Stardust

by GandhoofOfManyColours

Chapter 1

The walls of the apple cellar shook violently, dust raining down from the ceiling. Another impact, this one much closer than the last, possibly even in the farmhouse above. At this rate it was only a matter of time before they were found. Only a few of the townsponies were left now; two Pegasi, a unicorn, an earth pony and a small dragon.

The room was dark and cold; they couldn’t risk a fire or even a lantern lest they be found so the only light in the room came from the soft glow of the unicorn Twilight’s horn as she used all her remaining energy to shield their location. Everything was quiet save for the muffled sobs of the earth pony, Big Macintosh. Normally a strong silent stallion but this was too much, he’d lost almost everypony he cared about and didn’t know what else to do. A Grey Pegasi named Derpy placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder; her eyes unfocused and filled with tears of her own, stared off into the gloom in two distinct directions.

The second Pegasi Rainbow Dash lay huddled on the floor of the cellar shaking, her eyes wide in shock, her mind unable to process everything that had occurred. Spike the Dragon was sitting on the floor in stunned silence; he couldn’t believe what had happened. He had to do something he couldn’t just sit there waiting for the inevitable end. If only he could send a message to Canterlot, he thought to himself, Celestia would know what to do. But he couldn’t risk it lest the burst of flame draw unwanted attention to their hiding place.

The silence in the room dragged on for several moments, occasionally broken by the sound of distant impacts or the collapse of a building. Eventually Spike couldn’t take anymore, he couldn’t just sit here. He pulled out a tattered journal and a quill and started to write.

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To anypony that finds this journal, I write these words in the hope that they will enlighten you as to what occurred here, so that there will be some record of the brave ponies who fought valiantly and gave their lives to try and save their friends and family against insurmountable odds. It all started on my birthday two days ago, the day the stars fell…

“Surprise!” yelled the five ponies as I walked into the brightly decorated room in Sugarcube Corner with my unicorn friend Twilight. I can’t say that I hadn’t been expecting it; I knew my friends were planning something tonight and Twilight has never forgotten my birthday before but that isn’t to say I wasn’t ecstatic, these six ponies were the best friends a dragon like me could possibly have.

“Well, did we surprise you? Did we? Did we? Did we?” the Pink earth pony babbled, bouncing on the spot. This made me smile, Pinkie Pie’s exuberance always made those around her happy as well.

“You sure did!” I said, addressing all six of the ponies present.

“Well aren’t you going to open your presents?” Twilight said to me, indicating a large pile of brightly wrapped boxes with her hoof. This was going to be a good night.

That party turned out to be one of the best I’d ever had, Pinkie Pie always threw great parties but with my other friends’ help they had really outdone themselves. The Party lasted all through the evening and it was thoroughly dark by the time I left with Twilight.

“Do we really have to go?” I asked as Twilight trotted out of Sugarcube Corner with me on her back, not really ready to leave.

“Now Spike, it may be your birthday but you’re still just a young dragon, you need your sleep” Twilight answered as I knew she would. “Besides its very late, look the stars are out” she looked up at the night sky and stopped in her tracks “that’s strange, I’ve never seen so many stars before, and so bright!” I looked up too, expecting to see maybe a few extra stars. The view was astonishing, the sky was alive stars glittered in every direction. Constellations I knew were there were completely drowned out by the sheer intensity of the light from the new stars. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

“Wow” I said, unable to stop myself the sight was breath-taking. I suddenly spotted a movement, then another and another “hey, there moving!” I exclaimed.

“Don’t be silly Spike stars don’t mo...” Twilight trailed off mid-sentence. “By Celestia, you’re right!” she said, obviously spotting the movements too. “I’ve got to get to my telescope!” with that she sped off towards our library home, with me still on her back. When we got home she made me go to bed, I argued with her but she was adamant. So while I went to my bed she ran up to the balcony to observe the stars.

I woke up the next morning feeling fully refreshed. For a moment I didn’t remembered what had happened last night but it quickly came flooding back to me. I jumped out of bed and raced up the stairs to twilight’s bedroom where I found her sitting on her bed surrounded by heaps of books. As I raced through the door she looked up.

“Spike? I thought I told you to go to bed!” she said. She had obviously been reading throughout the night.

“Twilight, its morning!” I replied. Even under normal circumstances this was a common occurrence, Twilight would often study throughout the night without realising. Twilight rushed to the window, dislodging her books in the process sending them flying in all directions.

“Then why are those stars still out!” Twilight said from the window sounding worried. I ran up to her to take a look myself, the view was incredible. Over Ponyville the sky was the bright blue of beautiful cloudless day but was filled with stars. Millions of bright white points of light sparkled in the sky, but unlike the stars of night these moved. Slowly floating between one another, crossing each other’s path in random patterns like dust in the wind but brighter and more brilliant than any candle or lantern.

“Whoa, what are they?” I uttered near speechless at the sight. We weren’t the only ones staring either, all over Ponyville ponies were staring up at the sky in wonder and confusion.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like this before and I haven’t found a single mention in any of my books” Twilight picked up a nearby book and flipped through the pages “I’ve looked everywhere I could think of from ‘Fables of the Sky’ to ‘A complete history of Equestrian astronomy’ - nothing!” she snapped closed the book in frustration. As she was searching the pile for another book there was a commotion from outside. I ran to the window again to see what causing the dismay. Outside, chaos reigned in the streets. Some ponies were still staring up in wonder but many were running, hiding and screaming. Looking at the sky I saw why, the new stars were descending slowly but surely towards the town. It wasn’t long before the only ponies left on the streets were those watching in awe and all was again quiet as the swirling mass of stars descended to the ground slowly swirling around their bodies. Twilight, abandoning her books approached behind me to survey the scene.

“It’s incredible!” Twilight exclaimed. “They’re not stars at all, I… I’ve never seen anything like it” she seemed stunned. “I’ve got to get a closer look” she rushed out of the room and down the stairs. Not wanting to be left alone, I followed closely behind.

As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs her horn began to glow; she quickly levitated her pack off the floor before bursting through the front door. I followed, close on her tail coming face to face with the scene outside. It was as if the entire of Ponyville had been covered with a glowing ground mist; only the heads of the ponies could be seen as they walked about in awe. Twilight had stopped a few paces from the door and was closely observing the swirling cloud of lights, her mouth held open in awe.

“These things are absolutely incredible” Twilight exclaimed, following the path of one of the specks. She extended a hoof into a small group and watched as they flew around it avoiding her touch. “We’ve got to study these more closely” she telepathically opened her pack and withdrew a small glass vial, unstopping its top she held it up into the swirling cloud, catching one of the specks in the glass container. “There, that should do. Come on Spike, you can help me make notes.” Twilight replaced the vial’s stopper and slipped it back into her pack. She turned round and trotted back into the library.

I followed her in, closing the door behind me, and not a moment too soon. Just as the door snapped shut, all hell broke loose outside. A piercing scream shattered the silence followed by another and another. I ran up to the window followed closely by Twilight, heart beating like a drum, only to witness a scene of utter horror.

“By Luna’s horn, they’re alive!” Twilight cried watching, terrified. The specks had completely changed their demeanour, no longer were they swirling slowly and sedately in long arcs around Ponyville. Now they were rapidly moving turning tight corners like a swarm of angry wasps, their once brilliant white glow now a deep red. I looked franticly around for the ponies that had been out among them moments before, eventually spotting some of them huddled against a wall, a look of utter terror in their eyes. One mare, a green unicorn made a break for it, galloping as fast as her hooves could carry her. A swarm of the creatures broke off from the rest and raced after her, zipping through the air with ease. The terrified unicorn looked back over her shoulder to see the swarm gaining on her; she let out an ear-splitting scream desperately trying to outrun the creatures but to no avail. The swarm caught up with her in a matter of seconds, each point of red light ramming right through her. With the first impact her entire body began to glow, tendrils of crackling white lightning running across her entire form. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes at that moment, a mixture of pain and utter terror crossed her face for just a moment then she was gone, just gone. A cloud of dust seemingly all that remained, carried forward several feet by its momentum, creating a streak of dust on the cobbles.

I felt sick. Looking around the street I could see small piles of dust everywhere, one moment they were ponies, gazing in wonder at the sight before them the next, they just blew apart like dead leaves.

“I… I knew her.” Twilight uttered in a small wavering voice. “Her name was Heartstrings, she… she was a musician…” Twilight trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes. We weren’t given long to mourn however, as a few seconds later a pony impacted into the window, it was Ponyvilles mayor she started beating her hooves against the glass screaming, begging us to let her in. Seconds later, before either of us had a chance to react she was gone just like Heartstrings moments earlier, with a flash of light she turned to dust in front of our eyes. “No… this… this can’t be happening”; Twilight backed away from the window shaking her head, a look of abject horror crossing her face. I was speechless. I must admit, I’d never seen death before not in real life and certainly never anypony I knew. My mind just couldn’t process it at the time. I couldn’t even move. I just starred transfixed out of the window unsure of anything.

I was brought back to my senses by the sound of splintering wood. The door to the library shook with the force of thousands of impacts; dust fell from the ceiling as the walls started shaking too. Jolted out of my state of shock I ran over to Twilight and hid behind her, I didn’t know why I did this at the time but throughout my life Twilight has always been the pony who made me feel the safest, she has always cared for and protected me, so I Guess it was a natural impulse.

The door was only made of thin wood and did not withstand the impacts for very long, with a crash it splintered in to a thousand shards and the creatures swarmed in. At that moment I truly thought it was all over. I couldn’t see any way out. I huddled close to Twilight’s body, eyes tight shut bracing myself for the end, I felt a tingling sensation throughout my body and then nothing. It took me several moments to realise that I was still alive. I cautiously opened one eye to see, not the library, but a small dark cupboard. I opened my eyes fully and looked around. I was on the floor of a dark cupboard; shelves piled high with reams of fabric of all colours and styles. In the distance I could still hear the screams of ponies and the impacts from the creatures. Twilight lay sprawled across the floor next to me, panting heavily. My confusion only lasted a few seconds before I realised what must have happened. Twilight was one of the most powerful unicorns in Ponyville, her special talent being magic itself. Her magic was so powerful, in fact, that she was capable of self-teleportation, not consciously mind you or with any control, and she had only ever managed the feat once before when pushed into a corner by her friends.

“Twilight, are you ok?” I asked her, I knew teleportation took a lot of energy out of her. Twilight did not answer immediately. She slowly staggered to her hooves, shaking with the effort. Taking in her surroundings she answered.

“As I can be at a time like this.” Her eyes were still full of tears. “We have to get moving; we need to find the others. We can only hope that they’re ok.”

“Where are we?” I asked, not recognising my surroundings.

“Looking at the contents of this room I’d say a cupboard in Carousel Boutique. Come on, hopefully we’ll at least find Rarity here.” The mention of Rarity gave me a new determination to survive. I have always felt something special for the beautiful white unicorn, and I would have done anything to protect her.

Twilight pushed the door open with a hoof, and we both exited the cupboard. As we entered the room three pairs of eyes turned sharply towards us.

“Twilight, Spike, is that you?” A stunned Rarity asked. She and the Pegasi Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were standing on the main floor of the Carousel Boutique.

“Yes! Oh thank Celestia you three are ok! I was worried that… well that doesn’t matter now. We need to find Applejack and Pinkie Pie, so we can get out of here!” Twilight answered. At this Rainbow Dash hung her head, tears started to form in Rarity’s eyes and Fluttershy started sobbing loudly.

“Oh no…” I said not wanting to hear what came next. Twilights face fell, comprehension and horror dawning on her face.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” she asked, obviously dreading the answer. Rarity tried to speak but couldn’t seem to say anything; Rainbow Dash then said the words neither of us wanted to hear.

“It’s Pinkie Pie…” Rainbow Dash had none of her usual confidence. “She…” she swallowed, as if trying to work up the courage to continue. “She was outside when this started.” Rainbow looked straight up at me and Twilight, tears welling up in her eyes “she just wanted to watch, I asked her to come in, we all did. Something… Something just didn’t seem right but you know Pinkie, she just loved new things…” Rainbow let out an involuntary sob, wiping her eyes with a hoof before continuing her voice cracking up “Oh Celestia Twilight it was horrible. One moment she was there, the next…”she let out another sob “the next she was just gone. All that was left was a pile of dust!” Rainbow broke down completely; sinking to the floor, she joined Fluttershy in sobbing.

I sank to the floor, stunned. I just couldn’t take this news. Pinkie Pie, one of my best friends in the world was gone.

Had it not been for Twilight I would have stayed there forever. The first time she spoke I didn’t hear what she said; I don’t think anypony really did, but she made herself heard.

“We still have to find Applejack, and get out of here. Pinkie… she wouldn’t have wanted us to sit here and mourn her. Or to forsake our other friends because of our fear. As she once said, we need to ‘giggle at the ghostie’. We need to carry on without her.” She didn’t look as confidant as she sounded but that was understandable.

Rainbow Dash stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes, a look of renewed determination on her face. “You’re right Twilight, we can’t give up. We’ve got to save Applejack, for Pinkie!” she took off into the air, hovering a foot off the ground.

“But how? We don’t even know where she is!” Rarity said looking up, fear in her eyes.

Fluttershy spoke up for the first time since they had arrived: “She’ll probably be at home, Big Macintosh always lets her sleep in the day after a party. He says she can’t work if she’s tired.” Her voice was quiet, even more so than usual.

“She’s right” Twilight said “we just need to get there”.

Rainbow dash flew up to the nearest window and looked out “they’re everywhere out here” she flew across the room and out into the kitchen in the back. Her voice echoed back to them “It’s clear out the back!” she flew back into the room, alighting gently in front of me and Twilight. “If we make a dash for it out back we might make it!”

“No, I’ve seen those things move; we’d never outrun them, not even you Rainbow. There has to be another way” Twilight explained.

“What we need is a diversion.” Rarity added.

“But what?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know how they see us! If I did might be able to work out what we need. They don’t seem to respond to sound, and I doubt something that small could see in quite the way we do; so how do they do it?” Twilight wondered out loud.

“I know what we can do.” Rarity said, a strange look in her eye. “When I say; be ready to run for it.”

“What are you going to do?” Twilight asked sounding very worried.

“NOW! Just go!” Rarity shouted “for Pinkie!” she cast a shield charm with her horn and galloped out the front door.

“Rarity! NO!” all four of us called out in unison, but it was too late. Rarity was galloping away at high speed, the swarm in pursuit. I didn’t think; I just ran towards the door. I had to save her! I found myself floating in the air just above the ground, Twilight was levitating me.

“No! Let me go!” I shouted, desperate to save Rarity at any cost to myself.

“Run everypony Run!” Twilight yelled, galloping for the back door, with me floating along behind her.

“Nooo!” I shouted, voice wavering, tears welling up in my eyes, as Rarity grew more and more distant. I heard the scream as we passed through Ponyvilles town centre.

The three ponies galloped as fast as their hooves could carry them through Ponyville towards Sweet Apple Acres, me still floating along behind them. We nearly got to the edge of town before we ran into them again. Another swarm small, but just as deadly directly in our path. For a second time that day I thought it was the end, when a voice sounded from one of the houses behind us.

“Quick! in here!” somepony yelled out. We didn’t need telling twice and we dashed into the open door which slammed shut behind us. Fluttershy collapsed panting on the floor, along with Twilight, who dropped me in the process. At this point I didn’t feel like getting up, she was gone. First Pinkie and now Rarity.

“Why didn’t you let me save her?!” I yelled at everypony present, rage welling up inside of me from the loss.

Twilight was the first to answer “there was nothing you could have done. And I just couldn’t lose you too; Rarity gave her life to save us. She wouldn’t have wanted it to have been in vain.”

Fluttershy seemed too distraught to speak, just shaking her head again and again.

“Why did she do that?” was all that Rainbow Dash could say.

“I… I don’t know” was Twilight’s only answer.

“Are you four alright?” came a familiar voice from the shadows making us jump into the air, we had forgotten about the other pony. The Pegasi stepped into the light, her blond mane and grey fur instantly recognisable to us all.

“Derpy! You startled us” Rainbow said partly in shock. “You saved us?”

“Yep!” Derpy hooves exclaimed proudly “You wouldn’t want to be out there; its bad! I just don’t know what went wrong”

“Thanks Derpy, we owe you one. Its hell out there” Rainbow replied.

“We can’t stay here, you may have been safe before Derpy but those things know we’re here now. It’s only a matter of time until they break in here”

“But what can we…” Rainbow was cut off mid-sentence by an explosion in the distance. A house across the street burst into flames. Seconds later there was a loud pounding on Derpy’s door accompanied by a voice familiar to all of us.

“Hey, y’all in there? I saw you go in” Applejack’s voice sounded from outside.

“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed, throwing open the door to let our friend in “quickly it’s not safe out there!” Applejack trotted into the hose along with her brother, Big Macintosh.

“It’s ok y’all, those their varmints will follow the fire!” Applejack indicated the burning house with a hoof.

“Heat! Their drawn to our heat! Why didn’t I see that sooner?” Twilight exclaimed.

“How did you do that?” Rainbow asked in shock, staring into the inferno.

“Well that’s simple!” Applejack exclaimed “ya just take a bottle of me ‘special’ cider, stuff an old rag in it light and throw” she revealed a line of the bottles in her pack. “Am I glad to see y’all with all those varmints out there. I was worried something had happened!” At the looks on our faces her smile disappeared. “Oh no.” she looked around franticly “where’s Pinkie and Rarity?” she asked desperation in her voice. Fluttershy’s tears said it all, Applejack hung her head. “We got to get outa this place.” she said simply her voice cracking up. “Even if it’s the last thing we ever do”

“But where should we go?” Twilight asked “Those things can break through doors! And I would say they could easily break through a wall too. They can probably sense out body heat through the building”

“We should go back up to the farm. He can hide in the apple cellar, its cold and underground they shouldn’t be able to break in there” Applejack stated. She sounded dejected but that was understandable in the circumstances.

“Ok. They should still be preoccupied with that fire; I’d say our only chance will be to run for it.” Twilight took command. She turned to me “Spike, climb on my back we’ll move faster that way” Still in shock from all that had happened I wordlessly obeyed her, climbing upon her back.

“Can I come too?” Derpy asked speaking up.

“Of course, I said all of ya didn’t I? I’d never leave a friend behind.” Applejack replied, placing a friendly hoof on Derpy’s shoulder. She looked up and addressed the room at large “Ok y’all, let’s go!”

Applejack and Big Macintosh took the lead, followed shortly by Rainbow Dash and Derpy Hooves who both flew overhead, Twilight and I went next, with Fluttershy bringing up the rear.

The streets outside were deserted. Many of the buildings had large holes in them and some had collapsed altogether, one or two along the path to Sweet Apple Acers were burning. The silence was the worst part; there wasn’t even any bird song. It amplified every small sound we made, each step as loud as a train, the crunch of our hoofsteps echoed around the desolate buildings. At the time I couldn’t help the feeling that we were the last ones left, maybe in the entire of Equestria.

Nopony spoke for several moments as we ran through the deserted streets. It came totally out of the blue, all of a sudden Fluttershy called out.

“Twilight! Look out!” Fluttershy dived into Twilights side, knocking her down, sending me flying. I looked up quickly enough to see what it was. A single red speck speeding towards the exact location Twilight and I had been standing not a second earlier and where Fluttershy was now. The look in Fluttershy’s eyes as she disappeared broke my heart. She didn’t scream like the others and her last word echoed around the empty street. “Goodbye…”

Fluttershy was the kindest, nicest pony I knew. She deserved so much better.

“No…” Twilight said, reaching out a hoof to where Fluttershy had been “No!” she said again.

“We have to go” the voice of Big Macintosh rang out in the silence, tears running down his face.

We ran the rest of the way without further incident and soon Sweet Apple Acres was in sight. Applejack reached the cellar doors first and threw them open. “Quick everypony, down here!” she yelled holding the doors open. Twilight and I were the last to pass through and Applejack turned to close the doors.

“No…” she said looking straight back the way we had come. None of us in the cellar could see what it was she had seen but at a guess the swarm had been right behind us. Applejack threw the doors shut, that was the last we saw of her. We heard her galloping away from the door, then shouting “I won’t let you varmints get my friends!” After that, all fell silent.

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Spike closed the journal, tears welling up in his eyes. He had lost far too many of his friends that day. An impact on the hatch to the farmhouse brought him back to his senses, along with all the others in the room.

“No! Not again!” Rainbow Dash shouted backing away from the hatch in fear.

Big Macintosh jumped to his hooves and braced his body against the hatch “You ponies run, I’ll hold them off!” he said, groaning with the effort of holding the hatch closed.

“We can’t leave you!” Twilight called out to him, a terrified look on her face.

“GO!” Big Macintosh yelled again, a determined look on his face “I’ve lost my entire family today! I have nothing left!” the hatch shook again.

Twilight looked back at Big Macintosh for a moment tears welling up in her eyes. “Thank you!” she said as she ran up to the main doors and threw them open.

Outside it was getting dark. The dragon and the three ponies ran as fast as their hooves would carry them away from the farmhouse. As they ran a swarm of the red specks flew out of a broken window towards them. The Pegasi were the first to fall, swarmed as they desperately flew through the air, bursting into dust.

Twilight galloped as fast as she could along the rough terrain, avoiding each of the specks as it dived towards her. In the confusion and the growing darkness she tripped over the protruding root of a gnarled apple tree and went flying onto her back, throwing off the small purple dragon and her pack. On her back she scooted back away from the specks until her back hit a tree. She screamed a piercing scream as the specks caught up with her, quickly turning her into dust.

Spike landed several feet away on top of Twilights pack, the wind knocked out of him. As he lay on the ground holding his chest a small glass vial rolled out of the pack, containing a single white glowing speck.

Clarity flooded Spikes brain. In that moment he knew what was happening, and more importantly he knew how to stop it! With his remaining strength Spike grabbed the glass vial and hurled it against a nearby tree. The glass shattered on impact, allowing the white speck to leisurely float out, free.

All of a sudden, the swarm about to rain down on Spike stopped, the small white speck joining the swarm floating calmly between the red specks. The change was instantaneous. The angrily moving specks slowed their movement, the red colouration slowly fading until the entire swarm was pure white.

Spike wasn’t sure if they could understand him but he spoke anyway. “You were just looking for your friend, weren’t you? We took them from you so you started taking us! We didn’t mean you any harm; we didn’t even know you were alive! I’m sorry we took your friend, but please, if you can, if there’s any hope at all. Please.” Spikes voice broke up and he sank to his knees “Please can you bring mine back?” For a moment nothing happened, then the glow from the swarm started to intensify, quickly becoming too bright for Spike to keep his eyes open. Even with them closed the glow was blinding, then they here gone.

Spike opened his eyes to see clouds of the creatures flying back into space from all over Ponyville.

“Spike?” a voice sounded behind him, he span around. Twilight was standing behind him in exactly the spot that she had vanished moments before looking dazed and confused. “Spike, what happened? Where did the creatures go?” Spike said nothing but ran up to Twilight and embraced her, burying his head into her mane.

“I thought I’d never see you again!” he cried, his voice muffled by the fur.

“It’s ok Spike. I must admit I thought the same thing, the place I went was weird, there were colours and shapes that I’ve never seen before, and I was floating in nothing with most of the population of Ponyville, but its ok now. You did it! You saved us! But what did you do?” she asked, sounding perplexed.

“It was the creature the one you caught in the tube! They just wanted it back.” Twilight smiled, she was lucky to have a friend as good as Spike. At the sound of hooves behind them, both Twilight and Spike looked up.

“What the hay happened?” Applejacks voice rang out.

“Yeah! How’d we get back?” Rainbow Dash added.

“It was all sparkly and then it was all weird!” Pinkie Pie said bouncing behind the group.

Spike and Twilight turned towards their friends “It’s a long story” they said in unison. “Now let’s go rebuild Ponyville” Twilight added. “Again”

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Dear Princess Celestia,

Over the last few days my friends and I have been through a lot together, we’ve been through loss, fear and some of us have even been in the position that required self-sacrifice. I’ve learned that I can count on my friends for anything and they will always come through.

I’ve also learnt that we can never judge anything or anypony by how they look; what may look like a formidable enemy may be just a group worried about a captured friend. We must realise that there are ponies out there are so different from us that we don’t understand them at all but that that is no reason for us to fear or capture them.

Your faithful student

Twilight Sparkle