Chapter 21
___________________________________________________________
"I can't believe I'm going back to Ponyville!" I cheer, then wince and returning to laying on my stomach.
I'm in a private train cart Mama had reserved for us. After a month of being in Canterlot, I'd really started missing my friends and they couldn't always just leave everything and come to Canterlot to visit. Once I'd gotten over my fears of him, Blueblood and I had become quite comfortable around each other, but it wasn't the same as being with my friends.
So, Mama had arranged for me to be transferred to the Ponyville hospital, where I could continue my recovery, but my friends could visit me more often. At the rate our train was going, we'd get there maybe an hour before school let out.
Mama smiled and nuzzled. "I'm sure your friends will be very happy to see you."
I nodded eagerly. "I know. I can't wait to... see..."
I yawned, causing Mama to chuckle. "Rest, Stellar. You shouldn't over exert yourself."
I gave a wary smile, then closed my eyes as Mama sat down and draped a wing over me. The warmth was so comforting I was asleep within moments, being rocked by the gentle movements of the train.
___________________________________________________________
"Stellar's comin' back!"
The fillies and colts of the class all turned at the sound of Apple Bloom's voice as she charged into the classroom, seconds before Cheerilee followed.
"Seriously?" Scootaloo asked, her wings buzzing. "You mean she's gotten better?"
Apple Bloom's smile faltered and she looked away. "Well... no. She's... she's still pretty bad, but Princess Luna's havin' 'er transferred here, to the hospital in Ponyville."
"That's great!" Sweetie Belle cheered, bouncing. "That means we can visit her. When're they going to get here?"
Apple Bloom frowned, looking up at the ceiling. "Sis said about an hour afore we get outta school."
"Then it's settled," Scootaloo grinned, pumping a hoof. "We visit her the moment school ends."
"Can we come too?" Dinky asked, walking up to them, Pipsqueak, Snips, Snails, Twist and several other members of the class behind her. "We never got to go and visit her in Canterlot."
Apple Bloom nodded, grinning. "Sure. The more the merrier." Then her expression became solemn. "Just... brace yerselves. She's a lot better th'n she was, but..."
"It's still pretty bad," Scootaloo finished.
"How bad?"
It was not the question, but the speaker that caused all to turn and look in varying expressions of scowls to shock.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was both standing there, looking uncertain.
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at Diamond, who winced under the Pegasus' gaze. "Like you care. You told those ponies right where to find Stellar."
“What?!” Tiara’s eyes widened, before they narrowed. “No I didn’t! Why would I do that?!”
"You've hated Stellar from the first day you met her!" Sweetie Belle snarled, glaring daggers at the pink filly. "I can't think of anypony else who'd have told those horrible ponies where to find her!"
While the fact that Stellar was staying with the princesses during Hearth's Warming hadn't been a secret, where she'd been staying had been, and Scootaloo had heard the adults talking when they thought she wasn’t around and had overheard Luna say Stellar had told her one of the ponies that had held her captive had mention a young mare from the Rich family had told them where to find the Alicorn, and, as far as the CMC concerned, Tiara was the only pony in town who would've ratted her out to such horrible ponies.
Diamond looked aghast, then shook her head as Scootaloo continued to glare. "Hey, just because I don't like her, doesn't mean I'd rat her out to ponies like that!"
"Sure, an Sombra's my great great grandfather!" Sweetie Belle snarked.
Before the argument could go any further or grow more heated, Cheerilee cleared her throat and, reluctantly, everypony went to their desks and sat down and she began the day's lesson.
When school ended, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and pretty much the whole class headed towards the Ponyville General Hospital. Nurse Redheart, who was behind the front desk at the time, was rather stumped by the gaggle of fillies and colts that walked through the doors.
Apple Bloom walked up to her and asked, "Which room is Stellar in?"
Redheart blinked, then smiled, chuckling a little. "Room 183. Here," she quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to the yellow filly. "Show this to the guards standing outside her room and they'll let you in."
Apple Bloom nodded and thanked the nurse before leading the group down the halls, following the numbers until the found Stellar's room. Not that it was hard to find once they got to the right corridor. Standing outside of one of the doors were two Thestral ponies dressed like the Night Guard, meaning that's who they were.
After showing the paper, the guards allowed them all inside. The moment the other fillies and colts caught sight of Stellar they gasped.
Stellar was sleeping soundly against Luna's barrel, but her peaceful expression didn't stop them all feeling ill at the sight of her missing horn and wings, despite the signs that both were starting to grow back.
Luna glanced up at the sound and smiled as they all crowded around the bed. "Hello, my little ponies. You came to visit Stellar?"
Some nodded, while others just continued to stare at Stellar.
"Is... is she going to be okay?" Dinky asked, tears welling in her eyes as she looked the young Alicorn over.
Luna gave a small nod. "Yes. She will recover. It will take time, but she will get better."
"I carn't believe Diamond Tiaara dosn't even care about what's happened to Stellar," Pipsqueak said, shaking his head, before pointing at the sleeping princess. "I mean, look at her. How can anypony not feel bad about this!"
"And she acts as if she's never been mean to her," Snips agreed. "Hmph. Not mean my flank."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Diamond Tiara," Sweetie Belle said, frowning at the ground. "She's so mean to everypony, all because she thinks she better than us. And she really hates Stellar."
Scootallo huffed. "And she had the gall to say she'd been worried about Stellar. Yeah, right. And I'm Tirek's daughter. Diamond only cares for herself and doesn't care who she has to hurt to get her own way. She only showed concern because she wants to get in good with the princesses."
"She proved that when she made fun o' yer wings back when ya couldn't fly," Apple Bloom agreed.
Luna wasn't so sure that was the whole story. Rarely did anypony harm others just for the sake of it (she could count Alchemist, but she was trying to put him out of her mind), normally it would be because of something from their past. She made a mental note to look up this Diamond Tiara after the fillies and colts had left.
"Wait," Snails turned to Sweetie Belle, confusion on his face. "On the way here you said something about Stellar being your sister. Why'd you say that?"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "It's a figure of speech, Snails. She meant that Stellar's like a sister to her because of how close they are."
"Actually," Luna gave a playful smirk, "the spell that created Stellar's body used blood from all the Element Bearers."
While a few of the fillies and colts squirmed at the mention of blood, others just looked at the night princess in confusion, wondering just what she was getting at.
“Well," Luna went on when it seemed none of them were getting it, "if their blood was used to give Stellar her body, then that means their blood is running through her veins along with that which she already had from myself.”
Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, princess, what’s that supposed to mean to anypony?”
“Wait,” Apple Bloom said, a look of shock appearing on her face. “princess, you don’t mean that that means...?”
Luna nodded, a smile creeping onto her lips. “Since she has the Element Bearers’ blood inside of her, she’s related to all of them.”
“Wait, what?” Scootaloo looked confused, several others looking just as confused, while Snips and Snails just stared blankly.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Scoots, Twi explained this to us. Ponies' relations are due to family and blood. Fer instance, Pinkie’s mah fourth cousin twice removed cos mah great, great auntie Apple Sauce is a fourth cousin twice removed from the Pie family.”
“Wait,” Sweetie Belle said, confusion and excitement on her face and in her voice. “If Rarity and all the others’ blood is inside Stellar, does that mean they’re her mothers too?”
All the young ponies faces went white at that thought, even Twist's, though how that was possible Luna didn't know, before she chuckled lightly.
“No, no, no!” she said after a few minutes, trying to stop her chuckles at the looks on the little ponies' faces. “They’re not all her mother. I guess you could think of them like cousins—”
“Actually, now that I think about it, princess, that doesn’t feel right,” Sweetie said, interrupting her. “Cousins just doesn’t fit. I mean, Rarity and I feel more like Stellar's sisters than cousins.”
“Well, I guess you could think of it that way, then,” she said, turning from the sleeping Stellar to the other younger ponies.
“So, because she’s got Rarity’s blood inside of her,” Sweetie Belle said, looking like she might explode from excitement, “Stellar's actually my sister? Not just somepony who is like a sister, but is really my sister?”
Luna gave a hesitant nodded.
Nopony honestly knew what happened next. One second Sweetie Belle was there, the next she was gone and they could faintly hear a voice in the distance down the halls cheering, “I’ve got another sister!”
There was silence in the room for several moments, before Pipsqueak spoke up. "I get the feeling we might have just seen Sweetie Belle become the next Pinkie Pie."
That got everypony to shudder at the idea of another pony like Pinkie. Cheese Sandwich was one thing, but other?