> A Story yet to be told
>  by Thestoryteller
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter one. ''Tis the season
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The castle of Friendship was beaming with joy. Literally. Bright, colorful, lights were emanating from the castle and could be seen all the way to Canterlot. The reason for the castles light show? Why, the joy of all the ponies of course. Yes everypony, from the smallest filly to the tallest Stallion was filled with happiness upon seeing what was outside.

Snow.

Yes snow. The white frozen water, with other stuff in it, dropped from the grey sky and collected itself on the ground. There was snow everywhere, from the rooftops of homes to the dirt roads that trailed throughout Ponyville. Everyone was enjoying the snow.

Everyone that is, except for one.

Back in the castle of Friendship, in the Far East wing, was a room. And in that room we're the common things. A bed, a dresser, a desk, a window with curtains, a mirror on top of the dresser, a door leading to the bathroom, a closet, and a door leading to the hallway.

In the bed, sleeping somewhat soundly, was a Pegasus colt with light orange fur. A blue mane with a violet stripe on the right of his mane. The front of his spiky man covered his entire forehead while the back of his mane was spiked up. The young colt snuggled deep into his covers and pillow, unaware of the wonder outside.

The temperature in the room dropped as the window to the young colts room was opened from the outside. A Pegasus colt flew into the room and quickly shut the window, causing warm are to re-enter the room. The Pegasus colt who had just flown in had a cyan fur coat, had emerald green eyes, wore a grey scarf around his neck, and a grey snow cap over his head from which some of his rainbow mane stuck out in the front. 

The Pegasus colt who had just flown in turned to the bed, where in the middle was an object buried in covers. The colt flew up to the bed and nudged the object.

"Come on Stardust, get up." The colt continued to nudge and push the lump under the covers. But to no avail. 

A wicked, evil, smile spread across the colts face. He thought that something like this would happen, so he came prepared. The colt lifted his right wing and a snowball fell out and into his hoof. The colt grabbed the top of the covers and warned, "last chance Star, better wake up." The colt said, hoping to receive no answer. He lean his ear closer, and sure enough, he got no response. With a smile the colt reared back his right hoof and yanked back the covers back.

The colt froze. What was supposed to be a sleeping Pegasus was actually two pillows shaped to look like a sleeping Pegasus. The colt scanned the room for the Pegasus. His examination was cut short as something cold and sloshy hit him in the back of his neck. The colt whipped his head around to see the orange coated Pegasus with purple eyes laughing on his back.

The colt gave the Pegasus an unhappy look, "Oh ha ha Star, very funny." The colt sighed.

"Oh lighten up Blitz." The Pegasus sat up. "It only hit most of your scarf." 

The colt brushed off some of the pieces of snow on the back of his scarf. He then looked to the snowball he still had in his hoof. His evil smile returned as he looked to the Pegasus.

"Uh-oh." The Pegasus bolted out of the room the instant he saw the snowball in the colt's hoof.

"Get back here Star!" The colt shouted, dashing off after the Pegasus. "An eye for an eye. You hit me with a snowball, so it's only fair that I hit you with one."

The Pegasus ran through the hallway at blurry speeds, turning at any corner he could find in hopes of the colt losing sight of him. But no matter how many twists and turns he took the colt would still be hot on his trail. Left with no choice, the Pegasus decided to try a new approach in ditching the colt. He opened up his wings and took to the air.

The colt did the same, spreading his wings and flying after the Pegasus.

"Give it up Star." The colt said, slowly beginning to close in on the Pegasus. "If you surrender now I'll be sure not to aim for the face." 

The Pegasus flew out of the hallway and into the center of the Castle of Friendship. Hanging from the ceiling was the trunk and roots of an oak tree with strings that had several gems attached to them. The Pegasus was heading straight towards these gems and was about to crash into them.

Knowing the punishment he would receive if he were to even give one of the gems a tiny crack, the Pegasus dived down towards the circular table. The Pegasus landed and folded his wings back up. The Pegasus looked up at the gems to ensure that none of them sustained any damage. After a thorough observation with each gem the Pegasus gave a sigh of relief upon seeing that none of the gems had been harmed.

But because the Pegasus landed he was now wide open for the colt to hit him with the snowball. The colt reared back his foreleg and threw the snowball. The ball of slush sailed towards the Pegasus at tremendous speed. But before the snowball could hit the Pegasus, he leaped to the right, successfully dodging the snowball.

*biff*

The Pegasus did a somersault and turned to the colt with a triumphant smile. "Ha! Ya missed."

The Pegasus tilted his head in confusion looking at the colt's expression of fear and horror, his eyes glued to where he had thrown the snowball. The Pegasus turned to the direction the colt was looking in to see what had made him make that face. What he saw caused him to share the colts emotions with a look of fear and horror of his own.

The two Pegasi were staring at the throne belonging to Twilight Sparkle, famed Princess of Friendship. It just so happened that the throne belonging to her was currently sitting her this very moment. The princess had been reading her favorite book whilst drinking a hot cup of cocoa which was sitting next to her book with steam rising from it.

However though, the reason for the two colt's look of fear was because of where the snowball had landed.

The snowball the colt had made was engineered to not fall apart upon impact with something. He made sure to had the right amount of slush and snow to make it so the ball would stick to whatever it struck. The reason that the snowball was designed this way is what caused the boys a look of fear.

For the snowball had hit Twilight Sparkle right in the face, and it covered pretty much her entire face, and it was stuck.

The snowball began to lose its suction and started to slowly slide off Twilight's face. Once the snowball completely lost its suction it fell and was caught in Twilight's forehoof. Now that the snowball was no longer covering her face the two colt's got a good look at Twilight's unamused face.

"Star." Twilight spoke, her tone sounded calm with a hint of agitation. "What have I told you about snow in the house?"

The Pegasus swayed his foreleg back and forth against the table, "that when snow gets inside it heats up, which causes it to melt, which will cause the house to flood, which will ruin the books." 

"Very good, now can you tell me what this is?" Twilight asked towards the colt, holding up the snowball. 

"A snowball." The colt gulped.

"Correct." Twilight sighed, "honestly you two, I know it's Hearth's Warming today, but you need to learn some self control." The two colt's lowered their heads in shame. "Oh chin up you two. I didn't mean to scold you." Twilight said, using her magic to summon a jacket, scarf, and snow cap. The clothing flew at the Pegasus and wrapped itself around his body. The Pegasus slid his forelegs into the jacket's sleeves, the zipper zipping itself up, the scarf wrapped around his neck comfortably and the cap sat on his head, leaving the back of his blue mane to be visible.

"Your friends are outside, waiting for you two. You best not keep them waiting." Twilight gave the two a friendly smile.

The two Pegasi were out of the castle in a heartbeat.





Introductions seem to be in order. The orange coated Pegasus is named Stardust. Son of Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry. The cyan coated Pegasus is named Blitz. First Cousin once removed to Stardust and the son of the infamous Rainbow Dash. Stardust is eleven years old where Blitz is only ten. The two were the closest of friends ever since childhood.

Now that they've been properly introduced, it's back to the scene.

Stardust and Blitz burst through the castle doors, running to put as much distance between the castle and them. Once they were considered a safe distance away the two Pegasi colt's collapsed onto the snow, their hot breath visible in the cold.

"Did we make it?" Blitz asked out of breath. 

Stardust sat up and looked to see how far they were from the castle. "Yeah, were safe." Stardust replied.

Blitz stood up and shook off the snow that had collected on his back. "Why is aunt Twilight so scary Star?" 

"Because she's an Alicorn with the power to turn you into an orange, then cut you in half, squeeze out your juices, and drink you while she eats her toast." Stardust answered.

"Thanks for the image Star." Blitz grumbled. "She said that our friends were out here. But I don't see anyone, do you Star?" Blitz asked, looking around. "Star?"

"Was that snowmare always there?" Star asked.

Blitz looked at Stardust with a puzzled look. Star pointed past Blitz, who turned around to see a snowmare comprised of three balls of snow stacked on top of the other with the smallest on the top. The snowmare wore a scarf around its neck and a black top hat. It had two branches shoved into its middle ball, an assortment of pebbles arranged into a smile and two pebbles for eyes, along with a toy wooden pipe sticking out from underneath its smile.

Blitz turned away from the snowmare, "you probably just didn't see it. Come on let's go find our friends." Blitz said, walking off. "oof!" Blitz blurted, numbing into something. "S-sorry." Blitz stumbled back a bit. 

Blitz looked up to what he had bumped into only to find out that I was another snowmare, only this one didn't have a pipe and it wore a rose red bowler hat with a bow wrapped around its top.

"What the-" Blitz questioned, taking a couple of steps back.

"Um...Blitz." Stardust spoke up.

Blitz turned to where Stardust was pointing to see another snowmare. This one, just like the last, didn't have a toy pipe, and wore a white fedora.

Blitz looked back to the first snowmare they saw and just as Blitz had thought. It moved. Or it had moved. A trail of plowed through snow was behind the snowmare, giving away the fact that it had, without a doubt, moved. 

Stardust looked to the snowmare with the bowler hat, and sure enough, it too had moved.

"Okay...we should leave." Blitz said walking forward.

Only for the snowmare with the top hat to block off his path. The snowmare began to advance towards Blitz, so did the other two. Blitz and Stardust backed away from the snowmare's until the two backed up so far that they bumped into each other. The three snowmare's had completely surrounded both Blitz and Stardust, staring them down with their cold dead eyes.

Stardust's eyes lit up, "ooh, maybe these guys are here to send us on a magical quest to turn them into real pony's." 

The snowmare with a fedora now held a switchblade in its branch. The snow mare activated the switch blade, causing a blade to spring out.

"Your wallets." The snowmare demanded.

"Or their mugging us." Stardust sheepishly smiled.

Stardust's instincts kicked in as he quickly grabbed the switchblade out of the Snowmare's branch, and used it to express his anger. With the blade in his hoof he drove it into the snowmare wearing the top hat's chest. Stardust then gripped the snowmare's head and braced his forelegs on the snowmare's middle ball and with a mighty heave, ripped the snowmare's head clean off. He then jumped off of the snowmare's body, did a backflip in the air, and landed on top of the snowmare with the bowler hat. Stardust then repeatedly struck the snowmare's head, turning the solid into a thin slush. Stardust plucked an icicle from one of the roofs edge and tackled the snowmare wearing the fedora, repeatedly stabbing it with icicle.

"Um...Stardust."

The voice had managed to bring Stardust's bloodlust to a stop. With the icicle still in his right hoof, Star looked behind him to see his cousin Blitz along with three earth pony's standing next to him. The earth pony colt with pink fur, a short flat brown straight mane, green eyes, and a pair of square glasses was named Cheese Cake. The earth pony filly with pink fur, a pink poofy mane, and green eyes was named Bubblegum. The earth pony with a light orange fur coat, a brown poofy mane, and pink eyes was name Party Animal. These three earth ponies were the son and two daughters of Pinkie Pie.

The three earth ponies and Blitz all looked at Star with a shocked expression.

"Oh hey Party, Cheese, and Bubblegum." Star smiled innocently at his four friends. "What's up?" 

"Um..." the four said, unsure how to respond after seeing Star brutally murder three snowmare's.

"Um...uh...do you wanna build a snowwwwwwwwww-" Party trailed off, trying to think of something else to say other than snowmare. "wwwwwwwwwww....fort?" She finished.

Star looked at his friends with a blank expression before lighting up. "That's a wonderful idea!" He exclaimed. "But we have to be smart about this. Our fort must have heavy and powerful walls. Onward comrades, to victory!"





And so, Stardust, Blitz, Party Animal, Bubblegum, and Cheese Cake all started to construct their fort. It wasn't anything special really. Just four walls of snow made into a square. The walls were about the size of a normal pony's height. They were able to mold at least fifty snowballs which they had then placed in the corner of their fort. Stardust went inside his home and came back out with a metal pole. He shoved the pole into the ground where it stood upright in the center of the fort. Star then attached a yellow cloth that closely resembled a flag.

"From this day forward we shall forever be know as the 'Brotherhood of Snow'." Stardust declared.

"But what about us mares?" Bubblegum asked, Party nodding in agreement.

"In that case we shall be known as the 'Hood of Snow'." Star declared.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.

Stardust leaned against one of the walls and yelled for the whole town to hear, "OUR SNOW FORT IS IMPENETRABLE!" 

Stardust ducked down, awaiting a barrage of snowballs to be fired towards him. After a moment of silence Star peeped out of the fort to wonder why there were no snowballs. That's when he remembered that he lived in Ponyville, the most peaceful town in all of Equestria. He looked back to his friends and asked, "Well, since there's now way that our fort will be attacked what should we do now?" Stardust asked.

"How about we all go to your house, and wait for everyone to show up?" Cheese suggested.

"Cheese has a point." Blitz added. "I mean, all of our family's are gonna meet there today anyways." 

"Then to my house we go." Star declared, marching towards the Castle of Friendship with his friends in tow.





The large doors were pushed open and the group entered in. Star quickly closed the doors tightly shut and took of his hat and scarf. Everyone else did the same, removing their warm winter clothing. Star walked down the halls and into the kitchen. He opened up one of the cupboards and pulled out five coffee mugs. He then opened up another cupboard and pulled out several packets of chocolate dust and sat them next to the mugs. He then opened the fridge and pulled out the jug of milk and poured a reasonable amount of it into a large bowl. He put the bowl of the stove and let the milk cook for about five minutes before taking it off the stove. Star then mixed both the milk and chocolate dust together before pouring a balanced amount into each cup. He placed each cup on a tray and sat the tray on his back. 

Star balanced the tray on his back as he walked down the hallway towards the family room. The family room was the largest room in the entire castle, more than double the size of the center room. The family room was decked with holiday decorations all over the walls, pillars, and ceiling. There had been furniture laid out across the room such as red cushioned couches and chairs that matched the holiday decor, and in the very back of the room was the biggest pine tree Star had ever seen. It's size was so big that it's tip was just inches away from the ceiling. Sitting comfortably in the chairs were Star's friends, Blitz, Bubblegum, Cheese Cake, and Party Animal. He walked up to them all and gave each of them a cup of hot chocolate. 

Star took the last cup and sipped it quietly. 

*knock, knock*

Stardust grinned, "showtime."





Almost instantly the castle halls were filled with ponies from every corner of Ponyville and other parts of Equestria. Everyone was socializing, drinking cocoa, and having a good time. Once someone had entered they had with them two key things. The first was a wrapped present, the second was a custom ornament that they hung on a special part of the tree. It wasn't long before the large tree began to look well lit and more festive. Whilst everyone was enjoying themselves, Star was tasked with making sure everyone's hot chocolate was replenished. He had filled a large canister with hot chocolate to make things easier. 

When he was heading back to refill one of his thermoses, something grabbed him from behind and lifted him up into the air and squeezed him very tightly. 

"How's my favorite cousin doing?" Star's attacker said, dropping him back down.

Star gasped for air before scolding his attacker, who had the body of a pony with white fur, but had a red dragon claw as his right foreleg, a dog's arm as his left foreleg, his two hindlegs were normal, his tail was shaped like a lizard's, his right wing looked like a bird's, his left looked like a bat's, he had a combed down black mane along with a white horn jutting out from his head, his right eye was blue while his left was grey, and he had two sharp fangs sticking out from his mouth. "Nice to see too, Havoc." 

"What? A cousin can't hug his other cousin?" The draconequus shrugged. 

"When he's crushing my lungs he can't." Star winced, rubbing his chest. 

"Oh please." Havoc lightly punched Star's shoulder. "You're part Alicorn aren't cha. You'll live."

"Yeah, and as long as I live I will remember this day, and you will rue the day you crossed Stardust." Star said dramatically.

"The day you become a threat to me is the day when your brother becomes social." Havoc said, scanning the room. "Speaking of which where is Dusk anyways? Is he still looking at that book?" 

Stardust sighed. "There's no doubt about it." Stardust sat the thermos on the table. "Come on Havoc, let's go get my brother."





Introducing Dusk Shield. Son of Twilight Sparkle, older brother of Stardust by three minutes, and a total shut-in. Dusk Shield was a unicorn colt with a purple coat, a deep dark purple mane with strands of mane on top of other strand of mane, he had blue eyes, and, unlike his brother, had a cutie mark of a six pointed star with a blue shield behind it with two lightning bolts crossing across the center of the star. 

Dusk was currently sitting in his room with the window curtains shut, his door shut, and his room was lit with candles. He sat at his desk, observing the book in front of him.

The book had a mysterious history to it. The book was a hard cover with a golden circle in its center with the number "3" crudely drawn on it. The book appeared to Dusk by a crack opening up in the air and the book thrown at him before the crack was sealed up. 

Ever since then Dusk had spent days studying the book. It's pages were filled with drawings and notes of things that did not exist in Equestria. Dusk had the book opened to a certain page and was following the instructions for making a potion. Dusk had the potion almost complete, all that was left to do was to add two drops of a liquid to it. 

Dusk carefully levitated a dropper into a test tube with a lime green liquid inside. The dropper sucked up some of the liquid, Dusk levitated the dropper to another test tube with a pink solution inside it. Dusk carefully squeezed the dropper and two drops of green liquid was mixed with the pink solution, causing its color to turn brown. 

After confirming that he did it right, Dusk Shield put a cork in the tube. He gave himself a minute to admire his handiwork. 

Before it was interrupted by his brother Stardust kicking the door open. 

The sudden force caused the entire room to shake. Test tubes, paper notes, and pens shook. Luckily Dusk was able to grab his potion before it rolled of his desk and shattered onto the floor. 

Dusk glared at his brother and said, "are you crazy?! You could've killed everyone in this castle!"

"Well we didn't, so that's a plus." Havoc pointed out.

"Why are you cooped up in your room Dusk?" Star asked. "It's Hearth's Warming for crying out-loud. Spend some time with your friends and family for once."

Dusk did an eye roll. "Is that was this is all about?" He asked, putting the potion in a secure metal briefcase. "Dad already came up here and specifically told me that I wasn't going to spend the whole day in here. And I told him that I would be down there to attend the ceremony." 

"But that's just it. You're hardly around for anything. Being there for the ceremony isn't enough. You have to be there for the whole event." Stardust tried to explain.

"There are more important things to do." Dusk stated.

"Are you telling me that book is more important than spending time with your family?" 

"I'm not answering that."

"Listen Dusk." Havoc spoke. "That book isn't going anywhere, whereas your family and friends and friends are only gonna be here for a little longer before they leave. Besides, the ceremony is gonna start soon anyways."

Dusk sighed, closing up his book. "Alright...I'll go." 

"See? Was it that hard?" 





Back in the family room the chairs and couches had been moved aside for a long big wooden table that stretched from the pine tree all the way to the end of the room. Chairs with names assigned to them were seating their assigned pony. When Star, Dusk, and Havoc entered the room Havoc took off to where his family was sitting. Star and Dusk walked to the end of the table where there were four seats on the end of the table.

The seat on the far left was a chair with a purple frame that had light purple cushions sewn into its back and base. The seat on the middle left had a dark purple frame with light cushions sewn into its back and bottom and it had a six pointed purple star with six smaller stars around it, symbol that was built on top of the chair. The middle chair on the right had a golden frame with blue cushions sewn into its back and bottom. The chair on the far right had a golden frame with light blue cushions sewn into the bottom and back of the chair. 

In the middle left seat sat both Star and Dusk's mother Twilight Sparkle and in the middle right chair sat the boys father, Flash Sentry. Stardust pulled out the far right chair and sat in it. Dusk used his magic to pull the far left chair out and took his seat. 

Flash leaned to Star and whispered, "I can't believe you actually got him out of that room."

"I'm just lucky that we didn't have to drag him out. That would've caused a scene." Stardust joked. 

Stardust scanned the table for ponies he knew. To his left sat Blitz's family Rainbow Dash and Soarin. To the right side of the table next to his sat his aunt Fluttershy, his uncle Thorn, his cousin Rosebud, who was a yellow coated Pegasus with a pink mane and green eyes. His other cousin, Cloudy Skies, a buck with brown fur, brown Pegasus wings, teal eyes, and tiny stubs for antlers. 

Next to Blitz's family was Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, along with their three kids, Bubblegum, Party Animal, and Cheese Cake. 

Parallel to Pinkie Pie was Rarity and Silver Platter, along with their daughter Gemstone, who was a unicorn filly with a white fur coat, Sapphire blue eyes, a long deep blue mane that she had styled herself. 

Next to Rarity was Applejack and Ranger, along with their daughter Appleseed, who had a orange coat, a long blonde mane that she had tied into a ponytail, and she had blue eyes along with her wearing a cowgirl hat. They also had a three year old colt named Buck, who had orange fur, a short blonde mane, blue eyes, and freckles on his muzzle and cheeks.

Down the line Star saw Discord and Celestia, along with their son Havoc. Across from the family was Luna and her family. Atlas, an Alicorn Stallion with dark blue fur, a light blue mane, and yellow eyes with black slits for pupils and bat wings. Next to Atlas was the younger daughter of Luna, Crescent Moon. Crescent Moon was a filly with dark grey fur, long light blue mane, Batpony wings, and she had red eyes with black slits for pupils. Next to Crescent was an empty seat.

Their was a soft ring as Twilight tapped her glass with a metal spoon, grabbing everyone's attention. 

"Friends, Family, and local citizens of Ponyville." Twilight spoke to everyone sitting at the table. "We are proud to welcome you all once again to this year's Harths Warming. Every year family's all over Equestria gather and spend time with their loved ones. But here in Ponyville we're all family. It doesn't matter if you are a pony or some other creature, if you can make friends, learn to love one another, and live equally among everyone else, then you can call Ponyville your home." Twilight raised her glass. "To friends and family."

"To friends and family." Everyone repeated, raising their glasses and drinking.

Once Twilight sat down Flash looked to Discord, "Discord, would you please do the honors?" 

Discord grinned back at Flash, readying his fingers. "Dinner-" *snap* "is served." 

In an instant the table was filled with dishes of various foods all over. Toy train tracks fell from the ceiling and snapped into place. A small toy train appeared on the tracks, towing toy cars behind it with food sitting on top of it. The train blew its tiny whistle as it raced down the tracks that circled the table. 

Everyone dug into the dishes of food, scooping up some of it, putting it on their plate, then passing it down to the next. When someone asked for a specific food it was placed on the train and picked up by whoever requested it. Everyone went back to their conversations while eating their foods. Star wished that he could've chat with his friends, but there would be time for that during presents. 

For now though Stardust's stomach rumbled, demanding that it be fed. When the time came Star made himself a plate of food which consisted of mash potatoes with sprinkled cheese on top, green beans dripping with mushroom sauce with dried onions on top, and his favorite, stuffing. Star licked his lips with delight upon seeing the deliciousness in front of him. He wasted no time scooping up some mash potatoes and shoveling it into his mouth. 

The taste was wonderful. Star loved mash potatoes, but he loved cheese more. But when he ate both mash potatoes and cheese, his mouth exploded with its taste. Everyone enjoyed themselves as they ate and conversed with each other. Once the majority was finished it came time for dessert. 

Discord snapped his talons and dishes of desserts appeared. There was Apple pie, and pumpkin pie, and a fountain of chocolate with which you could dip strawberries in, a circular cake with strawberries in a circle on top of white frosting, a fancy bowl of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge on top, a circular chocolate cake on top of another chocolate cake, and ice cream bars. 

Star only had an ice cream bar, Dusk didn't have anything. No one was surprised when Party took the entire chocolate cake and dropped it on her plate. Discord created another one to make sure that everyone at least got a taste of the cake before Party completely devoured it. 

Star looked to his father and asked, "now may we open our presents?" 

Flash looked to his son, ruffling up his mane. "If you think it's time, then go right ahead." 

"Flash!" Twilight objected.

"Dear, look at these kids. They're literally shaking in their seating, awaiting their presents." Flash said.

"Their shaking in their seats because Discord's filled them with at least forty grams of sugar." Twilight pointed to Party, "especially her." 

Flash gave Twilight a 'are you serious' look. Twilight sighed in defeat, "Fine, but only as long as all of you do it in a calm and orderly-"

"Whatever you grab is yours to keep!" Star shouted, bolting from his chair he dashed towards the tree.

"No fair cuz, your chair is closer!" Blitz shouted, chasing after Star.

"Oh no you don't, I called dibs on that present cuz!" Cloudy yelled pushing back his chair and running towards the tree.

"Wait up brother." Rosebud said quietly.

Hearth's Warming history isn't entirely clear. No one truly knows where it originated or who started the whole thing. But everyone celebrated the Holiday their own unique way. Twilight used to celebrate it by opening the presents a day early. But Star didn't like that tradition because it meant he couldn't get to open his presents with his friends. Thus a new tradition was born.

Every year, everyone would gather in the castle and bring with them a gift and an ornament that would show that they've attended this year's hearths warming. However, since everyone brought a gift and once it was time to open them it became a free-for-all. Everyone was put into a mad dash to grab a present before anyone else. While the event was chaotic, it was fun nonetheless. 

Star was the first to make it to the tree, he took a quick glance over his shoulder to see how long he had before the tree would be mobbed. Star looked back to the presents and began scanning for one in particular. It was the first present to be put under the tree and it was the one Star desperately wanted. He didn't know what the present contained and he didn't care, the only thing that gave the present importance to Star was because of who it was from. 

It wasn't long before every kid dove into the bottom of the tree and began grabbing presents. There were two simple rules to the present tradition. Rule one, you can only take one present. Rule two, once you've unwrapped it you can't throw it back for another one, you have to keep it. Stardust was now deep in the tree, searching frantically for the present. 

'Maybe somepony's already picked it up?'

Star shook that thought away. There was no time to think things like that, the present was still here, he could feel it. Then Star spotted it, in the corner of his eye, he saw the present. A simple white box with a blue bow strapped to each four sides, the bottom, and the top. There was no doubt that it was the present he was looking for. Star flew over to the box and grabbed it. He tried to pick it up but something prevented him from doing so. Something was pulling the box away from him. Star refused to give up the present, and with a mighty heave he pulled the present back along with someone else. 

Star landed on his back along with someone landing on top of him. Star shook away his daze to see what had tackled him. He admitted that he was surprised to see Crescent was on top of him. 

"Um...h-hi Star..." Crescent lightly blushed.

"Hi Crescent. Could you please get off of me?" Star asked.

"Oh, right...sorry." Crescent apologized, getting off of Star.

Star sat up and dusted himself off, he then closely examined the box to ensure it suffered no damage. Once he was sure he let out a sigh of relief. 

"That present seems really important to you." Crescent stated. "May I...may I ask why?"

"It's a present from uncle Nightwing." Star answered, beginning to unwrap the present. 

Crescent's eyes lit up. "It is?" 

"Sure is, he came by earlier to drop it off." Stardust said, slowly removing the lid.

"How come he didn't want to stay? Did he say why?" Crescent asked.

Star paused, pondered the question, and answered, "not really. He just dropped off the present, said 'Happy Holidays', and left. But you know how he is, always secretive." 

Star sat the lid next to the box and lifted out the gift inside the present. The gift was a pair of steampunk goggles with a brown leather strap. The goggles were made with a type of metal that gave them the color of dirty gold. The lenses could be adjusted with some of the knobs and dials on the goggles sides. 

"Those are for you?" Crescent tilted her head, confused as to why Nightwing would give Star something like that.

"No, these are for Dusk." Star said, setting the goggles in the lid. "This is for me." Star said, pulling out a dirty gold gauntlet that fit his right foreleg perfectly. 

"What is it?" Crescent asked. 

"It's kinda like a Swiss Army knife on steroids." Star answered, a sort and thin golden blade extended from the gauntlet. "This baby has all of the coolest things ever."

"Is there..." Crescent hesitated. "Is there anything for me?" 

Star looked back into the box. "No...just a note." Star said, pulling out the note and reading it out-loud.


"Dear Stardust and Dusk Shield, it brings me great sorrow that I am unable to attend this year's Hearths Warming with you, but I what I am doing is something very important. I hope you can understand. Although you should be very happy with the two gifts I've brought both of you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did during experimentation.

Happy Hearth's Warming you two.

Your Uncle, Nightwing."


"And that's it." Star said. 

"I see." Crescent sighed sadly, her eyes looked to the floor.

"Oh wait, there's more on the back." Star said, turning the page around.

"Star, you don't need to spare me with lies. I understand why he's not here. Well actually, I don't understand why he isn't here, but I'm sure he has a good reason." 

Star put the note and goggles back in the box before putting the lid back on. "Come on, let's go see if we can find you a present before they're all gone."

"Thanks Star." Crescent smiled weakly.





While everyone was enjoying their holiday in Ponyville, they were not aware of what was happening in the in the Everfree forest. Deep within the forest a pack of Timberwolves were resting peacefully underneath a makeshift shelter of large rocks. Their slumber was disturbed when an orange crack in midair appeared in front of them. 

The crack confused the pack of Timberwolves. None of them knew how to respond to the crack, until something walked out of it. It was a small looking creature with red skin, it had claws, a lizard tail, dragon wings attached to its right and left foreleg, the entire back of its head was spiky, and its muzzle was pointed like a wolf's. 

The Timberwolves didn't take to kindly to the small intruder. They slowly stood up and growled at the creature, beginning to circle it. One of the Timberwolves leaped at the creature with its mouth opened wide.

But before the Timberwolf could sink its teeth into the small creature, the creature grew five times it size, grabbing and crushing the Timberwolf with its claw. The other Timberwolves ran in fear from the creature, whimpering like dogs. The creature growled, sniffing the air as it began to seek out its next prey.

> Chapter two. The unexpected Guest.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm glad the sun's rays can't reach the Great Library. If they could that would be annoying. However, those on the earth aren't as fortunate as I am. Due to it being winter time, the sun isn't shown as much as it is during the summer. Because of this, schools started later in the day than they usually did, this caused sleeping ponies to get more comfortable in their beds and made them not want to leave. 

In fact, Stardust himself is currently refusing to leave his bed right now.

Stardust gripped the edge of his bed, holding on for dear life as his mom used her magic to pull on Star with all of her might. 

"For crying out-loud Star!" Twilight yelled. "It's time to get up!"

"But I don't wanna go to school!" Star yelled back. "I just want to sleep in my bed for the rest of the day!"

The two were at a standstill, Twilight was using what little self restraint she had to make sure she didn't rip her son's legs off and Star refused to even loosen his grip on the bed. As the two were in their struggle Dusk happened to be passing by, eating a piece of toast. He walked into the room still munching on his toast.

"What's going on in here?" Dusk asked. 

"Your brother is being difficult." Twilight grunted.

"Leave it to me mother." Dusk said, swallowing his last piece of toast. His horn glowed purple and the entire bed was covered in a purple aura. The bed was levitated up and flipped upside down, Stardust hanging from the bed. Dusk shook the bed, tossing and turning Star with it till he let loose and dropped. Dusk sat the bed back down and Star tried to grab it again, but his brother had trapped him in a purple aura. 

"Come on brother, you're going to make both of us late." 





In the middle of the Everfree Forest was the Great Tree, and in the Great Tree was the room of Rosebud. A simple room with a dresser, closet, bathroom, mirror, desk, and a small piano along with a queen sized bed. The sun's rays entered through the window and gently tickled Rosebud's eyelids. She smiled kindly at the sun, getting up from her bed, she walked to the bathroom. She closed the door and locked it behind her, she looked to the clock to see she had more than enough time before school. With that she drew herself a hot bath, filling it with bubbles. 

Once the tub was high enough she closed off the water. She moved the tip of her hoof into the water and instantly recoiled back in pain from the hot water. She took a deep breath and very slowly dipped her entire body into the hot and bubbly water. A slight blush washed over her cheeks as her whole body heated up. Her muscles became relaxed as the water melted away the tension. She laid her head against the edge of tub, enjoying every second of warmth from the tub. 

*knock, knock*

"Miss, Rosebud." A voice came from the other side of the door, "may I come in?" 

"You can enter." Rosebud answered.

The lock on the door became undone and the door opened. A doe with brown eyes entered the room, closing the door behind her and locking the door. "I see you've drawn yourself a bath." The Doe said, walking up to Rosebud. "It also seems you've made it to hot, are you alright?" 

"It stinks at first." Rose admitted. "But once you get used to it it feels like heaven."

"I see, and how long do you plan on staying in this bath?" The doe asked. "You mustn't waste your time."

"Time is limited. It will wash away all things at a certain point. It is meant to be enjoyed, not rushed." Rosebud quoted, sinking deeper into the tub.

"I see you've been keeping up with your studies." The doe smiled. "It makes me very proud."

"I have a great teacher."

"And I have a great listener." The two slightly chuckled. 

Rosebud's smile flattened for a second. "I wish Cloudy would at least try to learn about Nature. Both of our parents learned it, so why doesn't he?" 

The doe's smile grew. "Do you remember what I told you when I first met your father?" 

"Of course, you and dad were close friends after all." Rosebud sat up in the tub. "You said that he was the only one in your class who didn't want to believe in our religion. You said that he was as stubborn as a mule." Rosebud giggled, imagining her dad as a donkey. Her expression became confused. "But you never told me what changed his mind."

"That's because I never knew. No one does. One day he just started to seem more interested." The doe said.

"Do you think something like that might happen to Cloudy?" Rose asked.

"Remember what your mother said, 'Nature is not meant to be forced upon anyone, whether they be pony or deer or any other creature, they were created by Nature. A plant does not know that Nature has created it, it only knows how eat and grow. That is because that is all Nature wants it to do, and she knows that it might hurt the plant if it knew of its existence'."

"You're right. I shouldn't force my brother down any path, I should let him walk the trail himself as Nature intended." Rose said.

"True, but that doesn't mean that your paths will not cross some days." The doe said, "and when that happens be sure to give him a good noogie for me." 





Rainbow Dash's day mostly consisted of sleeps and naps. She slept all night and took a nap whenever she could. She wasn't lazy per-say, just really really tired. 

Twenty-four Seven. 

So she was very curious as to why Blitz, her own flesh and blood, was thee most energetic pony she'd ever met. Every morning he'd have already made himself and his parents breakfast, made his bed, got himself washed and cleaned, and would be out the door before his parents even had the chance to hit the snooze button. 

Rainbow didn't know how her son did it. Today was the end of Winter break and yet here was her son who couldn't wait to go back to school. The thought blew her mind. 





There had been a change in Ponyville's education system. At first there was only an elementary school. Now there was a middle school and high school capable of teaching more advanced forms of education. Currently Stardust, Dusk, Rosebud, Blitz, Cheese Cake, Bubblegum, Party Animal, Gemstone, and Appleseed were all attending middle school. The school building was nearby the elementary school. The middle school was a single story building with many rooms connected to every hallway and in every hallway there were sets of lockers. 

Stardust and Dusk carried saddlebags full of their books and other school stuff as they walked down the hallway. 

"They changed our lockers again." Star groaned, a strand of paper with writing on it in his hoof.

"My locker hasn't changed." Dusk stated. "I suppose they only changed yours because of all the trouble you've caused."

"Says here that there welcoming a new student, and that they want me to help him out so they've put him in my classes, and they want me to help him out." Star read off of a strand of paper. "Wonderful...this day just keeps on getting better." He groaned.

"Good luck brother." Dusk gave Star a pat on the back before walking off to his own classroom. 

Star looked at the strand of paper once more. On the other side of the paper was his new locker number. He sighed once more, knowing that there was no point in fighting against the system. Star walked to his new locker, put in the combination, and opened it up. Inside the locker was empty. Star removed this emptiness by putting his books on the top shelf, hanging his scarf and hat on the hook, and setting his saddlebag on the floor.

"Um, excuse me." 

Star slammed his locker shut, he knew that the one behind him must've been the new student. He spun around and put on a kind and warm smile, "Hello and welcome to P.M.E. which stands for Ponyville Middle school East. My name is Stardust, what's yours."

"You mean you don't recognize me?" 

Star got a better look at who he has taking to. The pony was an earth pony colt with a tan fur coat, blue eyes, and a yellow mane with the front part being a cowlick. Star's eyes widened upon recognition of the colt.

"Lemon? Is that you?" Star asked.

"Yeah." The colt named Lemon rubbed the back of his head while giving a sheepish grin. "Nice to see you again Star."

"What the heck are you doing here? I thought you were homeschooled by your mom and mom?" Star asked.

"They decided that they'd enroll me here. Said that it would be better for my social health." Lemon stated.

Star wrapped his foreleg around Lemon, "and here I thought I was gonna have to spend the entire day with some loser. You and I haven't talked in years, how've ya been?" 

"Good I guess...how about you?" 

"Meh...not much cool stuff has happened in my life yet either." Star shrugged. "Come on, let me give you the tour of my school."

"But don't we have class?" Lemon asked.

"...oh right. We better get going, First Hour's my favorite period." Star ginned.

"First Hour?" Lemon tilted his head.

"Yeah, each class takes an hour long, and we have five classes, and we identify each class as an hour. Like First Hour, Second Hour, Third Hour, and so on until fifth." Star explained.

"Well...my classes are the same as yours, so let's go to First Hour I guess." Lemon said nervously. 

"Splendid!"





Lemon, full name Lemon Heartstrings, is the son of Bon bon and Lyra, and childhood friend of Star. The two would arrange play dates when they were younger and would have the best of times. The two still kept in touch but Star hardly saw his friend due to his parents deciding to have him homeschooled. 

But then his parents worried that their decision for their son may have greatly affected his social health. So they enrolled him into middle school. 

Stardust walked with his friend to his first classroom. The room had shelves pushed against the side and back walls and desks with chairs in the middle of the room. Ponies who had already taken their seats were conversing with others. In the front of the room was the teacher's desk and behind the desk was a chalkboard. Star recognized his friends Blitz, Bubblegum, Cheese Cake, Party Animal, Appleseed, Rosebud, and Gemstone. Star took his seat and Lemon looked around the room before asking, "where do I sit?" 

"Anywhere's fine, our teacher doesn't really mind where we sit." Star answered. 

Lemon took the seat next to Star. The bell rung and the teacher entered the room.

"Good morning class." The teacher welcomed, sitting his notes and paperwork on his desk. 

"Good morning Mr. Nightwing." The class all said in unison.

Nightwing smiled at the class. "As many of you might've noticed, we have a new student. Would you please stand up and say your name?" 

Lemon shifted in seat as all the eyes in the room locked on him. His legs wobbled as he stood up. "H-h-hi everyone...m-m-my name, is...Corn..." 

There was an awkward silence in the room before everyone bursted out laughing, even Nightwing. Lemon slumped down in his chair, ready to cry.

Nightwing wiped away a tear. "Whew, good one. But in all seriousness, class this here is Lemon Heartstrings. He is our new student, so I expect you all to treat him like one." Nightwing said, using his Crystal to levitate a piece of chalk and began writing on the board. "Now then, can anyone tell me what this word means?" Nightwing asked pointing to the word he wrote.


'MAGIC'


Star raised his hoof. 

"Yes Stardust?"

"Magic is an energy used by modern machinery and unicorns all over the world." Stardust answered.

"Very good Stardust. Now then, can anyone here tell why this is important?" Nightwing asked. 

Rosebud raised her hoof. 

"Yes Rosebud?"

"Magic is important because we see it in our everyday lives. Almost everyone has magic and knows how to use it." Rosebud answered.

"Very good, know can anyone tell me why we might be talking about this?" Nightwing asked.

"It's because today we're gonna build robots!" Party shouted with joy.

"Well...kind of, yeah." Nightwing said, using his magic to levitate a mechanical bird from his desk, sat it on the table, and with a spark of magic and the sound of gears turning, the bird came to life. Chirping and hopping around the table.

Everyone was fascinated with the bird, especially Lemon. "Today, you yourselves are going to experiment with building your own...robotic bird, I guess. You'll be able to work in groups of two and remember, this is a school project, not homework. So there's no need to stress anything." 

With Nightwing giving everyone the okay, all of the students set off to find someone to be in a group. Lemon turned to Star, "you and I can be a group right?" 

"Well normally I would, but I think it would help if you could partner up with someone else." Stardust suggested.

"But everyone here's a stranger, and mom said not to talk to strangers." Lemon said.

"If you don't talk to strangers then how are you gonna make friends?" Star asked.

Lemon was about to protest but he couldn't help but admit that Stardust was right. Lemon scanned the room for anyone who wasn't already partnered up. Sadly he couldn't find any, for everyone was partnered up. Lemon looked at Star with a pleading face.

"Why not ask Rosebud?" Star suggested.

Lemon didn't know who Star was talking about until he pointed to the yellow Pegasus, who was sitting at her desk drawing something. Lemon didn't want to but he knew what would happen if he didn't. With a defeated sigh Lemon stood up and walked over to the Pegasus Rosebud. 

Lemon cleared his throat, getting Rosebud's attention. "Um... you wouldn't happen to have a partner...do you?" 

Rosebud gave Lemon a quizzical look before looking at Stardust, then back to Lemon. "I don't have a partner yet." 

"Really!" Lemon blurted, a bit to excited before recoiling back and clearing his throat. "Er, I mean...cool." 

There was a moment of awkward silence before Rosebud rolled her eyes. "Do you have a partner?" 

"Oh! Um...no." Lemon said.

More awkward silence.

"Do you want to be my partner?" Rosebud asked.

".......yes." Lemon said.

"Okay then, let's go get our materials partner." Rosebud said, putting her drawing in her binder.

Lemon looked over to Star and did a hoof motion that said 'nailed it'. Star rolled his eyes in response. Lemon and Rose approached Nightwing's desk where they were given metal pieces that were placed in a plastic case. Rose and Lemon took the case to Rose's desk, Lemon scooted another desk against Rose's. Rose opened up the case and laid out the pieces in an organized fashion. 

"Now then, I suggest we start with the core and attach the gears from there, then we'll add the smaller cogs so that we can get the legs to function. Now the most difficult part will likely be the eyes which will take extra precision, but once we have the head built we should be okay from there." Rosebud said.

"...what?" Lemon asked, his brain felt like it was on fire.

Rosebud sighed. "Just hoof me the core Lemon." 

"Okay..." Lemon picked up a piece and gave it to Rose.

"Lemon...this is the tail." Rosebud stated.

"Oh...sorry...um... is this it?" Lemon asked, giving Rose a different piece.

"This is the head." Rosebud said flatly.

"Okay...then...how about this?" Lemon gave Rose a different piece.

"This is the core Lemon. Notice how it's much more unique compared to the other pieces?" Rosebud asked, showing off the small light blue mechanical object.

"Um...I guess?" Lemon said unsure.

Rosebud looked to Stardust and gave him a look that said 'do I really have to work with this doofus?' Stardust's reply was a simple nod. Rose rolled her eyes before turning back to Lemon.

"... So you don't know anything at all about machinery, and that's okay, so for right now you're just gonna organize each of these pieces into piles." Said Rosebud.

"So...I just take all the pieces that look alike and put them all into piles?" Lemon asked.

"Yep."

Lemon got straight to work, sorting each and every piece into separate piles while Rose picked pieces from the piles and attached them to their machine. Soon the machine was beginning to take shape, looking almost like the skeleton of a bird. Before anyone could place another piece Nightwing spoke.

"Alright class, times almost up so I suggest you all pack up your stuff before you leave." Nightwing said.

Everyone in the class took the pieces they had left and dumped them back inside their cases. Once done they sat their machines on Nightwing's desk before leaving. As Lemon walked along the halls his friend Stardust caught up with him.

"So, how was your first hour?" Star asked.

"To be honest...I didn't understand a single word any of you were talking about." Lemon responded.

Stardust sighed, "well you were thrown into this whole thing just like that, so maybe Mrs.Bloom will be easier on you than uncle Nightwing." 

"One can only hope." Lemon sighed.





The classroom belonging to Mrs.Bloom was nothing at all like Nightwing's. Instead of multiple desks, there were lab counters up against both sides of the wall with a pathway cutting down the middle. In the front of the room was a teacher's desk, along with a chalkboard behind it, and there were lab coats hung on the side of the wall across from the doorway. 

Lemon didn't know what to expect, but everything was a complete surprise to him. He looked to Stardust for assistance. 

"Just pick a lab table and wait for the teacher." Stardust answered Lemon's non spoken question. 

Lemon gulped, nervously scanning the room to see which lab table was open. That is until Stardust lost his patience. Grabbing him by the foreleg, Stardust dragged Lemon over to the lab table where the mare known as Appleseed was sitting in a tall metal stool while wearing a white lab coat and plastic goggles along with her cowgirl hat.

"Hey Appleseed, do you have a partner yet?" Star asked.

Appleseed removed her goggles and placed them on her hat before looking to Star. "Hiya Star, can't say I do." 

"Great. Here's your partner." Star said, sitting Lemon in the stool next to Appleseed. "Don't crush him."

Lemon looked at Appleseed with a sheepish nervous smile, extending his hoof. "Hi...my name is Lemon Heartstrings, what's yours?"

Appleseed took a step further than a hoofshake and instead embraced Lemon in the tightest bear hug ever, crushing his ribs.

"Mighty fine meetin' ya Lemon. Folks call me Appleseed, you can too." Appleseed greeted, releasing Lemon.

Lemon inhaled before speaking, "Nice...to...meet...you..." He wheezed.

"So, how much ya know about chemistry partner?" Appleseed asked.

"Well...not a lot actually." Lemon admitted. Chemistry being the worst subject he ever had. 

"Well there's no need ta fret." Appleseed smiled. "After all, we're all startin' a new unit taday anyways." 

"O...kay..." Lemon sounded concerned. "Where is our teacher anyways?" 

"Aunt Bloom is usually late nowadays. What with the little one and all." Appleseed said.

Before Lemon could ask what that meant, an earth pony mare with darkened eyes and a droopy expression walked in. The mare was an adult Applebloom with a red handkerchief tied around her neck. She slowly walked to her desk and took her seat.

"Good morning class." Applebloom yawned.

"Good morning Mrs.Bloom." Everyone in the class responded in unison. 

"Today we're gonna...experiment...with cool....explosives...yes." Applebloom said before she face planted against the desk and began snoring.

"Aunt Bloom?" Appleseed spoke.

"Huh?" Applebloom sat straight up, her head wobbling.

"I thought taday we were all gonna review?" Appleseed asked.

"Right, right...review...yes." Applebloom's head slowly began to dip. "One of you...go hoof out the notes...I'ma take a nap." 

Once Applebloom was snoring away, Appleseed got up and walked over to the teacher's desk and opened up one of the drawers. Inside she pulled out a stack of papers, which she then distributed amongst her classmates before giving the last two pieces to Lemon then herself. Lemon looked over the paper and the more he did the more confused he became.

"The hay is a Pro Element?" He asked.

"A Pro Element is the positive component in a chemical reaction, whereas a Non-Pro Element is the negative compound in a reaction, and a Nu-Pro Element is the balancing component." Appleseed explained.

"A+ Appleseed." Applebloom said, her head still against the desk.

"Pro, Non-Pro...what the hay would I need these for?" Lemon asked.

Appleseed flipped over to the other side of the sheet of paper, which contained a table of components each with a labeled Element. "These here are the basic compounds found in pretty much everything, and inside some of them are Pro or Non-Pro or Nu-Pro elements."

"What exactly are these elements?" Lemon asked.

"Each element has a unique property. But ta create a specific potion ya have ta have the right amount of Pro, Non-Pro, and Nu-Pro elements in the reaction." Appleseed explained.

"Okay...so what exactly contains Pro, Non-Pro, and Nu-Pro elements?" Lemon asked.

"Well, jus' for taday we're gonna make a neutral potion. Can you guess what something like that might be?" Appleseed leaned closer towards Lemon.

"Can't say I do." Lemon admitted, shifting uncomfortably in his seat beneath Appleseed's gaze. 

"Well," Appleseed went back to her notes, "the answer is water." 

"Water?"

"Water." Appleseed nodded. "Water is the simplest of any compound, with only two Pro's, one Non-pro, and two Nu-Pro's." 

"So we're making water?" Lemon asked flatly.

"No silly, I said we're gonna make a neutral compound. Water is technically considered a positive compound due to it having a charge." Appleseed explained.

"But you just said...forget it, how do we make a neutral compound?" Lemon asked, tired of trying.

"A neutral compound is a compound with zero Pro's, zero Non-Pro's, and zero Nu-Pro's. Now, naturally such a thing is impossible due to Nu-Pro's having to be the same amount of Pro's and every Pro, Non-Pro, and Nu-Pro can't be at zero. However there is one thing that does have zero in every kind of Pro." Appleseed said.

"And, just what is this thing?" Lemon asked.

"The sun." 

"The sun?" 

"Yep, the sun is giant ball of fiery mass that is so big that it doesn't need any form of Pro's. In fact, there isn't any kind of fire that needs Pro's." Appleseed said.

"What does any of this have to do with chemistry?" Lemon asked.

"Fire." Was Appleseed's response.





The rest of the day was one strange partner in class after the other. In algebra, their teacher was Sweetie Bell, where Lemon had to work with the Cheese Cake, Bubblegum, and Party Animal on their homework. In PE, their two teachers being Scootaloo and Rumble, Lemon was paired up with Blitz and the two had to run a mile. Which ended up with Blitz dragging poor Lemon the entire time. Then there was English with Button Mash, where Lemon didn't need a partner because they were only reading a book. Then for the final class was history, which was taught by Pip Squeak who looked just as exhausted as Applebloom did, Lemon had to work with Stardust during that one.

Finally the school bell rang and everyone was dismissed. Students flooded out the main entrance in a frenzy as everyone made a mad dash to put as much distance between them and the school. Lemon was doing the same, but instead of trying to put as much distance between him and the school, instead he was trying to put as much distance between him and Stardust's friends.

Once he was sure he was the clear Lemon slowed down to a casual pace.

"What was mom and mom thinking?" Lemon said out-loud. "Everyone in that school was a nut job, especially those three triplets, and maybe Blitz." Lemon shook his head and sighed, "They put me in too soon. I don't have enough time to adjust to this kind of lifestyle. I need time, time to think, time to understand, time to adjust, time to-"

"Pop quiz!" 

Something had hit Lemon in the cheek and knock him down. He cringed, rubbing the red mark on his cheek. "What the hay was that for Star!" Lemon demanded, identifying his assailant. 

"...you weren't ready." Stardust stated the obvious.

"Why did you follow me?" Lemon groaned, sitting up.

"Because you and I haven't had enough time to chat." Said Star, "so, how's your day been?"

"You don't have a lie detector do you?" Lemon asked, skeptical.

"No, why?" Star tilted his head.

"No reason." Lemon turned away from Stardust. "My day was fine, there wasn't anything wrong with it." 

Star frowned and crossed his forelegs. "Lemon, come on, this is school we're talking about."

Lemon sighed and turned back to face Star. Upon doing so his eyes drifted upward and his face looked horrified. 

"Look I get it." Star said, oblivious to the large silhouette approaching towards him from behind. "School is tough, it always has been, and nothing we do is gonna change that."

"Star." Lemon tried to warn his friend.

"But that doesn't mean you can't have fun." Star continued.

"Star." Lemon started to slowly back away.

"I mean sure, school is a lot like a prison, but the students are more than friendly." 

"Star!" Lemon raised his voice.

"You just gotta give everyone a chance you know. Be social, be fun, be ready to run when I say, be funny." Star hinted.

"Sta-wait what?" Lemon said confused.

"Duck!" Stardust flared his wings and leaped just before a set of jaws closed down on where he once stood.

Stardust grabbed Lemon underneath his forelegs, tossed him onto his back, and took to the sky. Lemon looked back to the creature which was five times the size of him. The creature had the appearance of a dragon, but it had a dragon wings on its forelegs, and had a muzzle that bears resemblance to a wolf's. The creature growled, spreading its wings and flying after Stardust.

"What the hay is that thing?!" Lemon yelled.

"The hay if I know! But right now it's trying to eat us, so I don't want to stick around if that's fine by you!" Stardust yelled, dodging the creature's jaws once more.

"How is something that big that fast?!" Lemon shouted.

"Please hold your questions after we're both done trying not to get mauled!" Stardust yelled.

Stardust flew as fast as he could, doing weaves and turns trying to lose the creature. But whatever Star could do, the creature did it better. Star's wings began to tire, he knew that they were doomed as long as they stayed in the air. Star changed course and flew over Ponyville, towards the Castle of Friendship. Star landed somewhat gracefully in front of the doorway.

The two boys scampered inside, once there they both ran to one side of the door and pushed with all their might. The door was slammed shut just in time as the creature crashed against the door. The creature roared and growled on the other side, clawing and biting at the door.

Lemon and Star walked back. "Do you think it will hold?" Lemon asked, the creature's noises terrifying him.

"Lemon, this is the Castle of Friendship. There's no way that thing could possibly-"

*KA-BOOOM!!*

A light blue beam of pure energy shot through the door. The beam moved, slicing the door into pieces. The creature rammed its head against the door, throwing the door off its hinges. The creature's body had changed. It's tail split into six smaller versions with a blue fire on each of its tip, holes in both of the creature's teeth from which steam poured out, two horns jutted back from its skull, and its pupils were now shaped like X's. 

The creature growled, more steam poured out of its holes as it lowered its head to both Star and Lemon. Then the creature bumped against something purple. The creature lifted its head to find itself trapped in a purple bubble.

Both Stardust and Lemon became covered in purple magic and vanished.





A shaken Stardust and Lemon appeared in Dusk's bedroom, where Dusk Shield stood before them. Dusk was tapping his hoof while wearing an unpleasant look on his face. 

"What did you two do?" He demanded, assuming that what had happened was somehow their fault.

"Nothing!" Star protested to bring the culprit. "That thing followed us here and is trying to us!"

"Dusk, please tell me you know how to stop that thing?" Lemon pleaded.

Dusk said nothing for a minute before slowly shaking his head in disappointment and levitated the book with the number 3 crudely drawn on it towards him. "You two are lucky this book has information." Dusk said, opening the book and flipping through its pages.

Dusk stopped on one of the pages and showed both Star and Lemon. On the page was a drawing of a smaller version of the creature, in the middle was the larger version, and on the next page was the version that the creature was now. There were notes scribbled all over wherever there was room. Dusk read the first notes out-loud.


Do not let this creature's size fool you. When threatened, the Toaka grows five times its normal size. It's key strengths are its smell and hearing. The Toaka is capable of tracking down its prey when its fifty miles away just by its sent. Inside its belly is an interesting organ that generates a type of plasma that burns through anything it touches, this includes arua constructs. As far as I know, the only to defeat this creature is by cooling the beast down to prevent it from using its plasma.


"So all we have to do is cover it in snow, and there's plenty of that stuff outside." Stardust stated, looking out the window.

"That would be a good idea." Dusk closed the book rather loudly. "If it wasn't in our house. Thanks to you two, we have a rampaging Toaka in our house that's probably already...do you hear that?"

Star perked up his ear, trying to get a better bearing on whatever Dusk was hearing. "I don't hear anything." He said.

"Exactly." Dusk pointed. "I trapped that Toaka in a bubble made out of magical energy. The Toaka should've already broken out of the bubble and would be wrecking our house."

"So?"

"So why is it silent?" 

The three shared a look of concern before scampering out of Dusk's room and back towards the entrance of the castle. They ran to the edge of the railing where they saw the reason as to why everything became quiet.

The Toaka, once a towering beast, was now half the size of a colt and sleeping soundly inside a black metal looking bird cage. The door, which had been shattered, was being rebuilt piece by piece by the light blue magic of Nightwing.

"Uncle Nightwing!" Stardust cheered, leaping from the side of the railing he propelled himself towards Nightwing.

Before Star could collide with Nightwing his body became engulfed in light blue magic and he was sat gently in front of Nightwing. "Hiya buddy." Nightwing grinned, rustling Stardust's mane.

"Uncle Nightwing...did you...capture the To-I mean, the creature?" Dusk said in disbelief, teleporting himself and Lemon down, and he began observing the cage.

"Yep." Nightwing answered.

"How?!" Dusk shouted, completely at a loss for words.

"Oh it was easy. All I did was trap it inside a magical bubble, released all of the air inside of it, and with no air the beast slowly lost consciousness and shrank. When it was harmless I put it in that cage." Nightwing said, using his magic to levitate the cage next to him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put this little guy in a suspense chamber."

"But uncle-"

And just like that, Nightwing, along with the cage and creature, vanished in the blink of an eye.





Nightwing had requested a house to be built for him in an isolated area. The house was a two story house with a triangle roof and a chimney sticking out. Nightwing teleported inside the house, in the kitchen. The only thing that split the rooms was the walkway that had the dining room, living room, kitchen, and stairs leading up on its sides. Nightwing walked into the center of the house and used his magic to black out all of the windows. Once he was sure that no one was watching he walked over to the stairs. 

His complex Crystal glowed and the stairs slid to the left, revealing a hidden metal door with a keypad behind the stairs. Nightwing walked up to the door and typed in a code. Air pressure was released as the door slowly creaked open. Nightwing entered and took a cautious glance behind him before closing the door shut.

> Chapter three. Mirror Mirror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little note before you read. When a character is speaking you put quotation marks around the words the character is speaking along with giving the character's speech a paragraph. However though, when two characters are speaking in complete unison, the two speeches become one paragraph instead of two. Just a heads up before you read this chapter.





"AH-CHOO!" 

A strand of snot dangled from Stardust's nose, his eyes were pink with dark bags under them. Star loved the winter, well he loved the snow to be specific. But as he played, a price had come with his enjoyment. This price was a nasty cold.

Stardust sat in his bed, the bottom half of his body covered in his sheets, his back and head lying against two stacked pillows, a thermometer in his mouth, and a wash cloth on his head. His dad sitting beside him with a metal bucket and other wash cloths. Flash plucked the washcloth from Stardust's head and twisted it over the bucket, causing all of the trapped water to spill out into the bucket. He then picked up a fresh cloth and placed on Star's head.

Flash took the thermometer out of Star's mouth and examined it. "Yep, you have a temperature of one hundred and one point two." Flash said, laying the thermometer on the nightstand beside Stardust's bed. "Guess you can't go to school after all."

"Oh darn." Stardust coughed, "and I was oh so looking forward to this week's quiz. Oh well." 

Flash raised a brow in suspicion, "Star." Flash crossed his forelegs. "You wouldn't be faking this would you?" 

"Dad...I have a temperature of one hundred and one point two. How could I possibly be faking?" Star asked.

Flash gave Star a long cold stare before sighing, Flash got up from his son's bed and walked towards the door, "alright, I believe you." He said.

Star raised his foreleg and swiftly brought it down, saying a silent "yes." 

"However." Flash turned back to Stardust, "because your mother and I have a meeting with the High Council today, and because I can't trust leaving you alone, I've taken the liberty of hiring a babysitter to watch you." 

The words 'babysitter' rang inside Stardust's head. "Um..." Stardust nervously twiddled with his hooves. "W-who did you hire?"

Flash opened the door and before leaving flashed his son a coy and evil smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know." He said before closing the door.

Stardust slumped in his bed and stayed there for a couple of minutes before he removed the washcloth on his head and dropped it in the bucket. He removed his sheets, slid his body off of the bed, and stretched his wings, legs, and waist. 

He walked into his bathroom and stood in front of the mirror above his sink. He took the washcloth hanging on the side of the wall and ran it through the water flowing from the sinks tap. With the wet cloth in hoof, Stardust rubbed it against his entire face and the black bags washed away, leaving a black stain on the cloth. 

In case you're confused allow me to clarify, and if you understand skip this paragraph. You seem Stardust was never sick, he was faking. He was able to fool his parents with three simple steps. Stardust learned that he could fool the thermometer by drinking something hot, letting it sit in your mouth until the thermometer is placed in your mouth. This caused the thermometer to read the high temperature in Stardust's mouth instead of his body temperature. His parents would usually check his forehead, Star also found a way around this. Simply place a towel in the dryer and once done, cover it over your whole head until time to be checked. As for the black bags and pink eyes and the runny snot. All thanks to a makeup kit gifted from Gemstone. 

'Remind me to thank Gemstone for the gift later.' Star made a mental note as he took out the pink contacts. 

Why would Stardust do all of this? To skip school so he doesn't have to take a test that he forgot to study for. The plan was to fake being sick, that way he'd have plenty of time to study and goof off. There was just one kink in Stardust's plan. 

The babysitter.

Star had a contingency plan of course, but he had hoped that there wouldn't be any need for a babysitter. Then again, this was his mom and dad were talking about. So it was probably bound to happen one way or another. 

Stardust pulled a hot towel out from underneath the sink and wrapped it around his head. 

*knock, knock, knock*

The sudden knocking sent a signal of panic through Stardust's brain. He had thought that it would be a while before the babysitter would arrive. Apparently he was wrong. There was no time to put the makeup back on and put the contacts back in. In a mad dash, Stardust threw off the towel and ran towards the door. He took a deep breath and composed himself before turning the knob and opening the door.

Standing in the doorway was his aunt Starlight glimmer. Under normal circumstances, Stardust would've been more than thrilled to see his aunt. But for now he had to remain in character.

"Oh...hi aunt-*cough*...aunt Starlight...what brings you here?" Stardust asked, trying very hard not to sound suspicious.

Starlight said nothing, instead she used her magic to pick up Star and lie him back in bed. Whatever Star was gonna say was cut off as the thermometer was jammed into his mouth, causing him to gag. Starlight waited a few seconds before taking the thermometer out and observing it way too closely. 

"Hmmmm..." Starlight pondered before showing Stardust the thermometer. "Your temperature is one hundred point three." 

Stardust mentally sighed in relief, thinking that his cover would've been blown since he forgot to drink something hot. Starlight did a thorough inspection of Stardust, from his head to the tip of his hooves. After seeing no evidence of foul play, Starlight said she was gonna make Stardust some soup and that he wasn't supposed to move. 

Once she was gone Stardust relaxed his body and sunk deeper into the sheets. Stardust lifted the sheets and went back to his bathroom. There he hid the towel and ran the faucet with hot water. Stardust scooped up some of the water and slurped it up. His cheeks swelled so that he could carry the large amount of water. As Stardust was about to take another gulp, something caught his eye. Something in his mirror.

Stardust looked at his mirror only to see his reflection. Stardust frowned and so did his reflection. Perhaps his reflection was the only thing he saw. Then ripples from the center of the mirror washed across its surface as though it was a liquid. Stardust spat out the water, rubbed his eyes, and looked back to the mirror. 

More ripples came from the center and ran across the mirror's surface. 

Then there was a cracking sound. Stardust thought that his mirror had cracked but it was perfectly fine. More ripples came from the center. Then something started to come out of the mirror. A white ooze began to spill out from the center of the mirror. Stardust backed away from the mirror in disgust. The white ooze kept on pouring out from the mirror and began to make a puddle on the floor. 

The white ooze stopped pouring out from the mirror and the rest of it fell onto the floor. A large puddle now occupied nearly half of the bathrooms floor. Stardust took a step forward to get a better look at the ooze.

Big mistake.

The ooze came to life. It jumped from the floor and latched itself to Stardust's face. Stardust's yells were muffled as he scraped at the ooze latched to his face. The rest of the ooze began to spread all over Stardust's body. Stardust was helpless as the white ooze, now completely covering his body, made Stardust as still as a statue. Stardust struggled with all of his might but the ooze had a very tight grip on his body. 

And just like that, the ooze had leaped off of Stardust's body. Stardust stumbled back a bit in a daze. Once he caught his balance he looked back to the mirror. There he saw his reflection, which mimicked everything he did. Stardust cautiously looked around the room to wherever the ooze had run off to. Stardust's gaze fell on the doorway, assuming that the ooze had somehow left Stardust rushed out of the bathroom and into his room. 

He looked all over his room. In the sheets, under the furniture, and in his closet, but the ooze was nowhere to be found. Stardust looked back to the bathroom doorway and he froze. 

Standing in the doorway he saw his reflection. Thing is though it wasn't in the mirror, and it was also three dimensional. The two Stardust's stared at each other with the same shocked expression. Stardust blinked and the other Stardust did the same. 

"Woah."
"Woah." 

Both Stardust's clasped their hooves over their mouth. The two continued to stare.

"Food."
"Food."

Both Stardust's spoke, exactly in perfect unison. Stardust narrowed his eyes and the other Stardust did the same. 

"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"

"Why are you copying me?"
"Why are you copying me?"

"Stop copying me!"
"Stop copying me!" 

The two Stardust's spoke in perfect unison. 

"Star? Who are you talking to?"

Both Stardust's became pale as their gaze shifted to the door then back to each other.

"She'll kill me if she sees you." Stardust said. "I've got to hide you, but where?"
"She'll kill me if she sees you." Stardust said. "I've got to hide you, but where?"

Stardust, with the very small window of opportunity he had, ran towards the bathroom door and slammed it shut. He then quickly dove into bed and wrapped himself in his sheets just as Starlight was walking through the door, levitating a small foldable table with a bowl of steaming soup, a mug of hot chocolate, and a plate with cheese and crackers. Starlight sat the table in front of Star and sat on the edge of his bed.

"You feeling any better?" Starlight asked.

"A bit." Stardust said in a low voice.

Starlight smiled, sitting up. "I'm going to be in the library, holler if you need me." Starlight walked out of Stardust's room.

Once she was gone Stardust took a sip from his hot chocolate and immediately spit it out upon seeing the other Stardust standing on the edge of his bed. Stardust's reflection bent its head down and sniffed the soup.

"Food." Stardust said.

"Don't even think about it." Stardust said, shielding his food.
"Don't even think about it." Stardust said, shielding the invisible air. 

"And stop copying me!"
"And stop copying me!"

Stardust growled at Stardust as Stardust growled at the other Stardust. Stardust narrowed his eyes and Stardust did the same. Stardust slowly bent down and took a sip from his soup as Stardust bent down and took a sip of air.

"Weird."
"Weird."

Stardust drank his soup, drank his hot chocolate, and ate his cheese and crackers all while Stardust mimicked Stardust's every move. Stardust folded up the table and sat it beside his bed, Stardust mimicked the same. Stardust rubbed his chin and Stardust did so as well.

"So no matter what I do or say, you'll just copy it huh?" Stardust asked.
"So no matter what I do or say, you'll just copy it huh?" Stardust asked.

"Very well then, I'll play this ridiculous and mediocre activity with you." Stardust said.
"Very well then, I'll play this ridiculous and mediocre activity with you." Stardust said.

Both Stardust's grumbled, Stardust had hoped that he might've had some chance of tripping Stardust up if he had used big words like his brother Dusk did. 'Perhaps gibberish might work?' Stardust thought.

"Egg did fight road to hong for dogs to go from mountain monster in radio that was born from green."
"Egg did fight road to hong for dogs to go from mountain monster in radio that was born from green."

Both Stardust's glared at each other.

"You know what? Forget this, I'm gonna do what I should've done in the first place."
"You know what? Forget this, I'm gonna do what I should've done in the first place."

Stardust got up and walked towards Stardust. Once the two were inches away, Stardust reared back his hoof and Stardust did the same.

"Take this!"
"Take this!" 

The two Stardust's swung their forelegs and they did hit their intended target. Stardust's hoof collided with Stardust's cheek and Stardust's hoof collided Stardust's cheek. The two were sent flying back, Stardust hit his back against the back of his bed and Stardust was thrown off the bed and landed on the floor on his back.

"Ow!" Stardust cringed, rubbing his cheek. "Stop copying me!"
"Ow!" Stardust cringed, rubbing his cheek. "Stop copying me!"

Stardust groaned and Stardust did the same.

"Oh this is hopeless. There's no way I can beat you or shut you up. I don't even know what the hay you are!" Stardust groaned. "I don't know what I'm gonna do." Stardust whined, burying his face in his hooves.
"Oh this is hopeless. There's no way I can beat you or shut you up. I don't even know what the hay you are!" Stardust groaned. "I don't know what I'm gonna do." Stardust whined, burying his face in his hooves.

Both Stardust's raised their heads and gasped in enlightenment. Their saddened faces became filled with joy as a crazy smile spread across their faces.

"I know what I'm gonna do-STOP THAT!"
"I know what I'm gonna do-STOP THAT!" 





There was only one thing that Stardust could use to understand what the mirror thing was. This thing was the book currently in Dusk Shield's possession. The book had all kinds of weird, never before seen, creatures drawn across all of its pages. All Stardust had to do was grab the book, search it for the creature that had taken his appearance, and find out how to defeat it. 

There was just one problem. Stardust.

Stardust followed and mimicked Stardust's every move and everything he said. This made it hard for Stardust to move around with Stardust who would stick out like a sore hoof. As Stardust went around the castle, hiding behind whatever cover he could find, the other Stardust did everything Stardust did, but only a distance away. 

The reason for Stardust's cautiousness was his aunt Starlight. If she ever found out about the other Stardust she would be furious. And to make things even worse, Dusk's room was on the other side of the castle. Which meant that he'd have to sneak past the library, which is where Starlight currently is. 

Stardust's head slightly peeked into the library where he saw his aunt sitting comfortably in a leather chair reading a book which she held up with her magic. Stardust turned to Stardust and said,

"Alright, here's the plan. I'm gonna roll over to the other side, once I'm there you roll. Nod if you understand."
"Alright, here's the plan. I'm gonna roll over to the other side, once I'm there you roll. Nod if you understand."

Both Stardust's face hoofed.

"Just keep quiet."
"Just keep quiet."

Stardust took another peek into the library, his aunt immersed in her book. Stardust readied himself and did a somersault to the other side. Stardust did the same but instead bumped against a stand holding a potted plant. The stand wobbled and so did the plant, causing it to fall. But before it could, Stardust dived after it and caught it between his hooves. 

Stardust carefully placed the plant back on the table and glared at Stardust.

"What part about be quiet don't you understand?" Stardust hissed.
"What part about be quiet don't you understand?" Stardust hissed.

Both Stardust's made their way through the castle's halls before coming to Dusk's room. Stardust tried turning the knob but it was locked. Stardust rummaged through his mane before pulling out a key. Stardust slid the key into the keyhole and turned the lock. The door opened with ease.

Stardust entered Dusk's room and scanned the room for the book. But it was clear that it wasn't in plain sight. Both Stardust's tapped their chins and pondered.

"Alright...if I were a ten year old colt wanting to hide a book from his parents and brother, where would I hide it?" Stardust wondered.
"Alright...if I were a ten year old colt wanting to hide a book from his parents and brother, where would I hide it?" Stardust wondered.

Stardust looked to Dusk's neat and tidy bed with a triumphant grin. He approached the bed and wedged his hooves underneath the mattress. Stardust lifted up the mattress, and sure enough, in the center of the bed was the book with the number three. However, Stardust completely ignored the book and instead was more focused on the part of the bed that had been recently sewn.

Stardust unwinded the string, creating a rip in the mattresses side. Stardust plunged his foreleg into the rip and wormed around the cotton before his hoof hit something solid. Stardust grabbed the solid and pulled his hoof out with the number three book. Stardust slightly chuckled to himself as he flipped through the pages.

Page after page he searched. It wasn't until he got far into the book that he found what he was looking for. On the top in the middle of the two pages was the title "THE SILHOUETTE. On the first page was a picture of a white ooze and on the second was a picture of a pony shaped figure without a face. Stardust read the creature's description out-loud.

"Beware these mocking creatures. Although harmless at first, they are anything but. The Silhouette is an creature that latches itself onto your entire body and takes your shape. The Silhouette will then begin to mimic everything you say and do. At first I thought the Silhouette was just an annoying pest. But unfortunately that is far from what it truly is. One day the Silhouette stopped copying everything I did and spoke normally. Then it tried to kill me. The Silhouette is a carnivorous creature that mimics its prey so that it learns its strengths and weaknesses. Once the Silhouette is certain that it no longer needs to learn from you it will try and kill you. Of course the Silhouette is also very clever and crafty. It won't just charge at you head on, it'll think of a kind of strategy to kill you before doing so. As for the Silhouette's weaknesses I learned that, despite its liquid form, it has organs, blood, and bones once it's copied. This means that once the Silhouette has taken form it is as vulnerable as the one it copied."

"What are you doing?" 

Stardust jumped into the air and yelped. After landing on his hooves he turned to see that the one who had spoke to him was his brother Dusk, with his saddlebags. At first Stardust was relieved, then he became terrified after realizing he was holding the book and also about the Silhouette. Stardust sheepishly chuckled, "Um...I can explain."

"Great." Dusk said, levitating his bags off of him and sitting down. "Then can you explain to me why I just saw you walking down the hallway a couple of seconds ago?"

Stardust gave his brother a perplexed look before looking behind him where the other Stardust was. 

He wasn't there.

Stardust became pale and his irises shrunk. He knew that his life was going to come to an end very soon.

"Hey um Dusk..." Stardust spoke in a frail and scared voice. "You wouldn't happen to know what a Silhouette is, do you?"

For once Dusk looked surprised, "you let a Silhouette copy your body?!"

"It's not my fault!" Stardust shouted in defense. "The thing came out of my mirror. How was I supposed to know it was gonna try and kill me?"

"We have to tell Starlig-"

"NO!" Stardust pinned Dusk. "If she finds out that I faked being sick she'll tell mom, and if mom finds out I was faking she'll kill me."

"And if we don't warn Starlight about the Silhouette, then it might kill her." Dusk pointed out.

"Can't we compromise?" Stardust asked.

Dusk could only give his brother a scowl.

"...fine." He said in defeat, getting off of Dusk.

"Right then," Dusk dusted himself off, "you go warn Starlight, I'll try to come up with a plan to capture the Silhouette."

"Alright." Stardust said, taking off out of the room. 





Stardust calmly walked into the kitchen and began opening up cupboards. He took out a mug from one of the cabinet's and sat it on the counter. Stardust then walked to the other side of the room and opened up a drawer where the kettle was placed. Stardust poured water into the kettle and sat it on the lit stove. He then searched through more of the cabinet's and soon found a bag of tea. He placed the bag of tea in the cup, and poured the hot water into the mug. Before stirring, Stardust added a special ingredient to the tea. 

Stardust picked up the tea with his teeth and carried it out of the kitchen. Stardust walked along the halls and entered the library. The sound of the cracking door caught Starlight's attention, causing her to look to the door.

"Stardust? What are you doing up?" Starlight asked.

Stardust said nothing, he only walked up to Starlight and sat the tea on the armrest of Starlight's chair.

"Oh...why thank you Star." Starlight smiled returning to her book. In the corner of her eye she saw that Stardust hadn't moved. "You should go back to bed now." Starlight said. Stardust continued to stare blankly at Starlight. He eyed the cup for a second before looking back to Starlight. As if he was silently telling her to drink the tea.

Starlight tried to ignore Stardust but her attempts were futile. She sighed and picked up the cup, which caused Stardust to give her a most innocent smile. Starlight blew gently on the tea before she took a full swig of it. The tea tasted wonderful but it sent a burning sensation in her throat. She sat the cup back down on the armrest and lightly coughed. Starlight looked over to Stardust, who still had that innocent smile of his. She smiled back before returning to her book.

Starlight frowned as she found it increasingly difficult to read. The words were becoming blurry and seemed to somehow leap off the page. The book fell, due to Starlight's lack of concentration she could no longer use her magic. A pounding echoed in head, which she tried to cease by holding her head up with her hoof. She knocked over the mug, which didn't break but still spilled out all of the tea onto the floor. Starlight tried to get up but that only caused her to fall on the floor.

Her vision started to fade and become black. She could feel her consciousness slipping in and out with every blink. But before she blacked out, her eyes saw Stardust. Sitting there with that innocent smile of his.





Dusk teleported himself in the entrance, a vial of black liquid floating next to him. His horn lit up and a small purple bubble appeared at its tip. The bubble then began to expand, bigger and bigger, passing through objects and the walls like a ghost. The bubble continued to expand till it covered the entire castle.

"Hi brother." 

Dusk whipped his head around to see Stardust sitting on the stairs with an innocent smile. Dusk gave Stardust a cautious look before speaking.

"Are you Stardust?" He asked. "Or the Silhouette?" 

Stardust tilted his head confusion. "What are you talking about? I am Stardust." 

Dusk didn't need to hear any more, he had his answer. "Tell me Silhouette? Do you know what this is?" Dusk asked, showing off the vial with the black liquid.

"Can't say I do." Stardust replied.

Dusk levitated the vile next to him. "Well then I'll tell you. This here is a poison that I created, and while it's harmless to me, it's lethal to you."

"Le-thal?" Stardust pronounced.

"Deadly." Dusk corrected his last statement. 'He not only looks like Star, he has his vocabulary too.' Dusk thought as he began to approach Stardust.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Stardust warned.

Dusk halted his hoof, which was hovering above the first step. He looked up at Stardust, "why?" He asked.

"It would be bad if Starlight got egg." Stardust answered.

Dusk was confused by Stardust's use of the word egg. But it was clear to him that Starlight was in danger. "What did you do to her?" Dusk calmly demanded.

"She's sleeping, but I can assure you that I can keep her like that for a long time if you want." Stardust's smile grew.

Dusk took a step back. "Well it seems that you and I are at an impasse. I can't go near you because you'll kill my aunt, and you can't go near me because I'll kill you with this poison."

"I suppose impasse is the word we'd use to describe this situation." Stardust said.

"Hm...in that case then I have a proposition." Dusk offered. "A game, if you will."

"What's the game?" Stardust asked, his interest peaked.

Using his magic, Dusk summoned a wooden rectangular table with legs on all four corners. Above the table, a white tablecloth appeared in a purple flash and neatly fell onto the table's surface. Then a bottle the shape of one that holds wine appeared on the table, along with with four grey goblets, each had a specific colored gem in its neck. One had an orange gem, one had a purple gem, one had a red gem, and one had a blue gem.

"What kind of game is this?" Stardust asked.

"A game of wits." Dusk answered simply. "There are four cups, in each cup there will be an equal amount of strawberry milk." Dusk spoke as he pour an equal amount of the pink liquid into each goblet. "The only catch is that one of them will contain this." Dusk held up the vile and shook it.

"Well that's no fair." Stardust frowned. "If there's a poison that only egg's me but doesn't egg you, then why would I play?" 

"First, the word you're looking for is 'hurt' not 'egg'." Dusk said, tired of Stardust's incorrect grammar. "And second, you'll get to poison one of these cups with a poison of your own. You must have one, seeing as how that's the only way you could've easily defeated my aunt."

Stardust frowned, "what if we both end up poisoning the same cup?" 

"Once we've both poisoned a cup, we will both choose a cup to drink. When that happens, one of us will be poisoned or neither of us will, in which case we will simply drink the last remaining two cups." 

Stardust was skeptical at first, but in the end he smiled, "alright, I'll play your game brother." Stardust said, spreading his wings and flying down to the other side of the table. 

"Could you please turn around?" Dusk asked. "I would prefer it if you didn't see where I put my poison."

Stardust complied with Dusk and turned around. With Stardust's back to Dusk, he opened up the vial and poured the liquid into one of the cups. 

"Alright, you can turn around." Dusk said, turning his back to the cups and allowed Stardust to poison one of the cups.

There was a liquid pouring sound. Once it stopped Dusk turned around. Dusk used his magic and the four goblets hovered into the air. Dusk then shuffled up the goblets at a speed so fast that Stardust's eyes couldn't keep up. The goblets began to slow down before Dusk sat them all back on the table. 

"Alright, because I poisoned first, I'm going to let you choose the goblet first." Dusk said.

Stardust rubbed his chin, observing the goblets very closely. "Hmmm...so many choices, there's no possible way for me to pick. So how about you pick for me?" Stardust flashed Dusk a coy smile.

Stardust's offer caught Dusk off. "M-me?" He stammered. "You are aware that I know which goblet I poisoned and that by letting me pick for you I'll just choose the one I poisoned."

"I'm aware of that." Stardust said. "I only hope that you're aware that by letting you choose which cup I'll drink, that it would be more than fair that I choose the cup for you."

"That...does sound fair I guess." Dusk admitted.

"Wonderful, I'm glad you understand." Stardust gestured to all of the goblets, "now if you would be so kind?"

Dusk gave Stardust a suspicious look. He was up to something but he didn't know what. What he was asking of sounded both bizarre and crazy. Dusk, not taking his eyes off of Stardust, pointed his hoof at the goblet with orange gem. Once Dusk had retracted his hoof, Stardust pointed to the goblet with red gem. Stardust grabbed the goblet with the orange gem and brought it to him. Dusk, using his magic, levitated the goblet with the red gem and brought it to him. 

Stardust swirled around the pink liquid, "now then, I hold your poison and you hold mine. If we were to both drink this poison then we'd both be beaten. However, a key difference between the two is this. My poison will only render you unconscious whereas yours will kill me."

"Your point?" Dusk asked.

"My point, is that we are still at an impasse." Stardust stated.

"How so?" Dusk asked cautiously.

"I don't wish to die, so I will only pretend to drink my cup. But knowing you, you are not dumb so you will pretend to drink the cup as well." Stardust stopped swirling his liquid. "Therefore we will both be at an impasse." 

"So it would seem." Dusk narrowed his eyes. "Just what are you getting at?" 

"You see, brother, there is a simple and obvious answer to our problem. Only thing is I'll be the only one who wins." Stardust gave Dusk an innocent smile.

And tossed the liquid towards Dusk's face. The liquid landed square over Dusk's face. He coughed and spat, some of the liquid had gotten into his mouth. Most of it got into his eyes, which left him wide open. Stardust closed the gap between him and Dusk, and smashed the goblet against his head. Dusk Shield fell onto his back, a trickle of blood fell down the side of his face from the small cut. Stardust looked at the bloody edge of the cup for a second before tossing it away.

"Your smart brother." Stardust said, still having that innocent smile on his face. "But our too smart. You try to use complex answers to your complex games, when the simplest answers are the ones to use." Stardust turned away, "now then, time to road what I came here to do."





"Aunt Starlight." Stardust yelled across the halls. "Where are you? I need to talk to you about something."

Stardust had first went to the library to check on his aunt only to find her no longer there. Stardust had thought that maybe the Silhouette had somehow gotten to her. He tried to suppress these thoughts with thoughts like 'maybe she had to use the little fillies room' or 'maybe she just got up to stretch her legs'. Wherever she was Stardust had to find her before the Silhouette did.

*CRUNCH!*

Stardust froze, looking down he saw that he had stepped on something. Holding up his hoof he saw a crushed skittle beneath his hoof. Stardust licked the skittle, swishing saliva in his mouth. Cherry, his second favorite. Stardust looked ahead to see a trail of skittles leading somewhere.

Despite the obvious trap this was, Stardust followed the trail. Picking up skittle piece after piece and throwing them into his mouth. The trail went through the castle all the way to the training room. Stardust, unknowingly, opened the doors to the room. The training room was mostly used by Stardust and his dad, Flash Sentry. It had racks nailed into the wall with unique blades stacked on them. Training dummies on the far right side of the room, along with barrels filled with all kinds of swords. On the far left of the room were wooden mannequins equipped with armor ranging from golden to crystal. Stardust ate the last skittle of the trail and looked up, now aware of his surroundings.

"Hello Stardust."

Stardust's eyes caught the sight of the other Stardust on the opposite side of him. He pointed to Stardust and proclaimed, 

"You." He glared.

"You." The other Stardust pointed. 

"No." Stardust took a step forward. "You." 

"Me?" Stardust asked, pointing to himself.

"Yes." Stardust answered. "I think."

Stardust chuckled. "Perhaps choosing you as prey was a bad idea. Your vocabulary is awful and you can't even notice a trap, even when it's right in front of you." 

"If my vocabulary is so bad, then how do you know all those smart words?" Stardust asked, sounding triumphant.

Stardust held up a book titled "Dictionary" and dangled around.

"Oh." Stardust's ears fell flat and a slight blush spread across his cheeks.

"But there's no need to worry. Words will be useless in our fight. Come, choose your weapon." Stardust gestured to all of the blades scattered across the room.

Stardust rushed over to one of the wooden racks and picked up the gauntlet he received from Nightwing on Hearth's Warming. He slid the gauntlet over his right foreleg, which fitted like a glove. With a flick of the wrist, a golden blade extended from the gauntlet.

Stardust raised a brow at Stardust's choice of weaponry. He looked in the dictionary for a second before speaking. "Interesting choice. But I will choose a weapon that suits me more." Stardust calmly walked over to a wooden rack and picked up a blade with a blade hilt and cross guard that had a wavy and curvy blade. He held the hilt of the sword in his hoof and in an instant the blade caught fire.

"Out of all the blades you could've chosen, you chose the the 'blade of Pyrosious'." Stardust grumbled. 

"So this blade has a name huh?" Stardust said, admiring the blade. "Very informative." He smiled at Stardust. "Let us begin."

Stardust spread his wings and booked it out of the room.

"Wha-HEY!" Stardust shouted. "Where do you think your going?!" 

"Running away from the guy with the fire sword." Stardust answered.

"You can't just run away!" Stardust shouted.

"Says who?" Stardust asked.

Stardust grinded his teeth, he glared his wings and took to the air. Only to instantly fall flat on his face. He scampered up and groaned, "I'll just run." He said, dashing after Stardust.





The castle doors opened up and a smiling Flash Sentry and a weary looking Twilight Sparkle entered their home. Twilight closed the door behind the two adults with her magic. Once the doors were closed, Twilight collapsed onto the floor. Her ear twitched upon hearing something. She turned her head and looked up to her husband, who had a cheeky grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" She asked, failing to see why her husband was laughing.

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about the time last night when I warned you about staying up to late." Flash rocked his body back and forth slightly.

"It couldn't be helped." Twilight protested. "I had to get a lot of the paperwork done." 

"And who's fault is it for leaving said paperwork at the last minute?" Flash asked.

"Shut up." Twilight grumbled.

"Stand still!" A voice yelled.

Flash and Twilight turned their attention towards the direction of the voice.

"Was that Stardust?" Flash asked, recognizing the voice.

"If I stand still you'll kill me!" A voice, sounding similar to the fist, yelled.

"It sounds like it." Twilight said.

"Come on Star, if you stop moving I promise not to kill you." The voice said.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" The voice asked.

"Was that rhetorical?" The other voice asked.

The door leading to the stairs burst open and two Stardust's came tumbling down the stairs. The two crashed in a heap on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. The two quickly got up and faced the other, Stardust with the gauntlet and the Stardust wielding the sword.

*ahem*

Both Stardust's turned to the two adults in the room, causing both to become pale. Stardust hid the blade behind his back and Stardust hid his gauntlet. The two put on their most innocent looking smiles and said,

"Hi mom and dad, you're home early." 

Flash looked between the two Stardust's. "Alright, Stardust what did you do?"

"Do what?" Stardust asked.
"Do what?" Stardust asked.

"Well, last time I checked I only had one Stardust not two. So I'm going to ask one last time, and this time I want a straight answer. What. Did. You. Do?" Flash asked.

Stardust gulped. "Well you see, I was minding my own business-"
Stardust gulped. "Well you see, I was minding my own business-"

"Bull." Flash said.

"I was!" Stardust yelled in defense. "I was in my bathroom when a white ooze came out of my mirror, latched itself onto me and looked like me. Now he's trying to kill me."
"I was!" Stardust yelled in defense. "I was in my bathroom when a white ooze came out of my mirror, latched itself onto me and looked like me. Now he's trying to kill me."

"Is that so." Flash said. "Suppose I do believe you, then which one of you is the real Stardust?"

"I am!"
"I am!"

"No, I am!"
"No I am!" 

"Stop copying me. I'm the real Stardust!"
"Stop copying me. I'm the real Stardust!"

"Enough!" Flash roared. "It doesn't matter who's the real one or who isn't. The real Stardust will be grounded for lying about being sick and the fake will be sent away."

The two shared a look.

"I'm the real Stardust."
"I'm the real Stardust." 

"Ugh." Flash face hoofed. "Dear could you give me a hoof?"

Twilight stood up and approached the two Stardust's. "Stardust, tell me when your birthday is." The two were about to speak. "But I want you to write it down on a sheet of paper and I want you to wright down how many days away it is from your brothers as well." Twilight added, summoning two pieces of paper and two pens. Both Stardust's turned their backs to each other and wrote something down. They both turned in their pieces of paper.

"This one's Stardust, that ones the fake." Twilight said after reviewing the two pieces of paper.

With that Flash picked the fake Stardust up. "What should we do with him?" He asked.

"Put him in the dungeon for now. I'm gonna go take a nap." Twilight yawned. "Right after Star gets his punishment." She added, looking towards the real Stardust.

"Um...I can explain." Stardust sheepishly chuckled.

"And I would love to hear it." She gave Stardust a different piece of paper. “Right after you complete this.”

Stardust looked it over and instantly became pale. "This is..."

"The test you tried to dodge." Twilight answered. "On our way back your father and I ran into Blitz. He gave us the test you were supposed to take. He said that you are supposed to take this with adult supervision. I hope you studied. After all," Twilight's voice became deathly serious as the room temperature dropped, "we both know what happens to colt's with failing grades. Don't we Stardust?"

Stardust's irises shrunk. For once, he wished that he wasn't the real Stardust. Because Stardust was about to receive the worst punishment ever invented.