Star found himself hanging from the roof of Carousel Boutique with his hooves tied behind his back and he saw four ponies out of the corner of his eyes, but he couldn't figure out who they were. He felt bruises developing on his body and he didn't know what was going on, to try and figure out the situation, he thought back over what he had done that day
Earlier that day
Star had spent the majority of his morning thinking of what to get his friends for Hearth's warming eve, he could almost literally think of nothing, so instead of gifts, he thought about the attributes of his friends hoping something would come to him.
Thinking of nothing, he decided to explore Ponyville searching for ideas. Ponyville was quite peaceful during the day now; most ponies were inside their homes enjoying the fire or in small groups enjoying the snow. His eyes wandered around some shops that he passed by until his eyes fell upon a jewelry store "I know, I can buy something for Rarity here, she seems like she would like jewelry"
He walked into the store hopefully, but left in disappointment, he couldn't find anything there that he thought that Rarity would want. So he once again went on his way to find something to buy them. As he left the store he was approached by Pinkie Pie "Hey Star, what ya doin?" she asked
Not wanting to let her know that he was looking for gifts for them, he quickly thought up an excuse "I was just….. um….. wandering around doing nothing" he said nervously
"Are you sure that was all you were doing?" Pinkie said her face getting closer to Star's
"Yes….. yep that is what I was doing" he said nodding his head
Pinkie's squinted her eyes "Okie dokie" she then hopped off on her way doing whatever she was before she approached him.
When she finally got out of sight he let out a loud sight that he didn't know he was holding in "That was a close one"
He started off on his journey once again looking for a good gift for his friends. Doubling back he decided to buy a big jewel for Spike. He emerged from the store with a bright green emerald the size of a pony's head, he had gotten it for a good price because he had bought such a huge gem, it had cost him around 300 bits.
He continued to search through town until he came upon a peculiar building; it had a large sign that said Event tickets sold here he thought about it for a moment before deciding to see if they had Wonderbolts tickets or something of the sort.
He walked in to the building to see an almost empty building, save the pony at the main counter. He approached the mare to see that it was Derpy hooves "Derpy? You work for this store too?" he asked
"Yep, can't only make a living on mail delivery" she said cheerfully "So, is there anything I can help you with?" she asked
"I was looking about buying two Wonderbolts tickets" he asked
"Why two? Do you have a special mare in mind?" she asked slyly
"I am giving them to a friend for Hearth's warming eve, I am getting two so that she can take a friend too" he answered
"Alright" she said walking into the back room of the building. She reemerged from the other room holding two almost solid gold looking tickets "These are all we have left, they are Deluxe VIP Tickets"
"Alright" he answered taking out his pouch of bits
"Don't you care how much they are?" she asked curiously
"Oh, sure, how much?" he asked
"Two hundred a ticket" she answered
"Okay" he said counting out the bits
Derpy looked at his bag of bits "Where do you work?" she asked incredulously
"I work at Quills and Sofas, surprisingly enough, I am the first pony who ever even wanted a job there" he answered sliding the appropriate amount of bits across the counter to her
"How many bits do you make there a month?" she asked
"About two hundred or so a week, so about 600 bits a month" he answered
"That isn't much, seems kind of cheap if you ask me" she said in a conspiratorial tone
"I also get twenty five percent of every sofa that we sell" Star added
"Oh, well I guess it isn't as bad as it seems" she said setting the tickets onto the counter for him "Here are your tickets"
"Thanks, see you later" he said leaving the store
"Oh, and Star?" she said just before he left "Thanks for not making fun of my eyes, most ponies don't say anything to me directly, but I’ve heard the rumors about it and most ponies treat me differently, but you haven't, you treat me like a normal pony, so thank you" she smiled after she said this
After Star left the store he thought about Derpy's eyes "What is wrong with her eyes? Is it because they’re yellow?"
He didn't notice where he was going when he accidentally knocked into Twilight, who also wasn't looking where she was going "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going" he apologized
"Neither was I" Twilight admitted
"Twilight, you’re an observational pony, I was speaking to Derpy a little bit ago, she said that ponies made fun of her because of her eyes, I didn't notice anything, is it because they are yellow?" he asked
Twilight stared at him in shock "You didn't notice that her eyes aren't exactly straight?" she asked
Star gave her a questioning look "That? That's the reason that ponies treat her differently and make fun of her?"
"I don't see why ponies would make fun of her for it either" Twilight sighed
"I didn't even notice, I don't see why other ponies would pay much attention to it either" he said shaking his head
"Where did you speak to Derpy?" Twilight asked changing the subject
"Oh just around….. by the way, it seemed unlike you to be scavenging for the pie recipe yesterday, why were you?" he asked changing the subject again
Twilight looked ashamed "It tasted familiar to me and I was hoping that seeing the recipe would help jog my memory, I hate not being able to remember something, it drives me crazy"
"That's okay, I just wanted to know why, now if you will excuse me, I have business to take care of" he said leaving Twilight to continue whatever she had been doing
He then crossed Rainbow off of his mental gift list, now he didn't have to worry about a present for Rainbow or Spike, but he had better drop his presents off before he got over encumbered and his gifts were seen by his friends.
Focusing he tried to teleport to his home, without success, he tried to teleport just a short distance, which also didn't work, so he tried to levitate a nearby clump of snow, which also didn't work "What happened to my magic?" he couldn't come up with a rational answer so decided to address the matter later
He walked back to his house feeling as if he was being watched; he kept glancing behind his shoulder to see if there was somepony following him, but to no avail. He soon arrived at home and dropped off the giant emerald and the Wonderbolts tickets; before he left he decided to hide them in the small hole underneath his home just in case Pinkie came around to look for the recipe one more time.
When he had been building his home he had failed to notice a small lowering in the ground beneath the flooring, so now there was a hole about three feet wide and two feet down under his house. After finding the hole he decided that it was too late to deal with it so he just loosened the boards above it and until then hadn't found a use for it.
He placed the two gifts in a cloth and put it into the small hole before covering it up and heading back to ponyville. When he arrived he saw Applejack selling warm apple cider at a stand near the town square. He approached her and struck up a conversation, after he bought some of the cider of course. The conversation soon came to how the Apple family's business was picking up and they needed more land for the fields, but they didn't even out enough profits this year to afford it, so they were going to do it next year.
This gave Star his idea for their gift, he would buy the Apple family two more acres of land, one as a gift to Applejack and one as a gift to Big Macintosh "I have to get going, I have business to attend to"
"Star before ya leave, ah have to apologize for yesterday, ah over reacted. Ah thought ah tasted apple in the pie, but Rainbow denied this and said there wasn't, so ah agreed to look for it to prove her wrong, it was wrong of me" she apologized
"It's okay, no harm done" he said with a smile
Star went on his way and eventually found his way to the city hall, where he would ask Mayor Mare about buying two more acres for the Apple family. He arrived in the building and saw a desk with a bored looking earth pony. She was a white pony with a black mane that was tied back into a bun "Can I help you?" she asked
"I would like to speak with Mayor Mare about purchasing some land" he asked
"Sure, one second" she walked into the room behind herself for a few moments before emerging from it "Go right in"
Star walked into the building and saw Mayor Mare at a desk similar to the one just outside that same room "Can I help you?" she asked
"I am looking to buy some land, two acres along the side of Sweet Apple acres land specifically" he explained
"Why?" she asked
"I am buying it as a present to Applejack and Big Macintosh, Applejack passingly mentioned how they need to buy more land" he explained
"Do you know how much an acre costs?" she asked
"Nope" he said with a shrug
"Five hundred bits per acre" she explained
"That is a lot, but I can afford it" he said taking out his bag of bits that was quickly draining, after this he only had 2300 left of the 4000 he started with
Mayor Mare then took out a slip of paper and started to write on it "Two acres on which side?" she asked
"On the north end of the acres" he answered
She started to write on the paper again then asked "And you want this land signed off to the Apple family, right?" she asked
"Yes" he answered
She stopped writing and hoofed him the piece of paper "Here you go, I bet this will make them very happy"
Star thanked her and left, putting the slip of paper in his bag. As he crossed Applejack off his mental checklist he saw the Cutiemark Crusaders staring at him intently, acting as if they were hiding "May I help you girls?" he asked
"Aahh! Abort mission, abort mission! The target has seen us!" Applebloom yelled as they all ran out of sight
"That was strange" he commented before leaving to find more gifts
He was still wandering around town before he came upon a pet store, where right in the window he saw one of the cutest kittens he had ever seen, it was still very small, which he assumed meant that it was still very young, maybe two or so weeks old. It was white with a small brown spot around its eye, and its eyes were a very deep sky blue.
He walked into the shop deciding that if he was going to get Fluttershy a gift, then it should be something that she loves, and as far as he knew, that consisted of animals and plants, but he saw the kitten before a plant, also it was much cuter than any plant he had ever seen.
Star walked in and saw a unicorn standing at a service counter that had containers with pets around it. "Hello, can I help you with anything?" he asked
The pony standing at the counter was a dark blue with a white mane that had a very light blue almost grey streak going through it "I was wondering about that kitten in the window" Star asked
"That poor little kitten was born about a month ago, his mother died when she gave birth to him and his two sisters, the sisters are gone to good families and now he is all that is left" the other pony said in disappointment
"I was wondering about buying him" Star said cheerfully
"I am so happy about that!" he said in excitement rushing over to the window to grab the kitten
"How much for him?" Star asked
"He is free, just because you were kind enough to get him to a nice home before Hearth's warming day, we were all worried that he wouldn't ever get to a nice home" he smiled
"Alright, I would also like to buy some cat food" Star asked
"What size?" the other pony asked
"The biggest" Star said happily
"Alright" he said reluctantly
After a few moments he came out with a bag of cat food that was larger and wider than Star, it was about two heads taller than him "That's a lot of cat food" he said in awe
"That will be eighty bits" he asked
Star took out his pouch of bits and paid the pony "So, how are you going to be carrying this?" the other pony asked
"Will you be able to hold the kitten and the food here for the day? I will be back for them later today, the cat is a surprise for a friend" Star asked
"Who?" asked the blue pony
"Fluttershy" Star responded
He sighed in relief "Then I know he is going to a good home"
"Thanks, goodbye" Star said leaving to continue his adventure for gifts
He went over the list in his head "I have gotten a gift for Spike, Rainbow, Applejack and Macintosh, and now Fluttershy. Next I have to find something for Pinkie, Twilight and Rarity"
He didn't have to go very far to find where he would look next; he found an antique store almost next door to the pet store. He walked in thinking to find something for Twilight, she didn't only like reading books, she also liked things that peaked her interest, so he would either find something interesting with a strange back story, or an interesting book.
He wandered aimlessly through shelves full of seemingly random items. Eventually he came upon a very large tome, he wouldn't have paid it any mind but on the front was an illustration of what looked like a very large tree.
Upon further inspection he found that the book was a biography of some of the greatest magicians in Equestrian history, this wouldn't have been very interesting if the entire volume wasn't all of autobiography's.
Taking the book he brought it to the main counter and bought it, it was only 20 bits. Once again he made his way back to his home and dropped off the gifts. While walking back to Ponyville he got a brilliant idea for what to give Pinkie, he would send her on a scavenging hunt for a secret buried treasure, which would turn out to be a chest completely filled with pastry's. He smiled at the thought; Pinkie would go insane about it. Now he just had to find a gift for Rarity.
Before he went to find her gift though, he decided to ask Twilight about his not being able to use magic. When he arrived at the library Twilight was wearing a brown cloak, it was shorter than Star's by a lot, and speaking at a mirror "Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?"
"What are you doing?" he asked causing her to jump into the air in surprise
"I was practicing my lines for the Hearth's warming eve play" she explained "What are you doing here?"
"I had a question to ask you, I was trying to use some magic earlier, but it wasn't working, is there a reason for that?" he asked
Twilight gave him a curious look "Have you tried to levitate anything?" she asked
"Yes, it didn't work" he answered
"Try again" she asked
Star turned to a book on a table near the end of the room and tried to levitate it, but nothing happened "See? Nothing" he said disappointed
"One second" she said using her magic to scan him just as she did when they had first met "There is nothing different about you now than there was then, except your magic isn't as strong as before, did something happen?" she asked
"Not that I can think of" he said while in deep thought
"What about the amulet, does it have any side effects? Or maybe I didn't check close enough for your magic last time…." she questioned
Star thought about it for a moment before he came to a realization, he scoffed the idea at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense "What if I didn't have any magic to begin with? I think I may have just been using magic that was being stored in the amulet, maybe that is what Discord has been blocking, my magic" Star suggested
Twilight stared at him "That… that actually makes sense" she said in realization "It would explain your magic not working and why you had to focus on using the magic through the amulet instead of using the magic from yourself to the amulet" she thought out loud
"So, now I can't perform magic and… all that practice I did all of those months was worthless and didn't change anything, all it did was waste the magic" he said hitting his head against his hoof with an audible smack
"Well that must be disappointing" Twilight condoned him then her eyes widened "Now you can't decipher anything else in the books!"
Star groaned "Oh yeah….. now we have literally nowhere to go with this" he said in disappointment
Twilight hesitated and looked as if she had something to say, after a pause she suggested "We could ask Princess Celestia about it"
Star looked at her "I don't think that the princess will agree to an audience with me, she will probably not even let me into the castle"
"You could come with the six of us when we go to Canterlot for the Hearth's Warming Eve play tomorrow" she suggested
"That might work" he said with a smile "I will at least be able to give them their gifts on Hearth's warming day" he thought "But the princess still won't want to speak with me"
"It will be a surprise, we usually see the princess on Hearth's warming day, at least, I do, I spend the day with her and the others find something else to do with their time, at least, that is what we did last year, we started doing this last year." she explained
"Alright, sounds like a plan, I guess I will see you tomorrow in Canterlot" he said happily
"Won't you be riding in the carriage with us?" she asked
"That depends, when will you be leaving?" he asked
"In the morning" she answered "The play starts around six"
"I will be there before the play, but there is something I need to do first" he said as an excuse for him bringing the gifts without them knowing, mostly the kitten, seeing as it would be impossible to keep it quiet for a few hour long ride to Canterlot.
"Alright, I will see you tomorrow then" she said happily before turning back to the mirror and practicing her lines again
Star left the library in deep thought, for what he would get Rarity as a gift, for how Discord was blocking off his magic, and for how he was going to carry all of those gifts to Canterlot and keep them hidden from the others for the whole day.
He began to think of Rarity, he thought of what she liked and what she acted like, until it hit him like a train "She might like a nice dress!" he felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier
He made his way over to a shop that sold dresses, he browsed through everything but he found nothing that really caught his eye, in a last ditch attempt, he decided to go and buy her a dress when he was in Canterlot.
Star spent the next few hours setting up his Pinkie Pie scavenger hunt. When he was finally done he let out a sigh, his search ended in town under a bush near Sugarcube Corner. As he started to walk away something moved under him and he found himself hanging from a rope about eight feet off the ground, he panicked and looked around trying to see what happened, but that just made the rope snap, causing him to hit the ground and fall unconscious.
Present time
That brings it back to what was happening right then, nothing that happened that day could help him figure out what was happening. Suddenly the four figures in his peripheral vision started to shift and move towards him. He found that it was Pinkie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders "What were you doing all day today?" she asked pacing back and forth in front of him
"I can't tell you" he answered
"You were going all around town into stores and buying stuff, what were those tickets for huh? Were you just going to skip town or something?" she accused
"No, Pinkie look, I was buying gifts for you girls for Hearth's warming day, but you have to Pinkie promise not to say anything to anypony else, you too girls" he gestured towards the Cutiemark Crusaders
They all Pinkie swore and Star let out a sigh "Why am I hanging from the roof of Carousel Boutique?" he asked them
"We were going to interrogate you and thought it would be harder to find out what you were doing" Pinkie admitted
"Why were you girls helping her?" he asked
"We were trying to get our Cutiemarks in spying" Sweetiebelle answered
"Will you girls get me down, please?" Star asked
"Sure!" Pinkie said and immediately Star fell from the ceiling to the floor
"Wait, how….?" He questioned
Pinkie turned on the light revealing she had some scissors in her hooves and there was a rope that they had used right by her "Oh" he said simply "Well if there is nothing else, I will be going now, I will see you tomorrow at the play" he said as he left
Star anticipated Hearth's warming day, for on that day, he either learned the truth about his past, or he made an enemy of the ruler of Equestria.