//------------------------------//
// Fillies for friends?  
// Story: Of Fallen Stars & Ascension 
// by Hop3l3ssRomantic 
//------------------------------//


The Second Sunrise
-Getting To Know-

I approach the door to the castle's dining room with caution. I can hear the voices of the ponies from before chattering and laughing. The smell wafting out of the droom is drool-inducing. I wipe my muzzle and push open the door with my head. Everypony stops and turns to me. 
With as much caution as my hungry self could muster, I approach the table. The pink one, Pinky Pie I'm guessing, comes up to me with a comically large smile. 
“Hey there Daybreak! My names Pinky Pie and I'm so glad that you decided to join us! Are you hungry? Are you? Are you?” She says, getting very much in my face, and tilting her head with each sentance. I back up to get her out of my face. 
“Oh please stop Pinky, your scaring her…” A soft voice intervenes, and a pretty yellow Pegasus steps up in front of me. 
“Oh no! I didn't mean to scare her Fluttershy, I just wanted to say hi.” Pinky says, before stretching her head off to the left of Fluttershy. How in the world? “I'm super duper sorry to have scared you Daybreak.” She says. 
Fluttershy turns around to look at me with the kindest eyes I've ever seen, not that I've seen many up close, though. “See, no harm done.” Fluttershy says, with a smile. “Do you want something to eat?” She asks, and I nod.
“The food smells amazing.” I say, trying not to drool. Everypony laughs at that. I jump up on an empty chair and look at the assortment of foods.
“What would you like?” Twilight asks. I point at a few of the dishes that looked more appetizing than others, and she floated some over to my plate using her magic. I take a tentative bite of each. Most of them are pretty good, though, I never thought I'd end up eating flowers. 
“We should probably all introduce ourselves,” Twilight says with a smile, “you already know me, Pinky Pie, and the one who saved you was Fluttershy.” She continues, pointing them out in turn. I nod, and turn my eyes to the white unicorn.
“Oh where are my manners. My name is Rarity, and I am an expert in all things fabulous. Might I say your coat and mane are both quite extraordinary, quite befitting for a princess.” She says, raising her head with pride. 
“Uh...thank you?” I reply, blinking at her. She just keeps smiling at me, so I turn to the earth pony.
“Howdy, my name is Apple Jack, an’ ah run an apple farm down in Ponyville. Pleasure ta meet you.” She says, and I give her a tenetive smile.
“Uh...you too…” I reply, trying to wrap my head around her accent. I turn to the last pony, a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane.
She leans back in her chair and looks at me with a concieted look. “I'm Rainbow Dash. Head of ponyville’s weather team, element of loyalty, soon to be wonderbolt, and most awesome pony you'll ever meet.” She says, putting her hooves behind her head and smirking. 
“Ok then miss superiority...is that all?” I ask, turning back to Twilight. Everypony looks at Rainbow Dash and some were even laughing. She fly's up into the air, her face portraying anger and frustration.
“Miss Superiority? Is that an insult little filly?” She asks, her voice filled with anger.
“Just making observations, I'm pretty good at it, since I've been observing for thousands of years.” I reply, narrowing my eyes. “Though maybe egotisist or pompous would fit better.” I add, taking a bite of my food disinterestedly. She let's out a gasp.
“Why you!” She exclaims flying up into my face, “I have half the mind to take you on right here!” She says, waving her hoof in the air. 
“Rainbow Dash, you knock it off! She's just a filly.” Fluttershy intervenes, flying up in front of Rainbow and putting her hooves on her hips. 
“You wouldn't hurt a little filly, would you?” I ask, giving my best innocent face. Rainbow fly's back to her set with a huff.
“And you,” Fluttershy says, turning to look at me disapprovingly, “you shouldn't antagonize her, its not nice.” She finishes, her eyes holding disappointment. I frown. 
“But,” I start, and her eyes narrow.
“No buts, both of you apologize.” She says. Rainbow and I glare at each other. “Now.”
“Sorry Daybreak,” Rainbow says with a sigh. I apologize in return.

☀✴
-3 hours later-
-Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville-

I look around at all the decorations, and food, and a lot of ponies. I turn around and look at Pinky.
“Do you like it?” She asks, tilting her head. “I thought that since you were new to Equestria that you didn't have any friends, and the thought of a pony without friends - especially a cute little silly filly like you - made me sad. So I decided to throw you a welcome to Equestria party!” She says,bouncing around and being over all very hyperactive in her gestures. 
“Uh...that's nice,” I answer taking in all my surroundings. There are a lot of children running around, which leads me to realize something. “You don't intend for me to make friends with a bunch of children, do you?” I ask, pointing to a group of three that run by.
“Yeperoony!” She says, before bouncing off to enjoy the party. I frown and find a seat. There is no way I'm making friends with a bunch of children. It's not happening, I'm older than everypony here. 
I'm pulled out of my thoughts when two fillies stop in front of me. One of them was pink with purple and white hair, and had a tiara. The other one was gray with silver, braided hair. Both were smiling at me. 
“Hello,” I say, since I doubt ignoring them would get them to go away. 
“Hi, I'm Diamond Tiara, and this is my best friend Silver Spoon. We wanted to introduce ourselves,” The purple one starts, gesturing to herself and her friend. 
“If you need help with anything you can come to us, we'll be glad to help you out.” Silver Spoon adds. 
“Thanks, I'm Daybreak, nice to meet you.” I reply, smiling back to them. 
“Oh and if you need help with your cutie mark,” Diamond Tiara says, pointing at my flank, “find the Crusaders.”
“Just look for three fillies running about hyperactively and getting into trouble. They're always together, so they aren't hard to miss.” Silver Spoon adds.
“And they share very similar cutie marks.” Diamond finishes. 
“What's a cutie mark?” I aks, and the whole room gets quiet. Everypony looks at me, and I cover my face with my wings to try to escape their gazes. 
“You don't know what a cutie mark is?” Three voices ask, or I guess yell, in unision to my left. I lower one of my wings and shake my head at them. Next to me stood three fillies. One white unicorn with purple curly hair, who reminds me slightly of Rarity. One orange Pegasus, also with purple hair, but spiky. And one yellow Earth Pony with red hair and a bow. 
“A cutie mark is an image that appears on a pony’s flank when they figure out their special talent.” The white unicorn says.
“An’ how it relates to who they are an’ who they want to be.” The yellow one says, with the same accent as Apple Jack.
“A ponies cutie mark is a representation of who they are.” The orange one adds. “I'm Scootaloo.” She continues.
“Ahm Apple Bloom.” The yellow one says, holding out her hoof. I just give her a weird look and she puts her hoof back down.
“And I'm Sweety Belle.” The unicorn says. I smile at them and fold my wings back up. 
“I'm Daybreak. Nice to meet you.” I say, as the room slowly goes back to normal. 
“They're the Crusaders we were telling you about.” Diamond says, looking at them.
We all chat for a bit, each of them mentioning how they'd never seen an alicorn filly and asking lots of questions about my old life. Strangely, I enjoy talking to them.
Maybe having children for friends won't be so bad.