> My Little Pony: Friendship Is Forever > by TheDusker > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A New Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked at my new home. Ponyville, a small town tucked away from the rest of Equestria by the great Everfree Forest that looked like it went on forever. At least from a young colt's point of view. Well, it was tucked away from everywhere, except for Canterlot, which rested on its great mountain in the distance. I heard a rumor that if you stood on the highest hill in this rural village and looked hard enough at Canterlot, you could see the shine from one of the Princess's crowns. But that was back home. Well, in my old home, Fillydelphia. "Stars Shine," I heard my dad say. "Can you help me unload the carriage?" I turned away from the picturesque view of my new town and walked over to the moving carriage in front of my new house: A house that looked like it was a tree with all the overgrown leaves and vines covering the roof, with several birdhouses that were falling apart resting on it. The former owner, I had heard from my mom, before she passed, ran some kind of informal veterinarian service and owned a lot of animals. I stopped at the carriage, levitated several boxes and walked into the house. Fine white sheets covered the furniture, though the sheets were dirtier from doing their job of keeping dust off. As I entered with the boxes, my mom was levitating the sheets off the furniture and using her magic to open the formerly barred windows. Rays of sun streamed in as she did so and the song of birds could be heard, tweeting outside probably on a nearby tree. "That's much better," my mom commented as I placed the boxes down in front of her. She opened the first box and started levitating snow globes out of it and placed them down on our new mantle, hanging over a dead fire place. "Now it's beginning to feel like home," my dad said, trotting in while levitating more boxes. "We'll have this place looking good as new in no time." "I don't think it'll be too hard," my mom replied. "Well Stars Shine, what do you think?" I looked at the ground, rubbing my left leg with my right hoof, "Its pretty nice…I guess." "I know this move is hard for you. But you'll make plenty of new friends here in Ponyville and learn to love it like you did Fillydelphia." I looked up at my parents and beamed at the both of them, hoping they would be right. "Why don't you check out your new room while we finish unpacking?" Mom suggested. "It's the first one on the left upstairs." I smiled at her and ran upstairs to see my new room. It wasn't huge but it was the right size. The walls were painted green, not exactly my favorite color but I didn't want my room to be re-painted. There was a wooden desk that sat next to the window so one could ponder out the window as they wrote. I sat down on the bed that was already in there. It was stiff but oddly comfortable. The faint scent of rabbits wafted through but it didn't bother me. I was a mix of nervous, tired and sad. Nervous because I didn't know what to expect; tired from the trip; and sad that my friend's and child hood seemed gone forever. I would never go back to them. Sure, I'd visit Fillydelphia but we'd stay in a hotel, not our home. The place I was born. I felt a tear creep down my face and I wiped it away with my hoof. But I was hopeful that things would be great. I didn't want to shy away from any challenge. I was ready to start my life here in Ponyville. I was set. I was…kind of scared. Within a few days, we cleaned up the house and after, my mom took me down to the school in Ponyville to get enrolled. It was a one room school house, jarringly different from the three story brick building I had attended back in Fillydelphia. My teacher was Autumn Mane, an brown Earth pony with a dark orange mane. My mom took care of everything, chatted with Autumn Mane for a bit and started to head back home. I followed her out, looking at her with a frown. "Don't worry," she said, nuzzling me. "Everything is going to be alright." She trotted away, not turning back to smile at me. I sighed and headed back into the school. The seats were organized into four rows of five desks. There was an empty seat in the front of the first row, so I slid in there. It was right in front of a red-orange pony with a tuft of blond hair peeking out from a cowboy hat. "Hey," he said, as I sat down. "I ain't seen you 'round Ponyville before. You new here?" I nodded. "Yes, I just moved in a few days ago. My name's Stars Shine." The pony sat up and smiled, extending a hoof. "Welcome to Ponyville. My name's Apple Tarts and ah live over at Sweet Apple Acres." I took his hoof and he grasped mine with a great amount of strength. As soon as my hoof was free, I pulled back, stretching my fingers to make sure they weren't broken. "Where you from?" "I moved in from Fillydelphia," I said. "I didn't know there was an apple farm in Ponyville." "Darn tootin' there is!" Apple Tarts exclaimed. "We provide apples for nearly most of Equestria. We even provide apples at any royal event and we do the catering." "Wow, that's really cool." "Thanks. My family's always had a special relationship with the royal family." Before I could reply, a loud crash came from behind me and a green blur slammed into the seat beside Apple Tarts'. When I got a clear look, it was a bright green Pegasus pony. He adjusted himself, fixing so he sat properly in the seat. "Nice entrance, Thunder," Apple Tarts commented, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I'm working on it," the Pegasus said. "You should've seen me yesterday, I was doing loop de loops and swivels and I even started doing a tornado over the-." He stopped when he noticed me watching the conversation. "Hey…who's the new kid?" "That there's Stars Shine," Apple Tarts informally introduced me. "Stars Shine, meet Thunder Bolt." "Nice to meet you," I said. "Nice to meet you too, Stars," Thunder Bolt said. "Like Tarts said, my name's Thunder Bolt but what he failed to mention is that I'm the most awesome pony in all of Equestria! Just a bit of info since we're gonna be friends." Friends? "We're…friends?" I asked, slowly and somewhat unsure. "Of course! You seem like a cool guy and the awesomest, coolest, and most athletic pony needs cool friends," replied Thunder Bolt. "Uh, 'most athletic,'" Apple Tarts matter-of-factly stated. "I could beat you with a hood tied behind my back." "Yeah right. You couldn't beat me when we raced last week," Thunder Bolt scoffed. "No, ah couldn't," Apple Tarts replied, with a smirk. "But ah did beat you in that apple bucking contest. In fact, ah've beaten you for the past two years in that same competition." Thunder Bolt blushed. "Well, I've been training this year and I'm definitely gonna beat you next time!" "Oh yeah?" Apple Tarts narrowed his eyes. "Yeah," Thunder Bolt narrowed his. "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" "Oh yeah?!" "Yeah!!" As they argued back and forth, a unicorn strolled in and sat in the desk next to me. He had a white coat with long white hair and streaks of purple running through it. After he sat down, he turned and looked at the duo. "Ugh, what are they arguing about this time?" He asked me. "Oh, uh, they're arguing about whose more athletic," I said. "Again?" He moaned, watching them for a bit more before turning towards me. "You're new around here?" "Yes, I moved in a couple of days ago and I was just enrolled today. My name is Stars Shine." "He extended a hoof. "Nice to meet you Stars Shine. I'm Prized Gem. My family and I live and own the Carousel Boutique. We make clothes but mostly dresses and suits for special events." "That's really cool," I said. "You design everything you make?" "Yeah," he said. "I mean, my older sister does most of the designing but I plan to follow her in her hoof steps when I get older." Finally, Thunder Bolt and Apple Tarts stopped arguing and turned towards Prized Gem and me. "Hey Prized," Thunder Bolt said. "Have you met Stars?" "Yep," Prized Gem replied. "I just introduced myself." "Alright class," said Autumn Mane. "It's time to begin." "See you guys later!" I waved at Apple Tarts, Thunder Bolt and Prized Gem as they walked away and waved back at me. They were going to Apple Tarts' house for cookies and milk and I was heading back home. But I had agreed to meet up with them later. I was excited: My first new friend's in Ponyville. I couldn't to play with them. I had to walk through the town to get back to my house, since my house was on the opposite side of town compared to the school house. On the way, I passed a building shaped like a cupcake and, peering inside, saw it was a bakery. My lips started to water at the sight of all the delicious sweets lined up behind the glass cases. But I moved away, deciding I would come back another time to sample all the sweets. All of a sudden, I heard a gasp and found myself flying to the ground as I felt some pony push me. I wasn't looking at the ground for long though as I was flipped over and found myself looking into the face of a blue Earth pony with a blue afro and green stripes running through it. He looked about my age, if not a bit older. "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" He said excitedly. "Are you new here?!" Wide eyed and a little frightened, I said, "…yes?" "That's awesome! A new pony in Ponyville! We should have a party to celebrate your arrival!" I continued to stare at him for a bit longer, till I asked, "Can you get off me?" "Okie dokie," he said, hopping off me. I sat, wiping the dirt off my coat. "My name's Stars Shine. What's yours?" The blue pony took a deep breathe and started to sing: Laughy Daffy Super happy I like cupcakes And salt water taffy Parties are so much fun I love to party till the day is done I love meeting new ponies How are you? I can tell you are new Let's be friends; let's be pals Let's be buddies in the best We'll be like a milkshake blend Now will you be my friend? At the end of it, though poorly written, Laughy took some deep breathes and smiled at me. "So wait," I began to ask. "Why didn't I see you earlier at school?" "That's because I don't go to school, silly," he said. "Oh…why don't you?" "I'm learning to be a baker at Sugarcube Corner! That way when Ms. Cake retires, I'll be the one to take over the bakery!" "Oh, that's cool," I said. "You bet! And when I take over the bakery, I'm gonna invent a whole bunch of new cupcake flavors and icings and everything!" "Wow," I said, pretty impressed about the future this pony had. "Laughy!" A voice called from inside the bakery. "Come back here and clean up this mess!" "Be right there, Ms. Cake," Laughy Daffy called back, before turning back to me. "I gotta go. But come by the bakery sometime and we can hang out!" "Okay," I said. "Goodbye." "Goodbyeeeee!" Laughy said, as he ran inside, faster than any pony I remember. Finally, I walked across the small bridge over the small creek and got in: I was home. It had been an interesting day. I went to school, found my way around Ponyville and meet some interesting ponies, all of whom I was now friend's with. It had been a really good day, in fact. "Stars Shine, is that you?" My mom called from the kitchen. I ran inside to meet her and found her making lunch. "There you are. I was wondering when you were going to get home. How was school?" "It was great," I replied. "I made a bunch of new friends today." "That's wonderful," she said, smiling at me. "I'm glad you had such a good da. Oh, I almost forgot: You got a letter from Fillydelphia. It's on the table. I think it might be from Tuxedo Boots." "Tuxedo Boots?!" I exclaimed, racing to the table to find it. Tuxedo Boots was my best friend in Fillydelphia. We did everything together and we hung out what seemed like all the time. He told he was going to write a letter but I didn't know when it was gonna come. But there it was: Sitting on my kitchen table, in his messy handwriting, a letter from Tuxedo Boots. "Thanks mom!" I raced up to my room and sat down on the bed, tearing open the envelope and carefully pulling out the letter so I wouldn't accidentally tear it and started reading: Dear Stars Shine, How are you and how's your new home in Ponyville? I miss you here in Ponyville. We all do! Pisces, Rosemay, Tucker and even Ms. Green Hoof! I hope you'll come back and visit soon. We'll be able to hang out again and tell each other stories. I'll tell you what's happening here while you tell me all about your new life. But of course, you can always do that through letters! I can't wait. Hope to hear from you soon, You're Pal, Tuxedo Boots I reread the letter once and rushed to my desk, pulling out some paper, a quill and an bottle of ink when I got there. I couldn't wait to write back! > Wings > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I shivered as I walked through the bustling market place. I had already been in Ponyville for some months at this time now, yet I hadn't taken the time to bask in the town’s excellence as far as little villages go. I was charmed by its nature and thought about the differences from Fillydelphia, my old home. First, they didn’t have a “Running of the Leaves” competition every fall, which I had decided not to compete in this year, being new and all. But it was entertaining to see Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt race to the finish line, the leaves falling behind them and the other competitors. They were in the forest for most of it, so I only heard Laughy Daffy’s reports from the commentator’s box and I chatted with Prized Gem. It was a good day. Secondly, Fillydelphia didn't have such a nice little market place. I trotted through the market, wishing I had at least a dozen other eyes to see everything in the marketplace. Ponies were everywhere: talking, walking, purchasing, some were even singing carols. I stopped to get some roasted chestnuts from a pony with a small cart. This was great, I thought- Then, for second time since arriving in Ponyville, I found myself looking at the ground. This time was worse since it was much colder than it was several months ago. At first, I thought Laughy had attacked me again. But then I heard a soft voice say, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I got up and found myself looking at a small gray Pegasus filly with white hair, wearing a saddle bag that looked as big as her and about to cry. “I’m sorry to make you fall,” she said with a quivering lip. “I’m very very sorry!” “No it’s okay, it’s fine,” I smiled, hoping to save the situation. I didn't work with well with crying foals. In fact, I didn’t work well with foals at all. “I wasn't looking where I was going and I should have paid more attention. It’s okay and I’m the one who should be apologizing.” “Quibie?” I heard a stallion say. I turned around to see one walking over towards me and the filly who was nearly crying. He looked a little older than me with a dark blue coat and wings and dark blue hair. He even had his cutie mark, something I marveled at: It was a dark cloud with stars shooting past it. “There you are!” He came up to the little filly and nuzzled her, making her smile. “Are you her brother?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said. “I lost track of her while I was getting something for our parents. Thanks for finding her.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I said. I hadn't noticed them around Ponyville before so I decided to introduce myself. “My name’s Stars Shine. I moved here a couple of months ago.” “My name is Dusk Wings,” he said, and then he motioned to his sister. “And this is Quiet Wings.” “I don’t think I've ever seen you around Ponyville before,” I said. “We live here in Ponyville but on the outskirts of town. Quiet isn't old enough to go to school yet so she stays with our parents. I’m old enough to work so I work on the weather patrol and around Cloudsdale.” “That’s cool,” I said. “Thanks and thanks again for finding her,” Dusk Wings said. “Maybe I’ll see you again around the holidays.” “Oh yeah,” I remembered the holidays were coming up soon. “See you around.” I didn't move as the brother and sister Pegasus walked away. Finally, once they were out of view, I checked my list. I still had more shopping to do. > Sour Lemons > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Hey Apple Tarts,” said the neon green pegasus aptly named Thunder Bolt said as he trotted into the room of the red-orange pony, who’s Stetson lay on his bed, and who’s focus was on a bright screen as he sat his desk. “What’cha doing?” “Oh, hey Thunder Bolt,” replied Apple Tarts, pulling his attention away from the screen to greet his friend. “I’m just reading some fan fiction here on the internet.” “Oh that’s- Wait, what?” Thunder Bolt asked as the words reached his brain. “What’s fan fiction?” “I’m not one hundred percent sure what it is either,” started Apple Tarts, returning to the screen as his left hoof rubbed his chin. “But from what I’ve been reading, it appears to be a fan’s, someone who has great liking or affection for an art form, writing of original adventures featuring characters created by someone else. It’s quite interesting.” “It doesn’t sound very interesting,” said Thunder Bolt. “What are fan fictions about?” “Oh, ‘bout anything really,” replied Apple Tarts. “If you can name it, there’s a fan fiction for it.” “Oh yeah?” “Eeyup.” “How about the Wonderbolts?” “Uh-huh, they’ve got a pretty big archive going here.” “What about CSI: Manehattan?” “That too. It’s circulating ‘round since it got canceled, of course.” “Fallout: Equestria?” “Yessiree, that too. There’s a lot of that especially. Gets kind of creepy though, with all the POV stuff.” “Dang...Okay, what about After Equestria?” “Since it’s recent and not very popular, or well received for that matter, yes but very few stories.” “Wow, fan fiction sure is expansive,” said Thunder Bolt. Then, he got an idea. “What about us?” “What?” Apple Tarts asked. “Is there a fan fiction about us?” “Fan fiction doesn’t work that way,” replied Apple Tarts. “You can’t write a fan fiction about reality. That’s just fiction. Like actual stories and there are plenty of those.” “Come on Tarts,” said Thunder Bolt as he waved his hooves around. “This is reality? A bunch of technicolor ponies and unicorns and pegasi that talk and fly and do magic and go on adventures? That’s reality? Reality is in fact a bunch of fat sweaty guys, sitting around, writing stories about us and throwing them on the internet. Then, when their parents are out of the house, they sign onto other websites and do horrible, horrible things to other kinds of pony stories and pictures. But in your defense, I’d rather have this reality than that one.” Apple Tarts, who swiveled around in his chair half way through Thunder Bolt’s speech, looked at him with incredulity and said, “Thunder, what in tarnation have you been smoking?” “Um...nothing,” Thunder Bolt looked away nervously, rubbing his arms. As he said that, Stars Shine entered Apple Tarts’ room. “Hey guys,” Stars Shine said excitedly. “What are you two up to?” “Hey Stars,” said Apple Tarts. “We’re just reading some fan fiction.” “Neat,” replied Stars Shine. “Have you been reading the ones about us?” “Told you,” Thunder Bolt commented. “What’d you mean ‘ones about us’?” “It’s really cool,” Stars Shine began, trotting over to Apple Tarts’ computer and typing in the address bar. “Some pony at school started publishing stories about us online. Most of them are fake but really interesting. I haven’t read through them all but I think it’s cool.” Once Stars Shine finished typing, a screen appeared with a long listing of stories, with blue highlighted titles and small icons for pictures that were sometimes related to the story, but usually not. As Apple Tarts read through some descriptions, he recognized some names from the kids of schools and even saw his own name quite a few times. “That’s...creepy,” said Apple Tarts. “Who’s the pony doing this?” “I...come to think of it, I don’t remember her name,” said Stars Shine, holding a hoof up to his face in thought. “Weird. I just talked to her about this, not half an hour ago. Ah, well.” “These are some wild stories,” said Thunder Bolt, looking through the descriptions. “There’s one about a filly at school getting pregnant after a one night stand.” “What?! That’s messed up” Apple Tarts exclaimed in surprise. “Yeah, I kind of skimmed over some of them, they get really crazy,” said Stars Shine. “I really liked the one about you, Thunder, Prized Gem and I where Autumn Mane is dead and she comes back to haunt us.” “Dead?” Apple Tarts repeated. “Hasn’t anyone reported these stories?” “Yeah, but in her defense, they are all fiction,” replied Stars Shine. “They’re just for entertainment.” “Here’s one about you, Stars,” Thunder Bolt pointed to a listing on the screen. “It’s called Lust and Trust. Click on it, Tarts.” Apple Tarts clicked on it and a large amount of text appeared on the screen. Slowly, he began to read it. “Oh yeah,” Stars Shine blushed, as he spoke. “I, uh, don’t think you should read that one...” “ ‘ “But what will the others say,” replied Stars Shine, as a blush appeared on his face,’ ” Apple Tarts read. “ ‘ “Don’t worry about them,” said the dark pony with a grin. He pulled Stars Shine close with his strong hooves and planted an equally strong kiss. At first Stars Shine resisted but he relented and allowed the dark pony’s kiss to continue, as his hooves traveled his body and explored his every curve. After what seemed like an eternity, the kiss broke with a string of spit trailing between their mouths. Stars Shine grabbed the dark pony close and whispered to him, only audible enough for him to hear: “I love you.”’” Awkward silence filled Apple Tarts’ room as Stars Shine embarrassed blush filled his face. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Thunder Bolt started to snicker and after he started, Apple Tarts followed with snickering too, till the duo burst out laughing at the story. In the midst of their laughter, Stars Shine left, running home. While they felt bad, they also couldn’t help themselves. “Ah ha ha ha,” chuckled Apple Tarts. “I feel terrible but that was just so...ha ha ha!” “Ha...I know, I know,” said Thunder Bolt and the laughter continued. Soon, the laughter died down and as it did, Apple Tarts returned to the listing of the fan fictions about their lives. Then, he noticed one that was at the very last page, at the very bottom of the listing. “Hey, here’s another one,” said Apple Tarts. “Oh man, who is it this time? Prized Gem and Dusk Wings?” “No, actually it’s about Laughy and you.” “Me?” Thunder Bolt raced over to the computer and looked at the listing. “‘Isty-Bitsy’? What’s it about?” “I don’t know,” said Apple Tarts. “The description says: ‘After being made fun of by the other ponies at school, Thunder Bolt goes to his older, experienced friend Laughy Daffy for some advice and help. He ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for.’” “Strange,” said Thunder Bolt. “Well, no point in guessing. Pop that sucker open and let’s read it.” Apple Tarts moved the mouse, moving the cursor onto the story link and clicked on it. Immediately the text appeared, this time sparse and spread out over the page. Together, the two started to read: It began with Thunder Bolt coming to Laughy Daffy’s room after a bunch of schoolmates made fun of him and called him gay. Angry, Thunder Bolt announces that he hates being called gay and hates all gay ponies. Laughy cheers him up and tells him that there’s nothing wrong with being gay. While initially, Thunder denies it, he reconsiders and asks Laughy how he could possibly know whether he’s gay or not. Laughy decides to give him a test and presents him with his colt hood. It was at this point, Thunder’s own colt hood began to grow and Laughy called it ‘Itsy-Bitsy’ because of it’s small size, in comparison to Laughy’s size. Following that, Thunder, in the tale, proceded to give Laughy a blow job which resulted in the two starting a relationship. It was near that point, horrified by what they were reading but for some reason could not stop, Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt, the real one, started to grimace and frown at what they were reading. Finally, it ended and the two gave each other a very long look. During this look, they didn’t hear the door to Apple Tarts’ room open once again and the blue pony slowly creep up behind the two. “Hey you guys!” Laughy Daffy cried as he grabbed the two on their shoulders. Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt screamed and leapt into the air. “Whoa! I didn’t think I scared you two that badly!” From the ceiling, Apple Tarts and Thunder Bolt shook, their eyes wide in fear. Eventually Apple Tarts responded, “H-Hey, Laughy...Wuh-Wuh-What’s up with you?” “Not much, just stopping by to say hello,” Laughy Daffy said, before looking at the computer screen and asking excitedly, “Hey, what are you guys reading?!”