Then he asked if Ponyville was close. I laughed and told him he was in it. He was obviously embarrassed and offered to help me with the apple bucking. Then he made this stuff he called Apple Butter and said we could sell it. We gave him a job and a place to stay. He helped Big Mac get better and gave Apple Bloom some real nice advice. Ah don’t really have much else to say other than… Ah think Ah may like him, a lot.” The rest of them got an uncomfortable look on their faces and avoided making direct eye contact with the farm pony.
“Looks like you girls like ‘im too.” Applejack said with a sigh.
“Maybe a little,” Fluttershy admitted sheepishly. “But if you like him, then I won’t.”
“Nah,” Rainbow Dash said quickly. “He needs to be about 20% cooler to get with me.” She said with a nervous laugh. “But if you’re ever up for sharing him let me know.”
“Rainbow Dash, that’s a horribly vulgar idea!” Rarity shrieked in a hushed tone.
“Girls,” Applejack said, hoping to defuse the situation. “I’m not claiming ‘im or anythin’, Ah just wanted to admit it to somepony. In the end, this is Blackstar’s choice. If it isn’t me, then Ah’d be okay if it were one of y’all. We should just wait and see what he chooses.”
“We may be left waiting a long time.” Rarity said.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“Trust me, Darling; you may have a way with animals. But, I have a sense for romance. And I get the feeling that Blackstar has about as much romantic sense as an old washcloth. And yet I find a part of myself attracted to him.” Rarity admitted with a sigh.
“Ooh, you all have feelings for Blackstar.” Pinkie Pie giggled, popping in from seemingly nowhere.
“Pinkie, where’d you come from?” Twilight asked.
“Over there silly, I finished introducing Starry to everypony in Ponyville a few minutes ago and found you guys. I was about to say hi, but then I heard all of you telling each other how you met Starry, so I decided to listen. And now I know that you all like Starry!” Then Pinkie gasped and her already wide grin seemed to grow wider. “Maybe I should like Starry too. Then, we could make a game out of who gets him first! This is gonna be so much fun!”
“Pinkie Pie, you don’t just decide to like somepony, it has to happen on its own.” Rarity interrupted. Pinkie’s mane deflated a little at having her idea shot down.
“Awww, that stinks. Then maybe I can play matchmaker!”
“We all decided to let him choose, on his own.” Applejack said.
“Fine, but will you at least hear me out on one thing.” Everypony circled around her as she whispered her idea.
“Please!” Scootaloo begged.
“Come on girls, I’ve had a long day.” You said for the tenth time to Apple Bloom and her friends.
“But you said you’d show us some magic later, and it’s later.” Sweetie Bell said with a sweet grin.
“Maybe some other time, right now I wanna see if I can find Applejack, she seemed upset back at Fluttershy’s.”
“Hey Apple Bloom, looks like Blackstar here has a crush on your sister.” Scootaloo said obviously mocking you.
“That’s fine by me. Then he’d really be mah new big brother.”
You could feel your cheeks burning for a moment. You shook off the embarrassment and sighed in defeat. “So, what kind of magic do you want to see?”
“Something cool!” Scootaloo beamed.
“No, something pretty,” Sweetie Bell argued. The two of them yelled back and forth for a minute until you stepped in between them.
“Girls, stop it, I have an idea that I think will satisfy both of your desires. All I need is a red piece of paper.”
Apple Bloom ran off quickly and returned with exactly what you had in mind. It was red paper that you had seen used numerous times for what you were about to do. You closed your eyes and an image of an origami crane came into your mind. In a matter of moments the paper took the shape of the crane in your mind. You held up the paper crane for the three fillies to see but none of them looked too impressed.
“Is that it?” Scootaloo asked, disappointed.
“I mean it’s pretty but I was kind of expecting something bigger.” Sweetie Bell admitted.
“Who says I’m finished?” You said with an incredulous look. “That was step one of three.”
Their faces lit up as you tossed the paper crane into the air. Then you used a spell to give it motion and to fly. They oohed and ahhed but you still had another trick up your sleeve. Your horn glowed again and the single paper crane became an entire flock that flew over the entire town before dying in a fizzle of sparks. You looked at the three wide eyed fillies with a proud look on your face.
“So, was that pretty, or cool?” You asked with a playful smile.
“Both!” they cheered.
“Good, now if you excuse me I have to go…” All of a sudden the music stopped and a familiar hyperactive voice came onto the mike.
“Attention everypony!” Pinkie Pie called out. “I know everypony loves Vinyl Scratch’s music, but we’re about to have a special performance by the guest of honor himself on the violin.”
Somehow at that moment you were standing on the stage. You didn’t feel anything that would indicate teleportation magic. You got the feeling that you should just chalk it up to Pinkie Pie doing whatever it was that Pinkie Pie did. “Good luck, Starry.” She said with a wink before hopping off of the stage.
You looked at the crowd who all stared back at you expectantly. You slowly removed your violin from its case. You took a deep breath and remembered what your mother always said about performing. All that matters is the music. If you like what you’re playing then chances are that the crowd will like it too. You debated on playing what you played for Rarity. You decided against it though because it had come to you in the spur of the moment and you doubted you would be able to replicate it entirely. Instead, you chose to play the theme song to one of your favorite video games when you were growing up. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was actually one of the first things you had learned to play on the violin and you still remembered it note for note.
You brought the bow to the strings with your magic and closed your eyes. Again you imagined playing the violin as if you were still human, but as you played other images wormed their way into your head. You remembered staying up on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to bring you the game, and staying up late some nights until you could beat a difficult temple. And most of all, you remembered telling your parents that you had beaten it. They had told you they were happy for you and you had felt a surge of pride as they did. You couldn’t help but smile as the memories caused a warm feeling to spread through you, and eventually the song came to an end.
You opened your eyes and the ponies cheered and stomped their hooves to the ground, an obvious sign of approval. You took a quick bow and hopped off of the stage, and the party slowly returned to normal.