Star woke that morning with a smile and a purpose, he finally found out who he was and what had happened to him, even if it was only partially. Also, it was his birthday and Hearth's Warming day, he got to give his friends their gifts today, which he hoped that they liked. Before he did that though, he gently woke the cat that was on his chest and it gave out a cute yawn.
He spent the next half an hour putting all of his gifts back into the cart, securing them and making sure they were hidden by a large cloth that he had been using to cover the top. He approached the main part of the hotel and entered to see a very tired looking Blueblood "Ugh, it's you again, what now?" he asked grumpily
"I am here to check out of the hotel room and give you back these keys" Star said putting the keys onto the counter in front of him
"Good, now go away" Blueblood said coldly
"BLUEBLOOD! You will say farewell to our customers the way we practiced!" yelled a hidden pony from somewhere inside the building
Blueblood sighed and grumbled something about him not having to deal with this before turning back to Star "Thank you for your patronage, come back again sometime and have a nice day" he said between clenched teeth
"I will be sure to" Star replied in an amused tone, which earned him a very dirty glare from Blueblood
With all of that settled Star set off with the cart behind him. Before he went to the castle he went to a dress shop in town, where he had ordered a dress for Rarity that was to be done by then. He had asked a dress maker by the name of Fleur de lis if she could make a dress for Rarity, after hearing Rarity's name she immediately started fussing and putting a dress together claiming that she was hit by a sudden inspiration and that it would be done the next morning.
When he arrived at the store he walked in to see her with a very happy expression on her face, it looked like one of triumph "I have done it! I have made the perfect dress for your friend!"
She levitated the dress over to Star for him to inspect it. The dress was a light purple near the back leading into a dark crimson near the head, it was studded with bright blue and purple gems along the sides "It's great" he complimented
"Thank you, it is one of my finer works" she said gladly
"So, how much will it cost?" he asked
"It is free, it is Hearth's Warming day after all" she said with a smile
"Thank you very much" he said gladly
After leaving the shop he brought the dress over to the cart and placed it carefully beside the other presents before setting off towards the castle. When he finally arrived at the castle itself he was stopped by some guards "What business do you have in the castle?" the one to his left asked
"I am here to spend some time with my friends, the bearers of the elements of harmony, also with my good friends Luna and Celestia" he explained, he would have just told them who he was, but he wasn't sure if Celestia would want him too yet.
The guard glared at him "If you are friends with the bearers of harmony, then tell me their names and who bears what element?" he asked
"Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic, Fluttershy, the element of kindness, Rarity, the element of generosity, Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty, Applejack, the element of honesty, and Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter" Star answered without missing a beat
The guard sighed "The princess said that a friend of theirs would be coming by this morning, just had to be sure"
With that the guards moved out of his way and let him past. He approached the main gate and was stopped by another guard "I can take your cart for you if you like" the guard offered
Star stopped to consider this before nodding his head "If you would, just leave it here, I will need it soon"
The guard nodded and pulled the cart to the side of the large double doors. Star walked into the castle to find a large room with a staircase right in front of him. He looked to the side and saw another of many guards "Excuse me, could you tell me where Twilight and her friends are? I am here to see them"
The guard gave Star a passing glance before nodding his head towards a hallway and walking towards it. After following the guard for a few moments they were soon in a very large dining hall, there was a very large table in the center, but at the far end at the chairs were Celestia, Luna, and each of his friends.
Upon walking into the room they all stopped talking and stared at him "If it isn't the birthday boy" Celestia commented with a smile
Star approached them and pulled off his hood "Really? I thought that it was Hearth's Warming day, I came here with presents and everything, but I guess if it's my birthday I shouldn't be giving out gifts" he smiled and sat between Celestia and Luna, a chair had been left empty for him
"Wait, you have presents? Who are they for? Is one for me? Ooooooh can I open it canIcanIcanIcanI?" Pinkie said excitedly
"I have presents for the seven of you, though if I had known what I do now, I would have had nine presents" he said jokingly
Celestia smiled at him "I already have the best present possible, I got my son back"
There was a chorus of "awwwww's" that went through the room
"Wait, you said seven, you got a present for me too?" Spike said curiously
"Yeah, why?" Star asked
Spike shot Twilight a nervous glance but she just nodded in approval "Well, last time I got presents from ponies I got greedy and grew large, if you remember" he explained
Star thought back and remembered the whole ordeal "Oh yeah, but you are only getting one present from me, not multiple ones, don't worry about it" he said with a smile
Spike then grinned back at him "You are right, now, what is it? Can I know?" he asked gaining Pinkie's excitement
"You will all have to wait a moment, it will take me a while to bring them all in" Star said cheerfully
"The exchanging of gifts can happen after breakfast, you will all have to wait patiently" Celestia said with a wink to her son
Star simply grinned and chuckled lightly. About a minute later a few ponies in wearing black tuxedo's came out of a nearby door carrying plates piled high with food. There was hay and all kinds of amazing looking flowers, along with those there was all kinds of deserts and sweets, but one in particular caught Star's eye "Hey, isn't that Sweet and Sour pie?" he asked pointing towards a pie piled high with whipped cream
Celestia gave him a curious look "How did you know that?" she asked
"I read it in my old journal, which I had to decipher because of your spell" he explained
She then shot him a worried glance "How much of it did you eat?" she asked
"Don't worry, I limited it to making one once a month" he answered
"Yeah, he did" Pinkie said in disappointment before perking back up "Wait, did you say that that pie right there is the same pie?" she pointed towards the pie
After receiving a nod from Celestia she dove at the pie and immediately shoved her face into it, this caused everypony in the room to laugh, including the waiter ponies. After a very good breakfast Star sat rubbing his hoof against his stomach "I haven't eaten this much since I competed against Pinkie for her cupcake eating title" he said
This earned him a curious look from everypony in the room besides Pinkie "When we had that cupcake eating contest Pinkie said that if I beat her she would give me her title of "Cupcake Eating Champion"" he explained
This earned him a giggle from both Celestia and Luna "You thought that you could beat her at eating a pastry?" Luna asked
"I didn't know how much she could eat!" Star replied jokingly
"Alright, now that we have eaten, how about that present?" Pinkie said impatiently
"Pinkie!" Rarity said sounding appalled "Manners!"
"It is alright, I would be anxious to see what kind of presents I would get too" Star said before leaving the dining hall. He wandered his way back to the entrance and with the help of one of the guards, brought all of the presents back to the dining hall. Just before they walked into the room he stopped the guard behind him "I will be giving the presents to them one at a time, I didn't wrap them" he said
He walked into the room empty hoofed "Alright, now who wants their present first, I would just give them to you all at the same time, but I didn't wrap them" he asked
"Mememememememe!" Pinkie exclaimed
Star left the room and came back holding the rolled up piece of paper "What is it? Is it a treasure map?" Pinkie asked in excitement
"Close" he said deviously before giving it to her. Her eyes scrolled down the note as she read it "I love it!" she exclaimed hugging Star before sitting back at her place
"What is it?" Rainbow asked
"It's a clue, to a treasure hidden somewhere near Ponyville!" Pinkie exclaimed
"Alright who's next?" Star asked
"Me!" Spike said raising his hand and shaking it
He left and came back with the very large emerald "HOLY GEM!" Spike exclaimed before taking it and immediately gnawing on it
Star simply looked at the rest of his friends before Rainbow's excitement got the best of her "Alright, what's mine?" she asked
Leaving the room once again Star reemerged with a small blue box that he had bought the other day, to add dramatic effect "Great, it's a necklace or something" Rainbow said very unenthusiastically
She opened the box and gasped “Omygoshomygoshomygoshomygoshomygoshomygosh!” she exclaimed quickly after looking into the cushioned box and finding the two golden VIP Wonderbolts passes, she tackled Star saying “thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”
After waiting a few moments and having nopony offer to have their presents next he simply grabbed the closest gift to him, which happened to be the book he had gotten Twilight
She looked at it with a slight look of disappointment "What's wrong?" Star asked
"I already have this" she said in disappointment
"No you don't" he pointed out
"Yes I do" she argued
"You have the biography of it, but this is a book of the AUTObiography's, as in, written by the ponies themselves" he explained, he knew that she already had the biographies of these ponies, but not the autobiographies
Twilight's eyes widened as she reread the title "THERE ARE ONLY THREE OF THESE IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA! ONE WAS DESTROYED, ONE WAS PUT IN A MUSEUM AND ONE WENT MISSING, WHERE DID YOU GET THIS!" She exclaimed in surprise
"I got it in the antique store in Ponyville" he answered with a pleased tone
He then did what he did the time before, he grabbed the closest present, this time it was the deed that he had bought for Applejack "Here you go, this is for both you and Macintosh" he said giving it to her
Her eyes moved back and forth over the paper before her eyes widened in surprise "Thank ya Star, but ya didn't have ta do somethin this big" she said in disbelief
"It was my pleasure" he said cheerfully
"What is it? That is, if you would like to tell us" Fluttershy asked timidly
"Star went and bought the Apple family two more acres of land!" Applejack replied happily
"That must have cost quite a shiny bit" Rarity commented
"It wasn't that much" Star said before leaving to grab the next gift
When he returned he was carrying the kitten, he then gave him to Fluttershy "Awwww! He's adorable!" she said sounding extremely pleased
"I also got you a very large bag of cat food, and I cannot stress enough that it is LARGE" he warned her
"Oh, it can't be that…" her words were stopped dead as the guard came in bringing the large bag of cat food with him "Never mind" she said taking back her claim
"Alright, now for the last gift, for Rarity" he said as he left the room, grabbed the dress and brought it in. As he presented it to Rarity there was a collective gasp in the room "Do you like it?" he asked
"It's…." she started
"It's what?" Star pressed
"It's… beautiful, where did you get it?" she asked
"From Fleur de lis" he explained
Rarity shot him a surprised look "Fleur de lis? She only makes dresses for famous ponies, and even then, they cost a fortune! How much did such a dress cost?" she asked
"Does it really matter?" he answered
Rarity looked very pleased with her gift before giving Star an uneasy look; she then looked at the other ponies he had given gifts to who shared her uneasy look "What's wrong?" Star asked
"Well, it's just um…." Fluttershy started
"We feel bad that we didn't get you anything" Rarity explained
Star raised his eyebrow "What do you mean you didn't get me anything? You were all nice to me and treated me as a friend since I have known you, I think that's the greatest gift ever, this isn't just a present for Hearth's Warming day, this is also my thanks for being there for me during the good and the bad" he said appreciatively
They all looked at a loss for words "You bought all of this expensive stuff, how much did it all cost you anyway?" Spike asked
"Yes, how much did it cost? How did you afford all of this?" Celestia pressed
"It didn't cost that much and I have a well-paying job" he explained
"Where do you work?" she asked
"I work at Quills and Sofas, I make five bits an hour for eight hours from Monday to Friday, I don't even usually have to go in, I just have to be able to come in at any time, I also get twenty percent of all sofa sales" he answered
"Sounds like you are doing well for yourself" she commented
"Yep…. Oh yeah!" he said opening the saddlebag at his side "Here, Starswirl left me this, I think you should have it, even if you don't need it" he said as he hoofed Celestia the bag of platinum
She opened the bag and looked inside "How much Platinum is in this bag?" she asked
"Five hundred platinum bits" he answered with a smile
"Even if I did need this I wouldn't take it" she said giving it back to him
"I don't know anypony to give this too… never mind" he said putting the bag away "I know who to give this to"
With that settled they spoke of the day before, apparently before they went to the theatre to prepare for the play there was a misunderstanding with Rarity and Twilight, though they didn't want to go into it Rainbow was more than happy to.
Apparently Rarity was fussing over Twilight's mane in public and commenting on how pretty she was, which led a lot of ponies around them to believe that they were in a "Romantic" relationship, a few ponies even patted them on the shoulder or back and said "You are so brave" though nopony knew what they meant until Pony Joe asked Twilight about her marefriend.
Both Rarity and Twilight were blushing heavily after this which caused everypony else to laugh even harder "How was your trip here? You got interrupted yesterday" Twilight asked Star quickly trying to change the subject
"Well…. you heard about Trixie, now, what else happened…." He thought for a moment "Oh yeah! When I got to town and found the local hotel there was a well-known stallion there"
"Who?" Rarity asked suddenly very interested in the conversation
"Oh, you know, just the only other prince of Equestria, as far as I know at least" he said waving his hoof dismissively
"Only other… wait, you would be one, and that makes the other… you saw Blueblood?" she asked curiously
"Yep, but you won't ever guess what happened to him" he challenged
"What?" she pressed
Star smiled brightly "He was running the front desk in the hotel, his parents made him get a job"
After hearing this all of the rest of the ponies in the room burst out laughing, the thought of Blueblood actually having to do something to earn his lifestyle was hilarious.
After a few more minutes of idle chatter Rainbow turned to Star "Hey, why are there two tickets?" she asked
"For you to take a friend, it would be boring to go alone" he explained
"Oh, I guess that makes sense" she said content with the answer
After another few minutes of talking Luna and Celestia both had to go and finish some kind of royal business that they didn't bother to explain.
Star turned to his group of friends as they left the castle "So, now that all of this is over with I am guessing you will all be heading your separate ways?" he asked the other ponies in the room
"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked
"Well I got told that usually you all just find something to do in town for the day" he answered
"Oh yeah, we did last year at least" Rainbow agreed
"So were you going to do that this year or what are you all planning to do?" he asked
"Why, did you have anything special you were planning on doing?" Fluttershy asked
"No, I don't actually have anything planned today, I will probably just stay here and talk to Celestia more about the whole "memory situation" he said with a shrug
"I hadn't really planned this far, usually I am up all night thinking of the possibilities of being in this town, but last night all I thought of was the sudden explanation of your past" Rarity explained
"I understand, that is all I was thinking about last night too" he admitted
Just as they reached the castle gates Star blacked out.