//------------------------------// // A Canterlot Mare // Story: An Unwanted Visitor // by PhoenixFeather-101 //------------------------------// A Canterlot Mare By PhoenixFeather-101 Dark clouds were beginning to cover the small town of Ponyville. Barely any sound, except for the thunder and the soft snoring of a small, orange, pegasus mare could be heard. As another thunder crack sounded, the mare woke up with a jolt. "Huh?" she murmured sleepily. The mare rubbed her head and made her way out of bed, very, very, slowly. Finally, she stumbled out of the room and began to advance down the stairs. Through her blurry vision, she make out the shape of another pony. "Oh, hello Starburst," her mother, Princess Twilight Sparkle said to the sleepy orange pony. Starburst rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. "Hi, Mom," she said, now smiling. Now, almost fully awake, Starburst could see her mother clearly. Twilight had a book in her hand and a letter in the other. "You slept in, dear," she said to her daughter. Yet another crash of thunder sounded. Starburst looked out of the window of the library. Strange, she thought. How did I sleep through this storm? She shook her head and turned back to her mother. "It's a wonder you did. I never would have been able to sleep through this weather!" Twilight said, laughing quietly. Starburst smiled a little. "Anyway, I'd better get to Sweet Apple Acres, Mom. Need to train with Del." She began to walk down the stairs when Twilight speaks again. "Are you sure you should train in this weather? I doubt Golden Delicious and the rest of his family will be working." she asked. Starburst cringed. She was so eager to go, she didn't realize. Her mother did have a point. "Oh, yeah. Better wait for the storm to clear, then," she answered sheepishly. Twilight giggled. Starburst turned to look at her. "What?" she asked, confused. Twilight smiled at her daughter, clearly finding something amusing. "Oh, it's just you seem quite keen on seeing Del. Why is that?" she giggled a bit more as Starburst's eyes widen, and her cheeks began to glow a light shade of red. "MOM!" Starburst scowled at her. Twilight laughed even more. "Oh hush. I'm teasing, Star. But really, why is that?" she asks. Star huffed and walked down the stairs, probably just to get away from Twilight's embarrassing inquiries. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of oats. Twilight followed her down the stairs and frowned. "You're not mad, are you?" she asked. Star ignored her and ate some of the oats out of the bowl. She looked out of the window and saw that the storm had passed. "Finally. Bye Mom!" she shouted behind her and dashed out of the Golden Oak Library. Twilight shook her head at her daughter's impatience. Where does she get it from? she thought. Meanwhile, at Sweet Apple Acres, a certain pony was getting ready to go to the Train Station. Someone started knocking on his door, so he went over to open it. "The storm's passed, Del. You can go pick up this "Creme" gal now," his mother, Applejack said. Del smiled. "Finally. Bye Ma," he waved at Applejack and walked out of the building. Del followed the path out of Sweet Apple Acres, and turned right, to where the train station is located. Through the corner of his eye, he could see an orange-colored streak heading towards him. Del yelped and jumped out of the way as it sped past him. "What the hay was that?!" he exclaimed. Del shook his head. Probably his friend, Prism Bolt, trying to prank him. Del walked into the train station, and out onto the platform. A train from Canterlot was just coming in. The smoke from the train made him cough, and the train stopped with a loud screech. Ponies started storming out of the train, a mixture of stallions and mares. Del tried to locate one in particular, but it was proving difficult. He scanned everypony coming out of the train, but suddenly one of them bumped into him. "Oof!" the mare who had bumped into him exclaimed. Del looked down at her. "Oh, Ah'm sorry- Creme!" He broke off in mid-sentence, finally finding the pony he was looking for. Creme de la Creme smiled at him. "Hello, Del!" She said. "I told you I'd come." Del grinned in response. "Ah'm very glad ya did," he replied. "So, are you going to show me around?" Creme asked. "O' course. Sweet Apple Acres first." Del turned and trotted down the path, Creme following behind. "How have ya been?" he asked her. Creme elegantly flicked her purple mane out of the way and replied, "Oh, everything's been lovely. Some new fashion stores have opened, and they're simply the best I-" she stopped talking and looked at Del. "Oops, where are my manners? How have you been, Del?" The stallion laughed. "It's fine, but, since ya asked, things have been goin' well. Thanks fer askin'." Del stopped walking in front of a large entrance that bore the words Sweet Apple Acres. Creme gasped a little. "This is where you live? How charming!" she exclaimed, delighted. "I barely ever get to see apple trees, everyone in Canterlot buys them from the markets!" She beamed at Del and trotted inside. Del chuckled a little at her excitement, and followed her in. Starburst, now bearing the information that her friend, Golden Delicious, had gone to the train station, was walking slowly down the path out of Sweet Apple Acres, a little disappointed. She would have to train somewhere else. "Star! Ah was expecting to see ya." Starburst looked up, and to her surprise, saw that Del was back from the train station. She also noticed a pretty, purple-maned, unicorn mare walking next to him. "Hey, Del." her gaze shifted to the mare. "Who's this?" The mare waved at her. "You must be Starburst, Del's friend," she guessed. Starburst was surprised. "Has Del talked about me?" The mare nodded. "Yes, he talks about you a lot, actually!" she laughed. Del looked away sheepishly. The mare started talking again. "Anyway, I'm Creme de la Creme, but that is a mouthful, so you can call me Creme." she said, still laughing a little. Star didn't understand what was funny, and felt a little irritated. "Yeah, Star, this is my friend from Canterlot, Creme. She's gonna be stayin' at Ponyville for a couple o' days." Del explained. "Anyways, Ah'm gonna show 'er where she's stayin', and o'course ma family. You gonna come?" Starburst thought about it for a moment, and agreed. Together, the trio walked up the path to Del's home. He opened the door and called out "Ma! Ah'm home." As soon as he did, Applejack appeared from around the corner. "Ah, howdy again, Star." she nodded at Starburst, and her attention is brought to Creme. "So you must be Creme. Ah'm Applejack, Del's ma." Applejack extended a hoof, and Creme shook it. "Ya can stay 'ere as long as ya like." she continued. Creme nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Mrs Applejack." she replied. The middle-aged mare smiled. "Just Applejack. No "Mrs" required, sugar-cube." Starburst and Del looked at each other, waiting for Creme and Applejack to stop talking. "So, you have some chores to do later, right?" Star asked him. He smiled, seemingly knowing what she was thinking. "As always. And yes, ya can help me, but Creme's comin' too. Can't just leave 'er 'ere." he replied. Starburst felt irritated again, but she shouldn't be so rude as to refuse Creme's company. She sighed a little and saw that Creme and Applejack had stopped talking. "So, where should I put my bags?" Creme said, breaking into their conversation politely, which just made Starburst feel more annoyed. Del had noticed her change in behaviour, but turned his attention to Creme. "Oh, o'course. Just upstairs, Ah'll show ya." He led his way up the stairs, and Creme picked up her bags with her unicorn magic. She proceded to follow him up the stairs, very clumsily. Star followed them as slowly as possible, trying not to bump into Creme, who was slowly dragging her bags up the stairs. When they finally reached the top of the stairs, Del pulled the bags, which turned out to be heavier than they looked, into the spare room. "Ah'll let ya git unpacked, and check on ya later, okay?" Del said to Creme. She nodded, unable to talk because she had a bag in her mouth. Del walked outside of the room and looked at Star. "Are you okay, Star?" he asked her, worried. She looked up at him, still feeling annoyed at Creme. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, I don't think Creme and I will get along very well." she said. I just met her. But I already don't like her. she thought. Why is that?