The Silver Stars

by David Silver

28 - Surprise!

Silver had grown used to Ponyville faster than she had thought. The local ponies were friendly, though a bit shy around an odd looking lunar pony, as she and Night discovered. The air was crisp and often filled with delectable aromas, and the ponies of the town were usually smiling and content. But it all changed about two days later when Silver returned from the market to find that the interior of the tower was dark.

She clip-clopped her way inside, closing the door behind herself. As her night vision returned, she could see many ponies lurking with silly grins and anxious expressions, and she put it together. Pinkie. Not wanting to ruin the whole thing, she trod forward as if she saw nothing. The lights came to life as a collection of ponies, Mane Six included, yelled surprise loudly, and Silver's welcoming party began. A party hat descended, and Silver glanced up to see Jake was the one putting it on her. With a snap of its elastic cord, she was dressed for the party.

Silver nodded her thanks at Jake before glancing around quickly. She spotted Night and Fast lingering near the snack table and approached, "Hey! Is this just for me?"

They both shook their head as Fast spoke, "All three of us. They made us be quiet while you came in though."

Night cocked her head, ear up, "Pinkie listened to us. The music is mellow and nice. Let's go say hello to everypony."

They separated out to meet with the other party guests. Fast had the easiest time, cavorting, flirting, and generally making friendly conversation with everypony she ran into. Night was more methodical in her greetings, trying to make time for each pony in turn. Silver was overwhelmed with all the background ponies come to life, each with their own distinct personality and drives. They were not cardboard cutouts anymore.

Carrot Top shoved a bundle of carrots into her mouth while gabbing excitedly at her, welcoming her to Ponyville and inviting her to stop by her stall any time. Silver tucked the bundle away and thanked her before running into Cheerilee. The teacher looked Silver up and down, "Oh my, you're barely a mare and already with foal?"

Silver flushed through brown fur. She supposed she hadn't told anypony not to say things about it, so it had become public knowledge swiftly. She nodded at Cheerilee, "Nice to meet you."

Cheerilee pat Silver on the shoulder, "Don't you worry, dear, you're in good company. You're part of the community now, and we won't leave you hanging."

Pinkie appeared suddenly beside Silver, "Having fun!?" She shoved a slice of cake into Silver's open mouth. It was delicious. Not as good as Bon Bon's chocolate, but good.

"Hi Pinkie," said Silver once she had swallowed the treat, "I'm meeting a lot of new ponies, and they all seem nice so far." On a whim, Silver stepped in and nuzzled Pinkie's cheek, "Thanks."

Pinkie giggled manically, "I win the bet!"

Silver stepped back, "What bet?"

Pinkie pointed at Silver, "That you'd nuzzle or hug me after the first sentence." When Silver's expression soured a little, she shook her head, "I was complimenting you, silly. I said 'I bet Silver will be so happy with the party, she'll probably hug, nuzzle, or kiss me!'" She leaned in a little, "Though I guess it's naughty to kiss married mares, so good choice!"

Silver shook her head, letting tension go with the internal mantra of 'It's Pinkie, you don't argue with Pinkie.' "You are something else, thank you again." Pinkie grabbed her, pulling her up to two legs to hug her tightly. Silver could feel Pinkie's powerful earth-pony muscles squeezing, but the embrace was warm and fond, not crushing. Pinkie let her go back to all fours as she bound off to some other purpose.

Silver looked around curiously before spotting a familiar mare. She approached Bon Bon when a large shape got in the way. Looking up, she realized it was Big Mac. He was big! Her nose quickly informed her that he was... kinda dreamy. He was a solid mass of muscle, but she felt no threat from him. Being immediately attracted grated just a little. It wasn't... natural, to just look at a male and instantly gauge attractiveness, or so Silver thought with her mind that had been male much longer than female.

He nodded at her, but said nothing. Of course he said nothing. Silver smiled, but it felt goofy. "Hello Big Mac!" she squeaked without meaning to. She cleared her throat and tried again, "Hello. Enjoying the party?"

"Ayup," replied Big Mac. His eyes wandered over her form, making her shudder faintly with an emotion she wasn't sure of. "Yer a mite small to be having young, aintcha?"

Silver felt like she could die from mortification, "I'm... not as young as I look. Have you decided to have a foal with Cheerilee?"

Big Mac somehow went redder than he already was, "Ah..." He closed his mouth, and walked away without finishing the thought, embarrassment clearly displayed on his face.

Silver watched him go, wondering if she went over a line or not. She wasn't even sure if they were dating! Suddenly she felt a painful tug at her ear and turned to find an angry Cheerilee glaring at her, holding the ear in her teeth.

Cheerilee released the ear to speak, "I don't know who told you, little filly, but don't go spreading around other pony's business!"

Silver felt renewed shame, rolling her ears back, "I didn't mean anything bad by it. Your secret is safe with me..."

Cheerilee nodded and her sunny smile returned, "I knew you were a good filly." She patted Silver lightly, "Now go off and play."

Silver wandered off, wondering at being addressed like a little filly. Better than being the target of lingering anger, she decided. She found Bon Bon again quickly and approached before anyp-- "Hiya!" said Pinkie. "We're about to play pin the tail on the pony. Wanna play?"

Silver pointed past Pinkie, at Bon Bon, "She looks like she isn't having a good time, you should fix that."

Pinkie gasped dramatically as she spun to take in the sad Bon Bon, "Gee willikers, you're right! How could I not notice?!" She was beside Bon Bon in a flash, talking animatedly at her. Silver wasn't sure if she should feel good or bad for unleashing Pinkie upon Bon Bon.

"Hello, Darling. Adjusting to Ponyville life?" asked Rarity as she trotted up to Silver.

Silver looked over Rarity with a developing sense of pony aesthetics. She was a pretty mare, who looked like she worked very hard to be just that. She had a cup of some kind of beverage floating beside her. Spike was trailing after her quietly. "Hey Rarity," said Silver, "It's all good. This town is... friendly, and nice."

Rarity made a wave with a hoof, "And yet I haven't seen you at the boutique. You simply must come by and we can see what looks good on a, what was that, lunar unicorn? I'll give you a friendly discount, of course."

Silver bobbed her head, "I think I'd like that. Tomorrow?" The idea of being fussed over by Rarity sounded interesting to Silver, and being a test subject to fashion couldn't be harder than being one for magic.

Silver moved off after friendly goodbyes, and ran into Rainbow Dash and Jake. Rainbow waved at Silver, motioning her closer. "I was just telling Jake I found this sweet new stunt course! You wanna watch me do it?"

Silver perked an ear, "When?"

Rainbow tapped a chin as if she hadn't thought of that, "Tomorrow?"

Silver shook her head, "Rarity has me tomorrow, and Twilight after that. Two days from now?"

Rainbow bobbed her head, then looked to Jake, "That cool with you, big guy?"

Jake gave a thumbs up, "I can wait a day to watch you being awesome, RD." He offered a fist and she met it with a hoof eagerly.

"Hi!" came a high-pitched voice, soon chorused by two more. Silver turned to see Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom. They were adorable. They were also not as small as they could be, relatively. Their presence drove in the point that Silver wasn't full-grown, perhaps in her mid to late teens, relatively. "What's your cutie mark mean?" asked Scootaloo, pointing at Silver's scribble of a cutie mark.

Silver glanced back at it before replying, "It represents a few things. I tend to work fast without double-checking until afterwards, which is why it looks messy, and I'm good at messing with spells. It's actually a bit of my notes on the first spell I ever made."

Sweetie Belle tilted her head, "I'm just starting to learn magic. Look!" She concentrated and her horn began to fizz and pop as she grabbed a drink from the table with her magic and pulled it over, wobbling in the air.

Silver gave a polite clopping of her hooves, "Very good! It was a lot of practice to get to that point." She was lying, a little, but she had no desire to say anything but nice things to the little ponies. "Any good crusading lately?"

Apple Bloom blinked, "Ya already know 'bout that? Uh, it's been good!" All three looked more nervous all of a sudden.

Silver tilted her head a bit, then reached to gently poke Apple Bloom, "Why the long faces? Nothing wrong with being a Crusader. You'll find your special talents, and you're awesome even without them."

All three smiled at once, and Silver felt giddy with a simple pleasure of creating such expressions. "Thanks Silver!" said Sweetie Belle excitedly, "Nice to meet you!" They dashed off into the party.

Silver decided to give approaching Bon Bon one more try, trotting across the room. As she came within talking distance, Fast slid into position with a grin. Silver huffed softly, "Hey Bon, Fast."

Bon Bon flushed, "Sweetie Drops. Bon Bon is a pet name..."

Silver mentally kicked herself. She had forgotten that.

Fast leaned forward, looking Bon Bon over, then over at Silver, and back again, "So..."

Bon Bon leaned away. "I'm not trying anything!" she squeaked defensively, "I'm no wife-stealer."

Fast adopted a predatory look, "What if you're the one that got stolen? Silver's looking at you with her 'I must save that lonely pony' eyes."

Night landed between Fast and Bon Bon, nudging Fast backward, "Stop that right there." She spun on Silver, pointing at him, "We are not taking in another random sad mare, even if you know her from before. It didn't work with Luna, and I doubt it'll work now."

Bon Bon was cherry red, "L-Luna? I..."

Silver frowned, "Don't be rude. I just wanted to say hello, to a friend. I wasn't proposing to her. Bon B... uh, Sweetie Drops is Lyra's marefriend, and I wouldn't steal her away from Lyra in the first place."

Bon Bon sank to the floor, glowing with conflicting emotions.

Night glanced at Silver, and Bon Bon, then sighed. "Sorry." She turned to face the overwhelmed Bon Bon. "I'm being rude. Hello, I'm Night Watch, and these two lovable fools are Fast Change and Silver Stars, though I get the idea you know Silver."

Bon Bon nodded at Night, smiled at Silver, then recoiled from Fast Change, flopping over as she beheld the Lyra that stood in her place.

"What's wrong, Bonnie?" asked the new Lyra, approaching with a grin.

Silver clopped a hoof on the ground, "Line, you're crossing it!"

Fast reverted to her usual form with a huff, "Fine..."

Bon Bon scrambled to her hooves, "A...are you a changeling?"

Night shook her head, "Unicorn magic and a lecherous streak a mile wide. Sorry about that."

Bon Bon looked around a moment before moving to excuse herself, but then paused. She pulled out a small bag from a pouch she wore and offered it to Silver with a little smile, "As promised."

Silver accepted the bag in her magic, "You're the best, but seriously, if you want company, as a friend, I'll be glad to hang out."

Author's Note:

Party time! Excellent!

Typos are totally bogus!

Comments

[Alzrius]

The local ponies were friendly, though a bit shy around an odd looking lunar pony, as she and Night discovered.

Lunar ponies are "odd-looking."

But it all changed about two days later when Silver returned from the market to find the interior of the tower was dark.

You either need to add "to find that the interior" or eliminate the "was."

Silver shook her head, letting tension go with the internal mantra of 'It's Pinkie, you don't argue with Pinkie.

There needs to be a closing single quotation mark, there.

"Yer a might small to be having young, aintcha?"

There are two spaces between "small" and "to."

Silver felt like she could die with mortification, "I'm... not as young as I look.

Shouldn't that be "die from mortification"?

I tend to work fast without double checking until afterwards, which is why it looks messy, and I'm good at messing with spells.

She works fast without "double-checking."

Sweetie belle tilted her head, "I'm just starting to learn magic.

As it's part of her name, that should be "Sweetie Belle."

"I'm not trying anything!" she squeaked defensively, "I'm no wife stealer."

In this context, that'd be "wife-stealer."

Bon Bon was cherry red, "L-luna? I..."

Both of instances of the "L" in Luna's name should be capitalized.

[David Silver]

5839328 Good thing I have you around to double-check for me! Thanks!

[Alzrius]

5839358 This chapter was all about letting Silver bounce off of the familiar cast of characters that make up Ponyville. It was far too short in that regard, since there's easily chapter after chapter about how Silver would interact with any of the ponies that she casually met here.

It's still funny to see Silver's cognitive dissonance between not caring too much for other stallions intellectually, while at the same time swooning over them if she gets close enough. Her embarrassment in that regard is just too cute, though to date it's apparently never been obvious enough that any of the stallions she's met have noticed, let alone had the opportunity to return the fact. Just imagine how awkward it'd be if, later on, Silver started to become interested in one of the local guys only to have to say "um, listen, now that I've given birth, I'm probably going to become male again."

That said, the interplay with Bon Bon was the most fascinating here, or rather, the interplay between Silver's herd with regards to Bon Bon. Both Fast (in her own way) and Night were trying to block Silver from what they saw as another rash attempt at a relationship. What makes this ironic is that Silver is apparently better about that now, which is entirely believable - her entire reason for doing that is because love is reciprocal; answering another mare's loneliness with love was sure to earn that mare's love in kind and fill Silver's own loneliness. What's different now is that, after several false starts, Silver has succeeded. Hence, the desire to do that is probably muted, if not near-totally gone.

Fast and Night, however, don't seem to understand that (which is believable, since it's a very emotionally-complex thing to grasp), and so were rushing to stop what they thought was a repeat of Silver's bad habits. In doing so, however, they somewhat embarrassed her, and definitely embarrassed poor Bon Bon...not to mention impugned Silver's judgment, even if only a bit. It'd be interesting if this led to their first relationship fight, since there's a legitimate point of misunderstanding here (not to mention the idea that couples can fight without it meaning that their relationship is over, which I suspect that Silver is still afraid of). Besides,

Even more hysterical is that, after the fight ends, they'd all blanch at Twilight's suggestion that they write a friendship letter to Princess Celestia about what they've learned.

Some random thoughts: I can only presume that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were nervous about what happened during the events of Jake's adventure. It's also interesting to see that there is some judgment - albeit incredibly light - with regards to Silver's being (effectively) a teenage mother. I also kind of wish Mayor Mare had been there, simply because she's a paradox in that she holds a public office even as she seems to be near-totally useless for how utterly ceremonial her duties are (and with a princess living in town, even that is probably on the way out).

[harts fire]

I feel so bad for bon bon / sweet droops she really needs Lyra back.
is it me or is David Silver putting more in to this story?
I think you have steeped up your righting a bit the story line is improving a bunch and it was really good to start with.
Harts Fire

[David Silver]

5839405 I was thoroughly amused when Cheerilee showed up. She basically knocked on my mental door after Big Mac left and demanded a return to the camera to properly chastise Silver, and it was great. A lot of the interactions in this chapter were a hoot, and we could further explore specific interactions in later chapters, when they aren't all in a busy party. Pinkie's party was a success though, all of the herd feels welcomed by Ponyville, and are no longer strangers to the community.

It felt right to have Silver try to be a friend to Bon Bon, not amorously hungering, but sympathetic and caring. A shame everypony was so eager to stand between them. Silver's hot flaming passions were directed at Lyra, after all. Bon Bon was the cute, but grounded, one of the failed herd. Her mental injury is through no fault of her own, and perhaps there is some guilt there.

[drone_r0m-3]

"It represents a few things. I tend to work fast without double-checking until afterwards, which is why it looks messy, and I'm good at messing with spells. It's actually a bit of my notes on the first spell I ever made."

Yeah, you forgot to tell them about your arch-nemesis. The dreaded TYPO!

[Istaran]

5840236 It's hard to read on the drawing of silver stars, so I wonder if there is some typos on her cutie mark itself.

[David Silver]

5840254 This would not surprise me.

[The Psychopath]

*gasp*
i.ytimg.com/vi/rWFPw8Lt1bk/hqdefault.jpg

[David Silver]

5845590 I'm not sure what you're implying?

[The Psychopath]

5845613 Oh, it's just part of of a sentence that made me think of this.

[Luckyfanisaac]

They separated out to meet with the other party guests. Fast had the easiest time,
cavorting, flirting, and generally making friendly with everypony she ran into.
Friendly what?
Friendly conversation?

[David Silver]

6526539 Fixed, and you made me read my old chapter.

... I liked it.

[Luckyfanisaac]

Silver nodded her thanks at Jake before glancing around quickly. She spotted Night and Fast lingering near the snack table and approached, "Hey! Is this just for me?"

Starting at 1:10 of this video
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5EJNCdsZmw]
That took a while to find.

[Cursed Quill]

That you'd nuzzle or hug me after the first sentence"

sentence."

Yer a might small

mite

[David Silver]

6823553 Fixed!

[Shachza]

You really are still just running down the checklist of HiE standard fare and marking off each one in turn, aren't you? It's okay, we, the readers, are here to help.

Maybe.

I seems like some pony needs to get a better handle on Fast. Maybe a spell. One that would pleasure her senseless in the morning and tire her out for the rest of the day. I wonder who we know who might be able to assemble such a thing.

[NightmintHLW]

Night cocked her head, ear up, "Pinkie listened to us. The music is mellow and nice. Let's go say hello to everypony."

listened? dont know if i have seen that word before? have you?