//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Introduction // Story: Morning in Ponyville // by Skarsnik //------------------------------// It was a nice morning in Ponyville. Spike was doing his usual chore of re-shelving the library for the fourth time this month. Twilight conducted a study to see if there was any correlation between the positioning of books with the time it took to dust them. Obviously for Spike that meant Twilight created each new shelving system and he was doing the rest of the experiment. Spike did not complain that much, he could become easily bored with the library’s low level of activity and with Rarity gone in Canterlot to make a dress for Princess Luna, he had a lot of time to kill. It was nearly time to stop for lunch when a pink pony appeared at the already open door of the treehouse. “Hello, Spike! My left foreleg was dancing a polka solo, my tail was twitching and my left ear was itchy, which means something great will happen to a friend, soooooooo--”  the pink pony paused to take a great inhalation “--so I went to see all my friends and that took me all morning, because I got caught discussing pranks with Rainbow Dash and I forgot to stop by Sugarcube corner to take some cupcakes for a picnic with Fluttershy, and I remembered that I did not stop by the library to get a book on the Great Royal Pantry War and I was like: ‘Oh my gosh I can stop and see Twilight at the same time,’ so I am here. Is Twilight here today?” Spike rolled his eyes at Pinkie’s antics and replied, “I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie. She’s not here.” He finished climbing down the ladder he was using to reach the upper shelves and continued looking at the pony. “She didn’t tell you girls? She’s in Canterlot to celebrate her birthday tomorrow.” Pinkie gasped in shock. “Oh! It’s Twilight’s birthday, I need to plan a party, when is the next train for Canterlot? Maybe if I don’t sleep and I take some extra super duper Pinkie Cupcake with extra extra sugar for an energy boost I will be on time, I need to go now, thank you, Spike!” Before Pinkie managed to leave the library Spike grabbed Pinkie by the tail. “Hold on, Pinkie, you will have to wait until she returns. This day is very important for her. She wants to be with her family.” Pinkie turned around to face Spike with a deflated expression. “Oooh, she doesn’t want her friends to celebrate her birthday?” “No, no. Just do it when she get back in three days.” Spike paused to think of something to get the party pony back to her cheerful self. “Hey, you can throw her a double party. She will have a guest.” “Oh, double party, double the fun! Thank you Spike!” Pinkie hugged Spike before leaving in a rush. “You are welcome,” Spike replied to the empty entrance of the library before heading to the kitchen to make lunch for himself. --- Three days later at the Ponyville train station, a lavender unicorn mare was levitating her luggage. The train that brought her from Canterlot had just departed and she was watching the nearly empty train station. Its emptiness was not really unusual; not a lot of ponies take the train in the middle of the afternoon even on a Saturday, especially the train to Ponyville. After rechecking that she did not forget something on the train, she spoke more to herself than to the light pink unicorn filly that stood at her side. “Nopony at the train station? Not even Spike?” Then she turned her head to look at the filly with a stern expression on her face. “You remember what I said, Morning?” “Yes, ‘be nice and polite to other ponies,’” the filly replied with the bored tone you could expect from a filly answering this question for probably the tenth time that day. A cheerful smile replaced the frown on Twilight face. “Good filly, now let’s go to our new home.” The trip to the library took longer than expected for Twilight Sparkle as she was adapting her pace to the filly admiring her surroundings. For the most part, Twilight was just smiling, watching her reactions, and wondering how the filly was seeing Ponyville with her lively cerulean eyes. The filly had only seen some pictures of the town and it was very different from Canterlot or the places they went for the rare vacations they took. Twilight had been afraid the filly would not like Ponyville, but she only read curiosity and a bit of amazement in her reaction. When the library came into view, Twilight passed a hoof through the filly’s night blue mane, eyeing  with worry the violet stripe while she groomed some out of place hair. Once satisfied with the small task, the duo resumed their walk to the oak tree. Twilight opened the locked door of the library, but she did not have the time to notice that the library had been redecorated with streamers and balloons everywhere as she was immediately welcomed by a cheerful Pinkie Pie. “Happy birthday, Twilight!” Pinkie spotted the unicorn filly that went hiding behind Twilight. “Oh, who is this cute little filly?” “Thank you, Pinkie.” Twilight smiled. She should have expected something like this when she noticed Spike was not at the train station. After her heartbeat calmed down a bit, she turned her head behind her, toward the filly that was gripping one of her hind legs. “Come here, Morning, and introduce yourself to my friends.” The filly complied and placed herself at Twilight’s side. Looking inside the library where five mares and a dragon were waiting for her, she caught her breath and looked into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight made a small motion with her head to encourage her. The filly turned her head toward the other mares and straightened her pose. “Good afternoon. My name is Morning Star. I am Twilight’s sister.” The ponies in the room went with different variations of ‘Awwww’ or ‘she is so cute,’ but Pinkie, still maintaining her cheerful self, asked, “How old are you, Morning Star?” “I am eight years old,” the filly replied timidly. Before a storm of question could fall on the poor filly, Twilight said with a smile to her friends, “Thank you for the party, girls. You don’t mind if I spend a few minutes getting Morning set up in her room before we start?” “Of course darling.” Rarity answered while the others just nodded. Twilight thanked her friends and made a small gesture with her head to Morning. “Follow me, it’s upstairs.” And they started climbing the wooden stairs with red carpeting. Before Twilight got out of sight, Pinkie called her. “Oh Twilight, we thought you would bring back a handsome stallion and have a romantic birthday with him. I need to change the second party!” Twilight turned her head and give a suspicious glare at Spike, who was wearing a small innocent smile on his face. “Hum, stallion? Second party?” Pinkie replied for him, “He said it was a surprise! Seems like we guessed wrong! Oh, we had a special gift too,” the party pony added with a wink. Twilight rolled her eyes and resumed her walk to Morning’s assigned room. The Golden Oak Library had a lot of room upstairs. Aside from her own room when she moved in Ponyville, Twilight found a guest room which was sometime used when her friends wanted to do a sleepover. Another room was designed to store copies of book or books too precious to be in direct contact with the public. Sadly for Twilight most ponies in Ponyville were not great fans of literature or history instead they were mainly interested in practical books like “how to grow stuff.” She had expected to find interesting books only to find copies of said practical books. In the end, the room was used as a personal library for Spike and her. Twilight opened the door of a smaller room she had been glad to find. It was a room clearly designed to host a young filly or colt. The room had been bare of any decoration when she found it, but the childish wallpaper and the small sized bed were a good giveaway. Upon entering the room Twilight put piece of luggage on the bed and the other in a corner of the room, “Alright Morning, apparently there is a party for you.” “A party for me?” Morning replied with a confused look on her face. “Yes, it’s Pinkie Pie, remember? I told you she like to throw parties for everypony.” “Yes.” “Can you wait for me here? The bathroom is the room next to yours. I will send Spike to help you unpack.” “Ok” “I promise I won’t be long, just enough time to open my ‘present’”, Twilight let out a small sigh as she left the room, she was not really happy to let Morning alone like that but if she read Pinkie’s expression correctly her ‘present’ was not meant for a young audience to see. Twilight went back to the main room and now she could see the giant Happy Birthday banner was accompanied by a smaller one holding the words ‘Welcome to Ponyville Morning Star.’ She gave up trying to understand how Pinkie managed to put that up in the short time she was away or why the paint looked already dry. “Thank you girls for the wait.” Twilight looked at Spike with a smile. “Spike can you help Morning and keep her company?” “Sure Twilight, if you leave me some cake,” he replied cheerfully while leaving the girls. Rarity was the first to speak to Twilight as the lavender mare approached the drink table. “You never told us you have a lovely sister.” “Sorry girls, I don’t like to talk too much about my family.” Twilight poured herself a glass from the non-alcoholic punch bowl. “It’s alright darling, we all have our little ‘down’ moments with our family.” Rarity’s tone was comforting. Twilight drank a bit of her punch. “Oh no, my family is alright, don’t worry. My parents are on vacation for a while, they wanted to go  when I was old enough to keep an eye on Morning.” Applejack got closer to Twilight and give her a pat on her shoulder. “Glad to hear that sugarcube.” A bouncing Pinkie Pie cut the conversation, “Hey it’s a party! Happy birthday Twilight!” At that, the other girl joined Pinkie in wishing Twilight a happy birthday. “Thank you girls.” Twilight took a look at the other side of the table where five wrapped boxes sat. What surprised her about them was that the five presents for her looked nearly identical, just plain red paper with a nice golden ribbon. Only the size and shape of the presents were different. Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight’s confused look. “Pinkie had an awesome idea. You will have to guess who gave you each of  the presents.” Twilight looked at Pinkie a small smile on her face. “That sounds fun, can I start?” “Of course silly!” Replied Pinkie cheerfully as she proffered the first present to Twilight. The unicorn unwrapped the present with her magic and was surprised to find a small bottle labeled, “Special ginger root and apple mix.” Twilight turned her head toward a smiling Applejack. “Hm, Applejack?” “Yep” Wearing a small grin Twilight asked with an innocent tone. “It that a new drink?” Applejack started fidgeting with her hoof and blushed a bit. “It’s...for the fertility of stallions.” Pinkie Pie giggled, Rarity let an amusing chuckle at Applejack’s small distress. “Ok,” replied Twilight with a slightly annoyed tone, “Let’s see the next one.” Twilight opened another present, the package was the size of a book. When Twilight finished unwrapping it, it was indeed a book. “The pony sutra?” Twilight looked at the book’s spine. “it’s a nice edition. Rarity?” “No dear, it’s not from me” After asking each of her remaining friends, Twilight found it was Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, really? I am surprised.” “Hey, some book are… cool.” When she finished this little game with her presents, Twilight make a quick recap. “So a pony sutra, some lingerie, some ‘toys’, some stallion’s stimulant. Fluttershy’s sweater is maybe the most normal present.” Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane to not show her slight blush “It’s...a pregnancy sweater.” Twilight rolled her eyes, “Even better, you all really though I was bringing a stallion?” Applejack was the one to cut the following silence, “Shoot, sugercube; it's spring after all. You look happier than a freshly sheared sheep when you leave for Canterlot, but come back lookin' mighty blue.” “Which I can understand, Canterlot is such a marvelous city. It was nearly heartbreaking to just stay for one week.” added Rarity while inspecting Fluttershy’s work. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and with a playful tone said, “Yes, we know Rarity. Canterlot is great, or was it that stallion? What is his name again? Panty pants?” Rarity replied with a small ‘humph’ and a hoof gesture to push her mane back, “It’s Fancy Pants and he’s just a friend.” Pinkie Pie interrupted the friendly argument by looking at an imaginary watch on her right foreleg, “It’s time for cake!” “I’ll bring Spike and Morning back out.” Twilight rushed upstairs. Rarity took care to hide the opened presents out of reach of a baby dragon and a foal. Rainbow Dash was talking with Applejack while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were preparing the cake and some plates, “She got us all, I really thought she would be crazy embarrassed, but nothing. But really A.J.? A fertility drink? You want her pregnant?” “Shoot Dash, Fluttershy had the same idea.” “Yeah, but you know ‘Shy, for her stallions mean foals.” Twilight reappeared with a slightly nervous filly and a cheerful Spike. Once she was at the bottom of the stairs, her friends gathered around them with great smiles. “So Morning, these are my friends, I already told you about them, but it’s better if they introduce themselves.” Applejack removed her hat and made a small bow. “Howdy Morning Star, I am Applejack.” Morning paused and looked at the hat. “You are the crazy apple farmer!” It was said with a mix of enthusiasm and innocence. The ‘crazy apple farmer’ raised an eyebrow at Twilight, “Crazy?” “She...is very natural.” Twilight was a bit embarrassed at Morning’s answer, but she knew the filly was merely acting as she was putting the right name with the right pony. “I am Rarity dear, you have a lovely mane cut.” “Mommy chose it for me! You are the beautiful mare Spike talks a lot about.” “Spike talks a lot about me?” Spike tried to hide his blushing cheeks with his claws when the little filly nodded in agreement. Rainbow Dash stroke a pose, foreleg crossed, wings on display. “Hey kiddo, I am Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer of Equestria!” “Twilight talks a lot about you!” There was a small blush on Twilight’s cheeks, but Rainbow Dash failed to notice. The other pegasus of the group of friends got closer to the filly. “Um. Hi, I’m Fluttershy.” “You’re the shy one!” “And I am Pinkie Pie, premiere party pony,”, said Pinkie with prime enthusiasm and a big smile. “The crazy one!” “Oh, I love crazy, you love crazy?” Morning looked at Twilight and continued. “Twilight says crazy is good sometimes.” “Yep, let’s party!” Pinkie put a party hat on Morning Star’s head and made a gesture for ponies to start gathering around the cake. “She is very different than you.” Rarity said to Twilight while pouring herself another glass of the alcoholic punch. “Oh no, I was like that when I was younger, but not for the same reason.” Twilight giggled, “She is more like her father.” *** Cake was shared, birthday songs were sung, Twilight’s attempt at dancing got some laughs from both the young mares present and the younger audience, but she didn’t care. She was happy to have a small part of her family and her friends to celebrate her twenty-first birthday, even if it was a bit late. The second party was mostly the same with just more foalish games in which Spike and Morning participated. Pinkie Pie brought too many things to snack on; they all could skip dinner. When the sunlight started to fade out, Twilight stopped the party, to the agreement of everypony. “Thank you, girls, it’s time to put Morning to bed, I will see you tomorrow.” After saying goodbye to all of her friends and thanking them for their presents, Twilight headed up with Morning to the filly’s room. The walls of the room were decorated with a nice blue wallpaper with various pattern of stars. The curtains added to this night blue ambiance with smalls yellows stars on them. The ceiling was painted with a replica of a real picture of the night sky. The bedding covering the bed and the pillow shared the same star pattern as the curtain. On the opposite side of the wall was a small bookshelf holding books varying from bedtime stories to basic magic studies. Twilight grabbed Morning’s toiletry and lead her to the bathroom. They both brushed their teeth and after Twilight checked to see if the filly’s teeth were clean they went back in the filly’s room. Twilight helped Morning put her pajamas on; despite being spring the nights were still a bit chilly. Once she was ready to go to bed, Morning hid a yawn with one hoof and looked at the older mare with pleading eyes. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” “Hm, I should be cleaning the library, but I guess I could do that tomorrow.” Twilight replied with a smile. They both left the small room to head to Twilight’s room. The bigger mare installed herself in the bed, sliding near the wall to offer room for the filly. She patted the free side of the bed and the filly hopped up, facing the young mare. “Twilight?” “Yes?” Twilight was wearing a bright smile. “Can I call you mommy now?” “Of course my little star.” The mare planted a kiss on the filly’s forehead and grabbed her with her forelegs in a tight hug. The filly buried her face in Twilight’s chest. “I love you, mommy.” “I love you too,” Twilight replied before turning the light off.