Letters To Celestia

by silverthorn

Chapters

Letter 1 - If a pegasus falls in a forest...
Letter 2 - Concerning dragons
Letter 3 - Meeting the Clan
Letter 4 - The Applejack Incident
Letter 5 - Oh great, she has a flying house
Letter 6 - Doing a good deed can be it's own reward.
Letter 7 - Home is where the heart is...

Letter 1 - If a pegasus falls in a forest...

LETTERS TO CELESTIA

LETTER ONE – IF A PEGASUS FALLS IN A FOREST....

“This is a bad idea. You know I'm bad at writing”.

“You are not as bad as you think”.

“You had a good teacher”.

“Thank you again. I guess I should write this but she's a princess. Why would she give a hill of oats about what happened to me”.

“Trust me, she asked me to write to her about what I discovered since I came here. I think the views of another pony is not going to hurt. Besides, if you want me to help you with this you are going to have to write these letters”.

“Okay, I guess I better start with...”

Dear Princess Celestia

I know you probably don't know anything about me but your student, Twilight Sparkle, asked me to write to you. She said that it would be edocational educational for me and I guess she knows best. I guess my story really begins four months ago. I was taking a few apples from a tree on a farm on the outskirts of Ponyville. On the assumption that, since it was the dead of night, no pony would see me while I took a few apples. That was my first mistake.

“What in tarnation do you think you are doing?”.

Due to a lack of space I had folded my wings in close to my body while I was sitting on the branch. That was my second mistake. I jumped at the voice, then remembered that I was sitting on a branch, twenty foot off the ground. I hadn't fully unfolded my wings when I landed on my right wing. The snapping noise was almost as bad as the pain as something broke inside my wing. The last thing I saw before passing out was a angry looking orange pony with a odd hat looking down at me.

I woke up and could see that I was in some place well lit with strip lights. I felt funny, I knew I had broken a wing but I felt numb, not piercing pain like I had just after I fell out of the tree.

“Do I have to write this? I sound like, I sound like what I used to be”.

“Go on”.

I guessed I was probably drugged out of my mind. I looked around, it was definitely a hospital room, although my head still felt fuzzy. I could hear somepony talking, judging by the accent it was probably the pony who had caused my fall from grace.

“Maybe I should cross that bit out. It sounds a little stupid”.

“No, write whatever comes to you. You'll probably find it helps”.

She was talking to another pony about me. That I had damaged one of their prime apple trees and that I was going to have to pay them back. There was another voice, saying that I should have been handed to the guard for stealing. I looked around, trying to work out a way to get out of the room. One look at my wing, all bandaged up and from the look of it, with a...

“What did you say the term was?”.

“A splint”.

A splint meaning I could barely move it. I was going nowhere.

“Ah, she's awake”.

I looked over at the voice, the orange mare with the odd hat was there, along with a pony I assumed was a doctor, a blue pegasus with a multi-coloured mane and a big red stallion. The red stallion and the doctor looked concerned. Both mares looked angry. The doctor explained that I wouldn't be flying for three or four months, I had apparently been lucky that I had just broken most of the bones in my wing. I could have had to lose my wing. I was so disheartened by that revelation that I almost managed to ignore the blue pegasus's comment that I should be in prison then started to take complete notice when the orange mare told me something.

“The way ah see it we'd be perfectly fine to call the guard after you tried to rob our farm, isn't that right, Big Mac”.

The big red stallion jut nodded. “Eeyup”. As I was to find out, Big Macintosh is a pony of few words.

“That's an understatement”.

“Shush, Spike”.

“But we might need some help with the harvest so as soon as you're able to get out of bed you'll be staying at Sweet Apple Acres until you pay us back. The first time you try to run or don't do what you're told to we call the guard”.

I took the time it took for the mouthy pegasus to complain that she was crazy to let what had just been said sink in. I was going to have to stay with a pair of Earth Ponies while I paid off the damage I did falling out of their tree. The truth was that the idea of a roof over my head was a little appealing but spending months on the ground was less than appealing. What use was I going to be farming. I'm a city pony, my lack of outdoor skills is more than proven by the fact that I was stealing apples in order to eat. At that point I wished I had never flown over Ponyville in the first place. As it was, I was going to be stuck living on a farm with a bunch of rural types who had me by the tail.

I honestly couldn't see how things could get any worse. As it turns out the exact reverse was true.

I think I should probably end this here. There's a dragon complaining that the letter is getting a bit long for him to send. Having seen the way he sends letters to you I'm going to bow to his greater knowledge.

Your loyal subject.
Wandering Star.

Author's Note

This is my first try at fan fiction. Since my first draft ran to about 470 words I've had to pad it out. The first draft was just the letter itself, although the commentary turned out to work better than I expected.

Letter 2 - Concerning dragons

Dear Princess Celestia

Twilight says that I should tell you more about myself, on the chance that you read my last letter. My name is Wandering Star, I guess my parents, whoever they are, must have had a sense of humour. I'm a Pegasus mare and I originally came from Manhattan. I spent all my life either in the orphanage or foster homes, never seeming to hit lucky and find a place I belonged.

“Spike, stop that, she's doing what she needs to do”.

“This is stupid, if I write this down I might get myself into a lot of trouble. Even Spike thinks it's stupid”.

I ran away from the orphanage about two years before I arrived in Ponyville and decided to raid Sweet Apple Acres for a few apples. I was more hungry than I normally was at that point because I was stupid enough to eat the wrong kind of berries from a bush on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest.

“Spike, why are you smiling?”.

“I can't say, I promised somepony I wouldn't”.

“Okay, Spike. Carry on Star”.

I had spent most of the day before being reintroduced to the last things I had ate and I was just about hungry enough to steal apples from an orchard, just to get some energy to keep flying. That's when I fell out of the tree. I had told you in my last letter that I had woken up with a broken wing in the local hospital owing the Apple Family bits for the apples which had fallen early out of the tree and, as it turned out, the cost of getting me seen to for my injuries.

All I knew for certain was that I had little choice. I spent a week in the hospital, eating more than I had eaten in a week before. The food was filling, the little cups of jello were like nectar

“Star, you're drooling a little?”.

“What can I say, I really like jello”.

And the thing that worried me the most was the fact that I was going to be indebted to a pair of Earth Ponies who I had barely met for at least four months. I didn't have a place to stay, I didn't even know the name of the town I was in and I was completely out of my depth.

At one point a certain Unicorn you know visited me. She had, apparently, been asked to visit me by Applejack and cast a tracking spell in case I tried to get out of town as soon as I was out of hospital. Twilight explained that if I tried to leave the Ponyville area I would be teleported back to Sweet Apple Acres. Her horn lit up and I saw a glow around me for a moment and then everything was back to normal. Of course, I had been planning to get out of town as soon as I was let out of hospital but I was different then. I thought the only pony I could rely on was me myself. I guess I've learned a lot since then.

After Twilight had cast her spell on me she sat down and we talked. Well, mostly Twilight talked and I tried to ignore her but she persisted until I started to open up. I was half convinced she could have used a spell to get the information she wanted out of my mind anyway but I was a little confused. She sounded genuinely unhappy when I explained why I was trying to steal from the farm in the dead of night. She said something about the doctors weighing me while I was drugged up to the nines after they had fixed up my wing. I was apparently on my last hooves and the main reason they had been giving me so much food was to build my weight up to a acceptable level before they let me out. I said something about the doctors not needing to have done so. I'd been on my own for so long I didn't need anypony trying to help me out, especially not ponies from some stupid one-horse town.

I can't believe I said it, I hope I'm not the pony I was back then. Twilight and Spike have been a lot of support to me, despite everything. I guess I should explain that before I got to Ponyville my education was a little lacking. I could read and write a little but I had spent most of the time at school in Manehattan either ignoring what the teacher was telling me or skipping school altogether. I think it was about a month after I got out of hospital when I was sent to Ponyville to get something for Granny Smith. It was probably because the Apples had found out that I was no use whatsoever in Bucking season, I don't have the muscles to buck a tree and my wing was still next to useless so I was sent to Ponyville to give Rarity a note. At the time this mostly consisted of putting the note through her letterbox since she wouldn't me into her shop in case I decided to steal her wares. I was that much of a bad seed at that point.

I was still trying to plan for my escape from Ponyville so I headed for the library. I was not a reader by any means at that point. If anypony had suggested I would be writing letters to you I would have laughed in their face. I walked into the library and looked around, I had an idea of what I was looking for but didn't really know where to start.

“Can I help you?”

I had been expecting a pony to be the librarian but, instead, the speaker was what appeared to be a small, but perfectly formed, well it couldn't be. “Are you a dragon?”.

He smiled. “I certainly am. I'm Spike”.

Something about him made me smile despite myself. “I'm Star”.

He nodded, then frowned as he saw that my wing was strapped to my side. “Oh, you're the pony who..”. He paused, I guess he saw my general level of unhappiness that everyone in town seemed to known about why I was in town. “Is helping out at Sweet Apple Acres”.

I think I may have grinned at that point. “That's me. I don't suppose you have any books on plants and flowers, which ones are safe to eat. I had a nasty incident outside of town when I ate some berries which looked lovely but didn't agree with me”.

At that point..

“Do you really have to put that bit into the letter. This whole letter-writing lark is getting silly. She should be getting back to Applejack”.

It's alright, Spike. I'm nearly done”

At that point Spike, for lack of a better term, vomited up a scroll. I grinned again. “That's pretty much what it was like”.

“This is a letter for Twilight, from...”.

I looked at him. “You know Twilight Sparkle?”.

“Of course, I'm her number one assistant”. I started backing towards the door. “What's the matter?”.

I glanced behind me, feeling like there anywhere in Equestria was preferable to where I was. “I think this may have been a bad idea. I was planning for when I leave town, when I'm finished paying the Apple's back for what I did”.

Spike walked over to me motioned me to a couch. I helped him sit on the couch. “I know that I'll have to get out of town as soon as Twilight drops the tracking spell she cast on me. I guess I should be better prepared for life on my own than I was before”. I glanced at Spike. “Can you keep a secret, I mean even from Twilight?”.

Spike paused for a second before answering. “Yes”. “I don't know what I'm going to do when I can leave town. I know staying here is a bad idea, I've burned too many bridges to stay here but having a roof over my head and good food in my belly on a regular basis is more than I've gotten used to. Even if I'm sleeping in a barn”.

Spike nodded. “What are you going to do?”.

I shook my head. “I have no idea”. I glanced past the small, yet perfectly formed dragon, at the clock and gasped. “Sweet Celestia's furry fetlocks”.

“I really think I should cross that bit out, Twilight”.

“Leave it in”.

“...I'm running late. For all I know, the Apple's have already called the guard”. While I was running around like a mad pony Spike walked over to a book shelf and returned before putting a book in my saddlebag. “I think this is what you wanted. Bring it back when you've finished it. I'll sort out the paper work, chances are if Applejack is away on a mission for Celestia, Twilight won't be here if you don't want her to know but she'll understand”.

I hugged him, guessing I might actually have a friend in Ponyville. I guess I was wrong at the time. I should finish this letter. Spike's giving me that 'Do you expect me to send all that to the Princess' look so I will sign off.

Your loyal subject

Wandering Star
Hoping not to be sent to the tower for the furry fetlocks bit

Author's Note

Things have changed, until I started typing this Spike was only supposed to appear in the not-letter parts of the story. Things have changed.

Letter 3 - Meeting the Clan

Dear Princess Celestia

I guess it's time to explain what happened after I got out of hospital. The doctor had explained that, whilst the break in my wing bone was healing nicely I had torn several ligaments in my wing and it would have to be strapped down for several months because moving it would only make it worse.

I was already feeling like my life couldn't get any worse when I saw who was waiting for me when I was wheeled out of the hospital. Applejack was waiting for me along with Big Mac. I really didn't know what to say, to me they were my jailers, along with that unicorn who had cast the magical whammy on me which would stop me from leaving town as fast as my feet would carry me. My injured wing was itching and I was fairly sure that if it had been intended for Pegasuses to not fly we wouldn't have been given wings.

I looked at Applejack, guessing she was going to be the spokespony in this discussion. “What happens now?”.

Applejack glared at me. “Since you owe us so much money, you work at Sweet Apple Acres until you pay it all back. You'll get fed and a place to sleep but you're still grounded”.

Big Mac glared at her at the same time as I did. “Maybe that was the wrong way to put it but you only leave the farm on the say of one of the family. Ah know Twilight cast the spell on you what'll stop you running out of town as soon as our backs are turned”.

I nodded, unsure if there really was much to say. At that point I was thinking things about your student that would make a griffon blush. “I understand”.

Applejack looked at Big Mac. “We should be getting back to Sweet Apple Acres. With any luck Applebloom will be back and we can introduce you to Granny Smith”.

I got out of the wheelchair, feeling like my legs were made of jelly. After a second I managed to steady myself. At that point the fact hit me that I had better get used to walking around. I wouldn't be flying anywhere soon.

My blue funk continued until I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. My legs were already sore, I'm a flyer, I tended to spend as little time as possible on my hooves. At the time I guessed I wouldn't last a week walking around.

As we walked up to the main, I guess you would call it a house, it looked more like a barn to me the thought occurred to me that it looked like a home. Nothing too flashy but lived in. besides it was a dry roof over my head and probably at least one meal a day. That was better than anything I'd had in two years. I could survive anything that Applejack and her family could throw at me.

At that point I met Granny Smith. She scared me senseless. She looked me over, frowned then looked at Applejack. “This is the filly that you spent our money on. She had better work hard or ah'll hand her to the Guard myself. Applejack, show her to where she'll be sleeping. We can set her to work tomorrow”.

I started walking to the main house when Applejack steered me to a smaller barn. “Oh no, you're sleeping upstairs in there”.

I pushed the doors open and realised that this was a real barn. The smell was unlike anything I'd smelled up to that point. Applejack led me to a set of stairs heading to the upper floor. There was a set of hay bales with a blanket and a pillow in one corner and a table with a lantern in it which Applejack proceeded to light. Other than a window, there was not much else.

I looked at Applejack and I guess my expression must have tipped her off. “If you wanted to sleep in the Canterlot Haylton then you shouldn't have been trying to steal from us”. She turned around and started towards the stairs before turning back. “Big Macintosh will be up before long to give you some food. You'll be starting working in the morning”.

Left to my own devices, I sat on the 'bed' and looked around. Compared to sleeping rough this seemed like a marginal improvement. I guessed I would get used to the smell and, after I closed the window, it seemed like little wind got through the window. Still, I was stuck in a town I didn't know with a family who sounded like they would turn me into the Guard at the drop of Appljack's hat. All in all, things were looking grim.

After some amount of time I heard what sounded like foals running into the yard. I could hear Applejack telling them not to go upstairs in the barn because I would be a bad influence on them. I had smiled at the time, still proud of how bad I thought I was. After a while the foals split up, presumably two of the three heading for home. A little while later, the big red stallion came upstairs, a tray of food on his back. I walked over and smiled as I took the tray from his back. “Thank you, Big Mac”.

The smell was something else. Since I had walked into the barn all I had smelled was, how can I put this, animal waste. The smell of the slice of pie on a small plate was enough to drown that smell out. Right now, I couldn't tell you what else was on that tray but I ate it like my life depended on it. Big Mac smiled as he watched me then took the tray off me before he asked me something. “Is there anything you need me to bring you? Ah'm guessing you were staying somewhere before”.

I shook my head, unsure for a second about what to say. “There isn't anything. I travel light”. The look on his face was a mix of concern and, I guess, sorrow. “Ah'll see you in the morning”. He then left me in a barn that smelled of animal waste with a belly full of apple pie and a feeling like things might be going right for a change.

That feeling lasted about ten minutes. I was on edge of falling asleep when I heard a knocking on the window shutters. There was no trees near that side of the barn so I was a little surprised until I opened the shutters. There, flying in the air like Celestia's gift to flying was the mouthy blue pegasus from the first day in the hospital.

I tried not to let my surprise show as I looked her up and down. “The Apple's are next door. This is the barn”.

She flew past me, then flew up close to me. “I know that Applejack's next door. I'm just warning you that if you try anything funny with them I'll haul you off to the guard myself”.

At that point I had already decided I really didn't like her. I forced myself to keep my voice low and steady. I really didn't want to cause trouble with my jailers on my first night. “You'll have to join a queue with Granny Smith. Where in the wide world of Equestria am I supposed to go. I can't leave Ponyville with the spell that Unicorn put on me and besides”.

I paused for a second. “They look like the Apples are good ponies. I don't want to cause them any trouble”. I guess I looked as confused as I felt at that point. It was apparent that the Apple family were good old salt-of-the-Earth Ponies (pardon my pun). There was something about Big Mac especially which even then made me not want to cause too much trouble for them.

Seemingly satisfied, the pegasus flew to the window. “I'll be keeping an eye on you”: then she flew off into the night.

Since Twilight is insisting I keep on writing these for you, and I owe her a lot for what she did last week I'll tell you what happened the next morning in my next letter.

Your loyal subject,

Wandering Star

Letter 4 - The Applejack Incident

Dear Princess Celestia

As I said in my last letter I had just spent my first night in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. I had been visited by Big Mac, who seemed to be nice, if a little quiet most of the time, and Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be a complete animal waste-head, if you pardon my language. I woke up at a unholy hour as Applejack roused me from my rest by literally banging a pan to wake me up.

The first problem I had was trying to work out why I was sleeping on my belly, it's generally unwise when it's a good idea to be able to see more if someone is sneaking up on you. I may have used some bad language at Applejack but I managed to get up then winced as I felt the pain in my lower back which has been my curse most days since I arrived in Ponyville. The straps which keep my injured wing from moving, well, the buckle is at the small of my back and after a night with the rig on it leaves a dull ache in the small of my back.

Anyway, Applejack pointed out that breakfast would be ready in ten minutes and that she would bring it up to me since she still didn't want me in the main house in case I emptied it and left town. She then said that after I had finished she would work out what possible use I could be to them with Big Mac.

Breakfast at Sweet Apple Acres turns out to be as filling as most proper meals I'd eaten. The thought occurred to me that I might not even be able to take off by the time my wing was healed up. After breakfast I was taken to the east meadow by Applejack and Big Mac where Applejack decided to see if I could buck. I barely bit back a reply which might have left me in the tender care of the Guard but watched as she kicked a tree wth both of her rear hooves and most of the apples fell out of the tree.

I just looked at Applejack as the thought occurred to me that I'm a Pegasus, I'm built for speed, not kicking trees so hard that apples fall out of them. At that point Applejack said the three words I didn't want to hear. “Now, you try”.

I walked up to a tree and managed to kick the tree with both of my back legs. No apples fell out off the tree but I managed to fall, muzzle first onto the ground. My embarrasment was bolstered by the peels of laughter from Applejack, even Big Mac was smiling. “I told you she wouldn't be able to do it”.

“Eeyup!”.

I managed to get up, trying to preserve some degree of self-respect as I stood up, covered in dirt. “I meant to do that”.

“Nope”.

After Applejack had stopped rolling on the ground laughing her hat off it was decided that I was not suitable for apple-bucking. I was sent to muck out the barn. After the apple-bucking incident I was expecting to be given the smalled shovel possible for the task. I was wrong but still it was pretty stomach-turning. It took me most of the afternoon to clean out the barn and by the time I was finished I probably stunk worse than the barn had in the first place.

Granny Smith had watched me for most of the afternoon, suggesting ways to make the job easier. By the time the whole thing was over and done with I was exhausted, sweaty and covered with excrement. My mane and tail were covered in excerment and I was wondering if I'd ever get the smell out of my nose. All in all, I really wanted a wash and hopefully a little privacy. At that point three fillies ran into the barnyard.

“Eeewww!”. This came from all three of them when they saw me, then smelled me.

“Granny, you made her muck out the barn. On a day like this”. I glared at Granny, then walked towards them, guessing the one who had asked the question must be Applebloom. They backed away as I started lunging a little closer, causing them to shriek and back away. As much as I hate to admit it, I was enjoying myself.

Until a big orange something tackled me from the side. I tucked into a ball as agony shot through my bad wing as the muck covering made me slide a fair distance across the yard, causing more pain. I looked up, trying to bite back the urge to cry or run. Twilight told me there's something called a 'Fight or Flight response', I was erring towards the flight part of the equation. All I could think about was protecting my wing as Applejack walked closer. The look on her face was pretty murderous. “What.. do.. you.. think.. you are doing.. with my sister?”.

Of course, I'm an idiot. Now I realize that if a thief was living on your property and you heard your little sister shrieking then you'd stop who or whatever was doing it. At the time all I could think to do was run. Mystical whammy or no mystical whammy. So I ran, somehow getting past Applejack and pulling a hard left past Big Mac then into the trees.

If I had been in my right mind at the time I might have considered the possibility that they could track me by smell with no difficulty whatsoever but all I knew was I had to get away from them. Normally I'd just fly somewhere to get away but that was out of the question. I had been running for who knows how long when I tripped over something and fell over again. This time I couldn't get up. A mix of pain, exhaustion and more pain made it so that I could barely make it to a tree where I sat with my back to it and risked looking at my bad wing. It didn't look any worse than before but I was just too exhausted to move. I really just wanted to sleep.

My plan for going to sleep was ruined by Applejack who looked like quite a lot of the gunk covering me had been transferred to her. She also looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. At that moment I shared that wish. “Ah'm sorry. Ah over-reacted”.

I looked at her as I tried to get up. “I was having fun, playing with them. I wasn't even going to touch them”.

Applejack took off her hat and held it, fidgeting with it. “I don't know what happened to me”.

Having managed to pretty much stand up, I walked a little closer. “You've got a complete stranger living next door with a less than reputable reputation and you hear your little sister screaming like the pony from the black lagoon was chasing after her”. I smiled. “If I had a sister I probably would have come running”. I looked at her, she was marginally less muck-covered than I was and grinned. “Besides, I'm guessing the three of them wouldn't come within ten foot of you after I left”.

Applejack laughed. “I came to find you since we both need to wash all this off before we head back to the farm”. She pointed behind me to a pool I could just see through the trees. “Ah'm so sorry. Did ah hurt you”.

“No, my wing hurts most of the time anyway”. I lied because I could tell she was torn up inside over what had happened and there was some things I was starting to like about her, other than the food.

We ended up in the pool for about two hours, spending half of the time washing off as much muck as we could and the rest of the time horsing about, for lack of a better term. Applejack told me about her family and friends and I told her some of my story. She said that Big Mac had told her that I had said that I travelled light. She seemed more concerned about the fat that the doctors at the hospital had been worried about my weight when I went into hospital. I was going to tell her that she didn't need to worry about me but the thought occurred to me that Applejack was not the kind of pony to not worry about other ponies. She asked me about why I didn't have a cutie-mark at my age (although she's all of a year or so older than I am), I told her that I never thought that sort of thing was important.

By the time we made it back to the barn it was a long way past nightfall. I was actually invited into the house for supper. Again it was filling and tasty, which is all you can ask for from food.

While eating dinner I was told that I would be helping Granny Smith in the house from then on as well as running errands since they had been impressed at how fast I could run when I left the barn after the 'Applejack incident'. As it turned out there was a message they needed delivering in Ponyville proper.

I'll explain about that misadventure next letter,

Your loyal subject

Wandering Star

Letter 5 - Oh great, she has a flying house

Dear Princess Celestia

The delivery had turned out to be another example of how the 'kind, down-to-earth Apple clan' idea was just a con. The message I had to deliver was to none other than the loud-mouthed Pegasus who had already stated she was keeping an eye on me. As I made my way through Ponyville I noticed ponies staring at me. I assumed at the time that they were staring because of my less than illustrious past. I later found out that it was because of the rig I had to wear to stop me damaging my wing further but att the time I just felt like dirt.

As I was moving through town, trying to work out how I was going to get to Rainbow Dash's house when I got there. I assumed that, since she was a pegasus with working wings she would have a cloud house, therefore it was going to be difficult to get to it.

On the way I ran into Applebloom as well as her two co-conspirators. The pegasus looked at me and frowned as she sniffed in my general direction. “At least you don't smell as bad as you did yesterday”.

I smiled, guessing that the last thing she had seen was me running from a fighting mad Applejack. “I managed to get the sh.. muck off me. At least you don't look as scared as you did then”.

The pegasus's hackles rose as she puffed her chest out. “I wasn't scared, I was just trying not to upset Applebloom and Sweetie”. I struggled not to laugh, she was definitely going to be a problem. “How did you hurt your wing?”.

“She fell out of a tree when she tried to steal apples from the farm”. Applebloom removed the need for any untrue excuses I had for my infirmity. “She's staying until she pays back what she owes us”.

“Thank you Applebloom”. I smiled, trying to look civil while I imangined strangling her. “What are your friends names?”.

Almost as if choreagraphed, the three fillies grinned. “I'm Scootaloo!”.

“I'm Sweetie Belle”.

The three fillies stepped closer together before speaking as one. “And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders”.

I had to grin, they were so young. I couldn't remember ever being as young as they were. “And what do Cutie Mark Crusaders do?”.

Scootaloo looked up at me. “We try to get our Cutie Marks”. She looked at my cutie mark free flank. “Why don't you have a Cutie Mark?!.

I looked at her, rolling my eyes. “I never needed one to survive this far. I've known my destiny for years”.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at me like I was an idiot. Scootaloo looked at me with a different, sad expression. I didn't think much of it at the time. I wish I had, things would have been much easier then.

After I asked the three what they were going to do that day we parted ways, the Cutie Mark Crusaders to try and get their cutie marks in Water Skiing, myself to walk to the outskirts of town. The way my luck was going I was not surprised that Rainbow Dash's cloud house was a good distance off the ground. I paced around, before yelling “Is anypony up there?”.

I heard a banging of doors from above, then the cyan pegasus flew out of the door and landed in front of me. “What do you want, thief!”.

I motioned to the saddle-bags at my hooves. “Courtesy of Sweet Apple Acres”. My job done, I turned to walk back to town when someone put their hoof on my shoulder. I guess I tensed up, that shoulder was still sore from when Applejack shoulder charged me the previous afternoon but Dash pulled her hoof back. I turned to face her, sick to the bone of her attitude. “What now, I've done what Granny Smith told me to do. She said that it was all paid for”.

Dash looked me in the eyes before asking. “I have one question. Why did you try to steal from Sweet Apple Acres?”.

I looked down at the ground. “I had flown in from Dodge Junction, it was three days since I'd seen anything which looked vaguely safe to eat and I was hungry and thirsty. Those apples were like ambrosia when I passed over that field. I was going to take two or three and make do for a day or two on them. Of course Applejack caught me and scared me so much I fell out of the tree so I'm stuck in town until my wing heals from the torn muscles from the crash landing”. I looked at Dash. “I think karma has more than paid me back for what I did, wouldn't you say”.

“But,why were you even travelling here from Dodge Junction?”. She sounded a lot less cocky now.

I frowned. “It's what I do. I outstay my welcome and it's a case of get out of town or get sent to prison. It's not nice, it's not even right but if it comes back to stealing food or starving to death I know which one I'd rather do”.

Dash now looked more confused than anything. “What about your family?”.

“What family. I spent all my life in a orphanage until I escaped. I was about the same age as Applejack's sister when I escaped. You can't get a job or a home when you're that age. The stallion in charge of the orphanage told me when I was running that he would make sure that if I ran he would make sure that the guard was after me”. I looked back at the ground. “When my wing heals, that purple unicorn turns off the tracking spell she put on me and I get out of this one-horse town I'll go back to doing what I've been doing and Ponyville will just be a painful memory”. I shrugged. “That's all I can do”.

She was practically dumbfounded by what I had said. It took me a while and a few more arguments to figure her out. Rainbow Dash is a perfectionist. It's always first place or you're nothing. The problem is that while she holds herself to almost impossibly high standards she also holds other people to the same standards. I think I probably was the lowest form of life she could think of at that point. Dash just looked at me then nodded, picked up the saddlebags and flew up to her house. I started back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Your loyal subject
Wandering Star

Author's Note

I'm starting to speed tbings up with this chapter. The next chapter should start the main thread of the story.

Letter 6 - Doing a good deed can be it's own reward.

Dear Princess Celestia
I guess it's time that I explained exactly why I am writing these letters to you. It started about a week ago. Since my first meeting with the Cutie Mark Crusaders I had heard some of their arguments (I think they call them planning sessions) in the yard outside the barn. There were several occasions where Applebloom or Sweetie Belle would suggest having a sleep-over at Scootaloo's house and she would make an excuse like her parents were away. By the fourth time that set me on edge. I've known a lot of homeless fillies and colts in my time and there was something about Scootaloo which worried me.

One night when the Crusaders had spectacularly failed to get their cutie marks in sword dancing (where those crazy fillies get their ideas escapes me) they split up so that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle could go home. Depspite the fact that Applejack would probably have had a fit if she knew what I was doing I pulled on the saddlebags I had been using for deliveries and started following Scootaloo from a distance. I'm not proud of the fact now but if I put my mind to it I'm like a ghost, or like the wind. Anyway, I followed her as fast as I could, I don't think she even had a clue that she was being followed.

I followed her to the small treehouse that the Crusaders used as a base of operations and watched as she hid her scooter in a bush next to it. I hid behind a tree I was wishing my wing had healed so I could follow from the air as she walked up the steps and into the hut. I waited a few minutes for her to relax (since she was probably faster than I am on the ground, for a filly with such small wings she can certainly move when she wants to). I sneaked up to the door before pushing it open and trying not to look as disappointed as I felt.

Jusdging by the blanket she was sitting under, Scootaloo was at least temporarily sleeping in the clubhouse. I sat down next to her and tried to look less wretched than I felt. “Hey, kid. Scootaloo”.

Scootaloo kept quiet as she nodded. She looked to either side of me before turning to run. I grabbed her by the shoulder. “Listen to me kid, don't run. Nothing good ever comes from doing that”. I sat down, using enough force to make her sit down as well and dug into my saddlebags for two apples. “What are you doing here, doing this?”.

Scootaloo looked down. “I don't have anywhere else to go. My parents kicked me out after a row. They worked out that their marriage was a wreck and they might have a better chance of it working out if I was not there”.

I managed to bite back the urge to use some inappropriate language to use in front of a filly then handed her one of the apples. “Eat that while I think of what to do”. A thought occurred to me. “Does Rainbow Dash know?”. I knew she was a massive egomaniac but Scootaloo worshipped the ground she rarely walked on.

Scootaloo shouted “NO!” before pausing. “I couldn't tell her, she'd be disappointed. I couldn't have that.

I took the hoof which wasn't holding an apple in mine and smiled. “Kid, you're an idiot. Why didn't you tell anyone. The other Cutie Mark thingumees, for Celestia's sake”.

Sorry..

“For Celestia's sake, I'm pretty darn sure that the Apple clan would have taken you in. I'm a reprobate with no redeeming features”. Rarity called me that three times when I arrived in Ponyville. “And Applejack took me in until I paid up for my sins”. I mushed up her mane as I decided what needed to be done. “I'm going to have to talk to Applejack about this. I'm not letting another filly sleep in a dump like this if I can do anything about it”.

I should have expected it when Scootaloo stood up. “I'm not going to Applejack's. If you want me to go back there I'll head out of here, Applebloom explained about the spell Twilight cast on you, Sweet Apple Acres is pretty much the outskirts of Ponyville. I'll just keep running and you'll never be able to catch me”.

She had me there. I could feel a weird pulling sensation already and I guessed I was as far away as I was going to get from home. I guess I may have frowned as I considered the fact I had just called Ponyville home. After four months of wanting to get out of town, why would I call Ponyville home now. Scootaloo looked at me and I took a moment to ponder what to do. “Okay kid. You're not staying here. I'll take you back to the barn and if the Apples notice we say that you were locked out of your house because your parents are working late. You can sleep in the barn tonight and I'll figure something out tomorrow”.

Scootaloo nodded, obviously pondering the fact that sleeping in a barn was better than sleeping in the clubhouse. “Okay, you have to promise you won't tell anypony about what I've been doing. Pinkie Promise?”.

In case you didn't know, a Pinkie Promise is serious mojo. I've seen that pink party animal do things that just don't make sense but I agreed. “I promise I won't tell anypony in Ponyville about this”. Scootaloo agreeing to that left me with a nifty loop-hole but it was going to take a lot more than that to help her out.

I managed to get us back to Sweet Apple Acres unnoticed and Scootaloo upstairs when I smiled. “Kid, I'm leaving you here for now. If I'm not back by day-break cover for me”.

Scootaloo looked at me like she wanted to run there and then. I smiled before speaking. “I promised I wouldn't tell anypony in Ponyville, I just need to get you some more suitable bedding. There's plenty of room to hide a better blanket than that old thing. I said I wouldn't have you sleeping in the clubhouse and I mean it”.

I left her upstairs in the sure and certain knowledge that I was pushing my luck to a prodigeous extent and ran as fast as my hooves could carry me to the Library in Ponyville. I knew the only way to help her really was to trust the one person in Ponyville who might be able to help without violating the promise I made to Scootaloo.

By the time I got to the Library it was getting really late. There was a light downstairs so I hammered on the door as best I could while I tried to stop myself from being sick from the exercion from running full-pelt from Sweet Apple Acres to the centre of town. “The library is closed, and you still haven't returned the book Spike let you borrow”.

Speaking between trying to get more air into my lungs, I managed to say “I... need... to... speak.. to... Spike, in private. It's more important than you can imagine” I guess the look on my face must have convinced her that I was serious, that or the fact that I was moments away from being sick all over her hooves. “Sit down, I'll get Spike”.

In about a minute the small, yet perfectly formed dragon walked downstairs. Obviously he had been asleep but what I told him woke him up. “Spike, I need your help”. I glanced around but it looked like Twilight had gone into the kitchen. “Scootaloo is living rough. I followed her to the Crusaders clubhouse and she was planning to sleep their for the night. I want to help her so I got her to sleep in the barn but you're the only person I can tell in town. She made me promise I wouldn't tell anypony in town about it but, way I see it, you're not a pony so I can tell you”.

He looked at me then asked the question I didn't expect him to ask. “Did you make a Pinkie Promise?”.

“Yes, why?”.Spike was looking behind me.

I turned around, Pinkie had somehow got into the library and didn't look happy. I smiled. “I said nopony in town would hear about if, Spike's not a pony”.

I could see Pinkie trying to work out if I had broken the promise before she smiled. “Okie, Dokie. Lokie. You get away with it this time”. She pointed her hoof at me with a look of pure murder on her face. “This time” She turned around and bounced off whistling happily. I turned back to Spike as he stood, deep in thought. “What do I do?”.

“There's only one thing you can do Spike, tell Twilight what I just told you”.

Spike walked into the kitchen, there was a moments silence then the noise of crockery breaking before Twilight came running out of the kitchen and over to where I was sitting. “Is this true”.

“I can't say, I made a promise to somepony”.

I could see that she was deep in thought about what I had said. She then hugged me. “Thank you. I have to go and tell Applejack. Do you want to come with me, you're a long way past your curfew”.

I shook my head, I suspected that the last pony Scootaloo would want to see would be me when she found out I had betrayed her.
Suffice it to say that all Tartarus broke loose at that point. Twilight dictated a letter to, well, you and Spike sent it before she teleported out of the library. As I later found out Applejack offered Scootaloo the chance to stay with them for good. Apparently so did Rainbow Dash and, of all ponies, Rarity. She's living with the Apple's now. That makes things complicated since she still won't speak to me. What does she want, I got her off the streets. I wish I had a pony willing to do that for me when I was her age.

When Twilight came back from Sweet Apple Acres she pointed out the fact that I was out a long way past curfew and that Applejack should have called the guard on me. Instead she said that I had to start writing these letters, she says it's because I can explain how I've gone from a pony who trusted nopony other than herself to someone who would do that for a little filly she barely knew. Personally, I think she just likes to see me try to write fancy.

Besides all that, Scootaloo's life is on the up and I'm due to leave Ponyville in a week. The problem is that I really don't want to go. I promised Applejack that I would leave as soon as my wing was healed. She doesn't know that I made Spike keep one more secret when Twilight and the other elements had gone to help Scootaloo. I can fly, my wing is well enough that I could take off. It wasn't pretty and I had to stop after a couple of laps of the main room but I can fly. The Apples are going to expect me to leave before the rest of their family arrive for some reunion and I don't have a clue what to do.

Your loyal subject
Wandering Star

Author's Note

This is the penultimate chapter. the last chapter is going to be very different to what has come before.

This has been edited since I knew a whole-lot less about the show when I wrote this and it's more logical that Scoots is living in the Crusaders clubhouse.

Letter 7 - Home is where the heart is...

Dear Peincess Celestia

Ah've just found out that our guest, Wandering Star, has been sending you letters for the last couple of weeks. That mare is full of surprises, as far as ah knew she still bore a grudge against Twilight for casting the tracking spell on her. After we found out about what Scootaloo had been through Star seemed more out of sort than she had been since the first week or so here. We were all, well, most of us were worried about her. Scootaloo still thinks that she broke her promise and won't listen, no matter how much we explain that she was only helping her.

There was a party to welcome Scootaloo to the clan three nights after we found out about her situation since Pinkie said it was likely to be the party of the week so she needed to prepare properly. Star stayed in her room above the barn all night. Ah've never seen her turn down Granny Smith's pie but she just stayed upstairs. All ah know is Rainbow Dash went up to talk to her for a while then came back down saying that she wouldn't say what was getting her down and that she was packing. That's when ah remembered that she was due at the hospital to check how her wing was healing two days later.

After Rarity and Twilight offered to pay any excess amount that Star owed us after her stay in hospital ah knew that she would be leaving us soon. We just didn't expect it to be so soon. Star helped Granny Smith for the morning before heading for the hospital. She said she would go to Twilight to have the tracking spell turned off before she came back to finish packing, then she would be out of our mane's for good. We were all waiting for her to come back when Big Mac told me something that made things a little clearer.

By the time Star came back from the hospital she looked less like a pony who was finally free to go where she wanted and more like somepony who had just been told she was being sent to Tartarus. She walked up to us as we stood on the stoop and put on a slight smile. “I've been given the all clear. I'll be gone within the hour”. We all watched as she walked to the barn and up the stairs before ah decided it was time to settle everything.

Ah followed her up the stairs, she was sitting on her bed, looking lost and alone in the world. She looked at me and smiled a sad smile. “Applejack, I'll be out of here in a few minutes”. She walked over to me and sighed. “Thank you for all this, thanks to all of you”. She flapped her bad wing to prove it was alright. “I guess I didn't bring anything with me when I crashed into your life”. That smile was a little less sad. “I promised I'd be gone the day that my wing was fixed”.

Ah laughed. “You've proven you can't keep a promise”.

Her frown was back. “I only promised Scootaloo I wouldn't tell anypony in Ponyville, strictly speaking Spike is a dragon”.

Ah took her chin in mah hoof and lifted her head so she could look me right in the face. “Ah'm not talking about that. Ah'm talking about what Big Mac saw the night after Scoot's party. He was walking home after having a meal with Miss Cheerilee when he saw you flying around the barn. He waited until you flew back into the window before going inside”. Ah smiled. “Why didn't you tell us your wing was healed?”.

If mah hoof wasn't making her look at me, ah reckon she would have been looking at the floor again. “I promised I would leave as soon as my wing was healed”.

“And”.

“I don't want to go, this is as close to a stable life that I've had for longer than I remember”. She was starting to cry, trying to fight it off. “I don't want to go but I made a promise so I'll be gone in a few minutes”.

Ah wiped what tears there were away, “Now listen to me, sugarlump. We spoke about this and we all agree that you can stay if you want”. Then she hugged me and the flood-gates opened. She was crying like a filly and ah was not far behind. “You'll have to move into the house”.

She shook her head. “I like it out here. The window is big enough that I can fly into here. Besides I'll lower the tone of the place if I move in the house”. At least she had a smile on her face. “If I pay for it, can I get a proper bed in here?”.

“Now, how are you going to pay for a bed, Star?”.

Star grinned like a fool. “I just worked out a job I can do”.

She was good to her word. She worked out that there are a lot of ponies in town who can't fly and she's set up as a courier to fly small items, documents and such fancy stuff. If she's on schedule she should be just short of Appleloosa, delivering a legal document for Filthy Rich. She's using our spare bedroom as an office but living in the barn. Of course, she spends a lot of time with Granny Smith if she's not on the road. She claims it's because she wants Granny to make her more of her trail rations but ah think they're both just glad for the company. Ah know that Granny Smith was showing her and Scoots our family album when I left to come to the library.

Ah spoke to Star about why she had wanted to stay in Ponyville. She told me that she didn't understand friendship when she arrived here. She had been unwilling to let anypony in. Now she understood that it's not a risk. She had a lot of friends, she's even on civil terms with Dash after what she did for Scootaloo and they are both giving her flying lessons now that Scoot has realised that Star didn't betray her by telling Spike what had happened.

Star says that she expected to get a few apples when she arrived in Ponyville, instead she's found a home. Ah guess that's all you can ask for.

Your faithful subject

Applejack

Author's Note

That's that for this story. I have plans for more stories, which will feature more of the Mane 6 (I've got a plan for a story focussing on Rarity and Fluttershy since they got the short end off the stick when the story wrote itself to an early finish as well as a Greco-Roman Pony story that'll be like Gladiator with Ponies).