• Published 8th Nov 2016
  • 2,284 Views, 47 Comments

The Star Child - Joeycrick



A shooting star in Ponyville marks the arrival of the first Star Child. (Prequel to "Freedom Yoshi Planet" by LawtonCash.)

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Chapter 1: Shooting Star

Ponyville. This small town in the land of Equestria was quiet tonight underneath the light of Princess Luna’s moon. The night sky was filled with bright stars, with the occasional shooting star flying by.

One star in particular, however, was streaking towards the ground, in the direction of Golden Oaks Library. As it got nearer, the star began to slow down, as if controlled by another force. The intense glow began to slowly fade as the star gently floated down, landing softly on the library’s front step.

As the glow died down, revealing a small basket, a gentle knocking could be heard against the library’s door…


Princess Twilight Sparkle sat in her room, stacks of paper surrounding her desk. Despite no longer being the student of Princess Celestia, the lavender alicorn never stopped studying. And tonight was no different as she rummaged through her notes, comparing them to the books she was referencing. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as the gears in her head turned, waiting to be clicked into place by an epiphany.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK


“Hmm…” Twilight muttered to herself, ignoring the knocking against the library’s door. “Star Swirl the Bearded banished those Sirens to another realm, we know that. The question is… where exactly did he send them?” Turning towards a textbook floating beside her, she began flipping through pages, stopping at a picture of a giant mirror. “This is what he used to banish them, but it doesn’t say anything about where it leads…”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Spike! Can you get that?” Twilight called out. The bedroom door slowly creaked open, revealing a small baby dragon clutching a blanket and a small plushie of a white unicorn.

“Ugh…” Spike groaned, rubbing his sleepy eyes. “Can’t you get it?”

“I’m kinda busy right now, Spike,” Twilight answered, floating up a few more books and flipping through them.

“So was I,” Spike grumbled under his breath as he descended the stairs with a yawn. He approached the library’s front door, opening it. “I’m sorry, but we’re clo-”

Spike cut himself short upon seeing that nopony was at the door. Frowning, he turned to Twilight. “You sure you heard someone?”

“I wouldn’t have called you if I didn’t,” Twilight answered, never taking her eyes off the books surrounding her.

Clenching his teeth, Spike stuck his head out of the doorway. “You pranksters think this is funny, huh?!” he shouted, shaking his fist angrily. Just as he was about to slam the door, though, something caught his eye.

“Huh? What’s this?” he muttered to himself as he crouched down, taking a closer look at the small basket sitting on the front step. Inside the basket sat a bundle of blankets, and it looked like there was something was underneath it.

“Hey, Twilight!” Spike called out. “Come here, I think you need see this!”

“Whatever it is, it can wait until later,” Twilight replied bluntly as she continued reading.

“Uh… no, this really can’t wait,” Spike answered back, taking a step back as he noticed the basket wobble a bit. “Somepony left a basket on the doorstep… and it’s wobbling.”

That caught the alicorn’s attention. “What?” she said, lowering the book she was reading. She looked towards the entrance and noticed the wobbling basket just outside her door. “What in Equestria…?” she muttered, placing the books aside on a massive stack next to her table. Jumping off her chair, she walked up to the front door towards the basket.

“Who left this here?” Twilight wondered out loud, leaning out the doorway. But the streets of Ponyville were completely empty, and there wasn't the slightest sign of anypony leaving in a hurry. Turning her attention back to the basket on her doorstep, she suddenly noticed something stuck to the side. “Wait... there’s a note here,” she said, raising her eyebrow.

“A note?” Spike asked curiously as Twilight lit up her horn, removing the note and inspecting it.

After reading it to herself, however, she only ended up looking even more puzzled. “Um… well, this is strange.”

“What? What does it say?” Spike asked, jumping up and trying to read the note.

“Listen to this,” Twilight replied, lowering the note so Spike could read it.

Dear Princess of Friendship,

You may not know who we are, but we have heard so many great things about you, and you’re the only one we can trust. Our home in the Mushroom Kingdom is under attack against a dangerous enemy, Lord Koopa. We’ll do our very best to stop him, but until then, we’re leaving our Little Yoshi in your care.

If anything should happen to us, and we don’t return… please take good care of our little dinosaur. We love him more than anything in the world, and we know he is destined for greatness.

“Mushroom Kingdom? Lord Koopa? Yoshi?” Spike repeated, looking just as confused as Twilight. "What's this all about?"

“I don't know, Spike,” Twilight said, now focusing her attention on the basket. “But it sounds like whoever wrote this left their child here. I'll take a look.” Very slowly, she lit up her horn, lifting the blanket off the bundle it was covering. “Whoa…” she muttered with a bewildered look on her face. “This is really bizarre, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Hey! What’s the kid look like?” Spike asked, climbing onto Twilight’s back in order to get a better view.

“It’s… an egg,” Twilight answered slowly. “But that’s not the strange part. It… it looks like it’s… asleep.”

“Asleep?” Spike repeated with a scoff. “How can an egg be asleep?” Leaning out from behind Twilight’s head, he caught a glimpse inside the basket and got his answer.

Sure enough, an egg lay inside, slightly larger than a typical dragon egg like the one Spike was hatched from. A white shell decorated with a few large, green polka-dots protected the creature inside. But somehow, there was a black outline surrounding the egg that would always be visible, no matter which angle Twilight and Spike looked at it from.

What stood out the most, however, was the fact that the egg seemed to be alive. The egg inflated and deflated slightly with a very slow but steady rhythm, almost like it was breathing. And the way it was “breathing” certainly gave the impression that it was “sleeping.”

“Okay… this is weird,” Spike said slowly, looking flabbergasted. “How is it doing that?”

“I have no idea, Spike,” Twilight replied. “Let me try something.”

Closing her eyes in concentration, the alicorn lit up her horn, focusing on the egg. She remained still for a few moments, her brow furrowed as she examined the egg. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and she let out a gasp.

“Whoa! What is it, Twi?” said Spike.

“I… the egg…” Twilight murmured, glancing towards the egg with a curious expression. “Whatever this Yoshi is… there’s some incredibly powerful magic inside of him.”

“What kind of magic?”

“It’s definitely not from Equestria,” Twilight answered, never taking her eyes off the sleeping egg. “But I get the feeling that he has the potential to do great things.”

“Pfft.” Spike rolled his eyes. “You're just repeating what the letter said."

“I’m not just saying that, Spike. I’m being serious here,” Twilight replied sternly. “I can’t really explain why I feel that way about him, I just do.”

“Uh huh,” Spike said as he jumped off Twilight’s back, clearly not convinced. “So… got any ideas?”

“Hmm…” Twilight thought to herself for a few moments, until she lit up her horn. “I guess we’ll just have to look after him for the time being,” she said as she levitated the basket with great care. “Whoever his parents are, they must’ve left him with me for a reason. And we can’t just abandon him when he’s got nowhere else to go.”

“And what if he hatches before they get back?” Spike wondered out loud, following Twilight into the library as she shut the door behind her.

Twilight gently lowered the basket beside her as she began magically pulling books from shelves around the room. “That’s why I’m gonna try to look into what kind of creature this Yoshi is,” she answered as the books orbited around her and she began flipping through pages.

“Hold up a second, Twilight,” Spike interrupted, holding up his hand. “Didn’t you say he’s not from Equestria? How do you expect to find anything about him?”

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Twilight replied as she began flipping through pages in another book. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll find something.”

“Eh, suit yourself,” Spike replied with an eye roll as he gathered up his blanket and plushie. Climbing up the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom, he shut the door behind him.

Twilight paused for a moment, looking down at the sleeping egg in the basket beside her. As strange as that is… she thought to herself, it’s kinda adorable. With a small smile, she pulled a small blanket over the egg, just like she did with Spike when she was a young filly.

“Good night, Yoshi,” she whispered softly as she turned her attention back to the books surrounding her.

Author's Note:

A small side project I'm working on with a friend of mine. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Sunset-Do-Well! :twilightsmile: