• Published 24th Jul 2016
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Gilded Sister - Kind of Brony



A young girl who never got a chance to live is gifted that chance in the form of a new body, life, and brother. How will this old soul take to her strange world?

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Friends

When we arrive at school, I’m almost as hesitant to enter as our mother is to leave us. I can tell the fight, short as it was, rattled her just like me, but she puts on a brave face for her children and so I don’t let my resolve falter as I wave goodbye and enter the small building.

Blueblood is more than ready to face the day as he walks, head held high and confidence in each step. I can’t tell if it’s a façade or if he truly has conquered his fears, but it inspires me nonetheless to face my classmates with as much of that same dignity I can muster.

When we arrive, a hush falls over the class, dozens of eyes fixating on us as if we’re on fire. I shy away some, stepping behind my brother and following him as he walks in. A cursory glance around the room at least tells me Pauly didn’t show up today. It’s a small relief even if I’m a little worried I hurt him bad enough that he had to stay home.

“Hey, Table Flip, You ready to be taken down in tiddlywinks! Blueblood the Seventeenth doesn’t lose at anything more than ten times in a row!” Blue declares once we’re in front of one of his friends.

The colt blinks a few times, glancing over Blue’s shoulder at me before looking back at his friend. “Yeah…” he began slowly, face becoming more amiable. “Yeah, sure, I mean, if you don’t mind being beaten again.” His eyes dart to me and a spark of nervousness enters them. “Your, uh, sister isn’t gonna get mad if I do though, right?”

I flinch while I notice Blueblood’s eye twitch, but the smile never leaves his face. “Why would she?” he answers. “Pure doesn’t get mad about that sorta stuff, and I’m not gonna get beat anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

Before the other colt can respond, Miss Torial calls for us foals to sit down, and we do so quickly. Sitting where I usually do, I realize quickly that something is amiss in that the spot besides me usually filled with Moondancer is occupied by a different pony. Looking around, I spot my friend a few spaces away just as she does the same. My heart clenches when she quickly breaks eye contact by hiding behind her bangs.

Guess I couldn’t keep a friend for even a week.


Blueblood has done spectacularly in negating yesterday’s fiasco, and I can’t help but be impressed by that. Not even a minute into our first break, a colt, an earth pony who was constantly getting scolded for chasing fillies around with bugs he had found, had approached Blueblood and his friends, a half-baked taunt on his lips about my brother’s defeat. Instead of getting angry or embarrassed however, Blueblood laughed it off. “Guess I tripped, huh?” he had started, bonking himself on the head.

“No, you were a crybaby,” was shot back.

“I had something in my eye.” The deadpan delivery threw his insulter off.

“No you didn’t.”

“Yep. It was grass from Pauly’s hoof. I was just trying to put in back on the ground.”

“Wha-? But, he hit you.”

“Nope, he just got grass in my eye and I was putting it back where it belonged like teacher always tells us.”

“But your sister-”

“Gets really mad if you don’t put stuff back where it’s supposed to go. You should see her with our toy box.”

“Oh,” the colt replied, obviously confused. “Um, maybe I should put this back outside.” He mumbled, pulling a slug out of his mane and getting the foals around him to cringe away. Once he was out of sight, Blueblood and his friends shared a laugh and went about their games as usual. The only difference was that Blueblood had invited me once again to join them, something he had stopped doing since my friendship with Moondancer. I had turned him down though, even though it did seem appealing, mostly for the fact that I didn’t want my brother to feel I was stealing his pals away.

We share so much already, he deserves to have something he can call his own. Besides, I don’t think the colts would enjoy my company.

I had continued to get strange glances, even during Miss Torial’s short lessons, and have resolved to spend play time by myself instead of making any pony feel uncomfortable. That’s the plan anyway, until I am approached by two fillies, Minuette and Twinkleshine if I’m remembering correctly. While the latter looks a bit pensive, the former is grinning widely. “Um, can I… help you?” I question.

Twinkleshine looks over to her blue friend who gives her a rapid nod of encouragement before turning back to me. “After yesterday, we were wondering, um, well Minuette actually wanted to know, if, maybe, you’re a, ah-”

“Are you a ninja!?” Minuette finally blurts out, getting slight scowl from Twinkle and a raised eyebrow from me.

“A what?”

“You know, a ninja! Warrior of shadows! Invisible assassins! Silent but deadly!” The blue filly strikes out at the air for punctuation, stumbling before her friend catches her.

As Twinkleshine blushes profusely and Minuette eagerly awaits my answer, all I can manage is, “What?” before shaking my head. “Why would you think I’m a… ninja?”

“Because you sent Pauly flyin’ yesterday!” Minuette exclaims. “You were like, pow! And he was down!” She demonstrates with a sloppy buck of her own and doesn’t manage to stay on her hooves this time, falling to her belly.

“Minuette was the one who thought you were a ninja,” Twinkleshine says. “I didn’t think that… mostly.”

After a second, I giggle. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m just a regular filly like you.” Assuming they were humans-turned-foals who couldn’t use magic, but that was better left unsaid.

Minuette frowns. “Oh poo. I was really hoping you were a ninja like in my cousin’s neighnga.” When I give an apologetic shrug in reply, she smiles once again. “Oh well, it was still really cool how you kicked Pauly like that. He’s kinda scary.”

“Um, thanks?” Not really sure if that was something for filly’s to be inspired by, but I’m too glad to have some foals that aren’t afraid of me to worry about being a bad influence.

“Why aren’t you reading with your friend?” Twinkleshine abruptly asks. “You two always read together.”

At this, I glance across the room to spot Moondancer just as she apparently does the same. When she once again averts her eyes, I sigh. “I… I just don’t think she feels like it today.”

“Have you asked her yet?” Minuette questions, getting to her hooves. “Here, I’ll go ask her for you.”

“No!” I shout, grabbing the filly’s back hoof as she turns. “You don’t need to bother her.” I can keep pretending we’re friends until she tells me otherwise, after all. “You want to read with me instead?” The attempted distraction actually seems to work as Minuette rubs her chin and looks back at me.

“Hmm, I don’t know, books are kinda boring.”

“Yeah, I only like books when Mommy reads me to sleep,” Twinkleshine contributes with a shrug.

“That just means you’re not doing it right,” I reply, chipper at the thought of spreading the love of books. Really, they’ll thank me when they find themselves bedridden and in need of entertainment, especially without television. It certainly helped me.

“How can we be doing it wrong?” questions the cream-colored filly.

“Here, let me show you.” I pat the floor next to me and the fillies share a look before taking their seats at my sides. “So, you want to take turns reading out loud? I bet we can make up some really silly voices.”

Minuette scratches at her ear. “Um, I don’t know how to read yet. Miss Torial is still teaching letters.”

“Oh, right,” I respond apologetically, remembering not everypony was like Moondancer, me, or even Bluey. “Well, Twinkleshine and I can teach you some as we read.”

Said filly blushes. “I don’t exactly know how to either…”

I blink a few times and take a breath. “Okay, lesson one then, how to read.” The unsure glance the two share doesn’t escape my notice, but I ignore it and open to the first page. They may not have expected more learning when they came over here, but I’m sure I can make it just as fun as the teacher does. “Page one, the Muffin Mare.”


By the time recess arrives, I’m about at my wit's end in trying to teach the fillies how to read. I knew they wouldn’t be able to learn in a day, sure, and even focused more on entertaining them with the colorful story then the lesson, but Minuette could not stop interrupting with questions, exclamations, and occasionally rolling around in laughter. It’s nice knowing the blue unicorn was enjoying herself, but with the slowed pace, we had barely made it through one book before we were ushered outside.

Now the fillies are practically demanding that I play with them since they had agreed to my idea earlier. “I don’t know girls, you probably won’t like playing tag with me,” I try. I doubt there are many other foals here that run laps and train with their enthusiastic grandpa, so I’m sure I’ll have an unfair advantage.

“Sure we will,” Minuette states with a smile. “It’s going to be great having more than three players!”

That catches my attention as I tilt my head. “Three? Who else is going to play?” I’ve always noticed these two together during class, but I don’t remember a third pony in their group.

“Oh, you haven’t met Lyra yet,” Twinkleshine begins, “She’s in the other classroom so we can only play together at recess.”

“Where is she anyways?” inquires the blue filly as she shades her eyes and starts scanning the playground. “I don’t see her anywhere.” Whipping a hoof out suddenly, she shouts. “Found her!”

When I see where she’s pointing, my stomach drops. There was Moondancer, fidgeting under our tree as a green filly tries to talk to her. “Hey! Hey Lyra! We’re playing tag, come on!” Minuette calls, running over to her friend before I can do anything. I don’t know what it is I could do, but it’s definitely anything that would help me avoid the conversation I feel is coming.

“Oh, I wonder if she's asking Moondancer to play with us?” Twinkleshine voices, smile coming to her face. “Five players sounds like so much fun.”

I gulp and watch as Minuette slowly frowns alongside her friend before pulling a reluctant Moondancer to her hooves. It actually makes me a bit angry as the fillies sandwich my friend between them and herd her in our direction. Moondancer is quite obviously not okay with this as she tries to back away, and I feel the same pressure bubbling up from yesterday when Pauly hit my brother.

Reminding myself that she’s not being hurt and these fillies are far too nice to do so, I force a smile as they arrive. “H-hey, Moondancer,” I begin, “How, ah, how are you doing?”

Several times she opens her mouth, only to manage a single squeak before Minuette cuts in. “Are you mad at Moondancer?”

“What? Why would I be-?”

Lyra sees fit to answer before I even finish. “She says you’re mad at her because of yesterday.”

“Of course not!” I blurt out. "Why would you think that!?”

Stunned, Moondancer whispers, “I got you in trouble. Why wouldn’t you be mad at me?”

My emotions are a hodgepodge mess of confusion, relief, and humor leaving me wanting to burst into laughter and cry, but I know such a reaction will only scare my shy friend, so I hold it in along with my breath for several seconds. “Moondancer,” I say after breathing out, “First, I’m not in trouble. I just got a warning to not hit another pony again.

“And second,” I continue before she has a chance to protest. “Even if I did get in trouble, how would it be your fault? You didn’t hurt anypony or tell Pauly to bother us. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Lip quivering, Moondancer falls on her bottom when Lyra and Minuette step away, tears building in the corner of her eyes as she answers. “It’s because I’m a loser. Y-you’re pretty and smart and a princess and I’m- I’m just me. Nopony would bully you if you didn’t hang out with me.”

“That’s not true!” I can hardly believe what I’m hearing as I stare at the wide eyed filly. “You’re not a loser! You’re smarter than me!”

“And your eyebrows are pretty!” Minuette supplies helpfully. “They’re like fluffy caterpillars. So cute!”

“And we’re not princesses either,” Twinkleshine adds. “That doesn’t mean ponies should pick on us.”

“Yeah,” Lyra stomps her hoof, a determined glint in her eyes. “Pauly’s just a jerk. He’d pick on Princess Tia if she was here. He’s lucky I wasn’t with ya or I’d punch him right in the nose, like a bunch!”

“Moondancer, I thought…” I begin, looking at the ground, “well, I thought you were afraid of me and didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you earlier. You probably thought I was avoiding you.”

“I… I did, but,” I hear her sniffling as she speaks and look up. “I’m so happy I was wrong!”

“Gak!” Even as the crying filly accidentally cuts off my air supply in a tight hug, I still return the embrace, patting her on the back and letting some of my own tears fall. “So, we’re still friends then?”

“Yes!” She shouts in my ear, crying louder and tightening her hug much to the dismay of my poor larynx.

Threshold reached, I unfortunately have to end the embrace, pushing on her chest. It luckily doesn’t take much prompting before Moondancer sits back, a trail of snot running from her nose to my shoulder breaking. As her expression goes from overjoyed to mortified, I quickly intervene. “It’s fine,” I assure, wiping the mucus off with a hoof and transferring it to the grass. “See?”

Rubbing her own face clean with a foreleg, she gives an abashed smile and nods. “Great!” Minuette cheers. “Now we can play tag with five players! Five! That’s like- like twice as many players!”

Moondancer blinks, looking around. “T-tag?”

“Yeah” says Lyra. “You’re gonna play with us, right?”

Turning to me for guidance, I shrug helplessly. “Minuette and Twinkleshine wanted me to play… You want to join?”

Looking at the hopeful expressions of these new fillies, Moondancer gulps and manages, “Um, sure?”

The exuberance of the foals as they cheer is contagious and I grin as well. In truth, I’m actually looking forward to this game of tag now that Moondancer and I have resolved our misunderstandings. Besides the first couple of days when I allowed Blueblood to drag me into some of his games, I haven’t actually done more than read, and unlike then, it will be with my friends, not his.

Friends… Looking at these fillies as they excitedly go over the rules and argue over who will be it first, I’m surprised to find that, yes, I do see them as such. I’ve only just talked to two of them earlier today, and didn’t even learn the name of the last until mere minutes ago, and yet, I can’t imagine not being friends with them.

Lyra hadn’t even met Moondancer before as far as I know, and yet, she approached her as a stranger and sought to help her. Twinkleshine and Minuette did the same for me, thinking back, and I wonder if it really was just to ask a silly question, or if that was merely a disguise for their true intent of helping a fellow classmate?

“Tag, you’re it!” declares Minuette with a boop to my snoot and a toothy grin. “Catch me if you can!”

When I glance to the others, they shriek and take off, even Moondancer, leaving me dazed and confused as she hoofs it away from the dreaded “It”. Oh, I guess they finished up their discussion while I was deep into my ponderings and made the faulty decision that I should be it first.

That mistake will cost them dearly, I think, lips forming a wicked smile. Grandpa, I’ll do you proud.


Ornate arrived five minutes early to pick up her children that day, her father-in-law’s story perhaps frightening her more than she would like to admit. Still, she was eager to see the foals for other reasons as well, curious about how their day has went and ever so slightly dreading that the answer might be something along the lines of awful, terrible, and please never make me go back to school.

When the doors opened to a stampede of little ponies and she saw her smiling son saying goodbye to his group of pals, she was hopeful. When an equally happy Pureblood came out, smiling alongside not one, but four fillies, she was absolutely ecstatic. Maybe they should get in fights more often if this is the result, she joked to herself, stepping away from the other arriving parents and towards the foals.

Surprisingly, it was her daughter who ran up to her first as opposed to her rambunctious son. “Mommy!” she squealed, jumping up to hug the pink mare’s leg. “Moondancer and I made new friends today!”

“I saw that,” giggled Ornate, leaning down to nuzzle her daughter as the filly turned and waved to the three new foals who waved back as they left with their parents. “I’m proud of you.”

Beaming, Pure spotted Moondancer as the beige unicorn approached. “Oh, that’s right!” jumping to her friend’s side, Pure looked up at her mother. “Um, Mommy, I was wondering if Moondancer could come over and visit sometime this weekend so I could show her our library.” A beat later, she added a big, “Please.”

Absolutely! is what the mare wanted to shout while dancing on her tippy-hooves, but reeled herself in. No, bad Ornate, you are an adult, act like one. “Of course, dear, I think that would be lovely,” she said instead, a kind and calm smile on her face. “There’s her mother now, let’s go talk to her about setting things up.”

Both fillies hopped instead of walked and Ornate Garden had to restrain herself from doing the same. Oh, my sweet little filly’s first playdate. So exciting!