Shining Feather

Twilight smiled as the Crystal empire came into view from the train she was on, she felt excited to take a break from all the stress she was on and getting to see her family was also going to be a big help.

It wasn't long before the train got to the station and Twilight stepped out feeling relaxed already. She got a bunch of looks as she took her bags and walked towards the castle, being a princess one would think she had an escort or royal guards everywhere she went.

She honestly hated being escorted, it just didn't feel right to her, as she made her way to the castle she noticed a lot of royal guards around the royal gardens. “What's going on?”

As she was walking and not looking where she was going she bumped into a figure making her fall back onto her rump. “Oof!”

“Oh, I'm so sorry” The guard said before holding his hand out to her and then realizing who she was. “Princess Twilight?”

“Uh..” Twilight looked up at him and saw it was her crush Flash Sentry, he was an amber pegasi male with light blue eyes and dark blue hair that spiked upwards, he was wearing the royal guard armor, she couldn't help but blush seeing him. “Oh Flash Sentry...nice to...run into you again”

“We keep meeting like this and people will start to talk princess” Flash said as Twilight took his hand and he pulled her up onto her feet.

“Oh my! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I was just wondering why so many guards are posted around the garden” Twilight said flushed with embarrassment.

“Well yeah, something big was unearthed when the gardener was trying to plant some flowers he bumped into a torch and it opened what seems to be a secret passage, nobody is sure what to think about it” Flash Sentry said as he turned her attention to a open wall.

“Wow, what did king Sombra put in there?” Twilight asked going over to it.

“That's what Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance want to know as well” Flash said walking with her.

They made their way to the open wall and went inside, it wasn't a large hallway but there was another door at the end. Twilight saw her brother and sister in law talking as they approached. Cadance looked worried while Shining Armor looked concerned.

“I don't like this...something is..off about that door...it's magical” Cadance said scanning the door. Cadance was a pink alicorn with purple hair with stripes of rose and gold, her eyes were a light purple and she was wearing a golden gown, it had no back and had a cut down the side to show some leg, it hugged her cleavage quite well and she had a rose in her hair.

“It's strange that's for sure, should we open it?” Shining Armor asked unsure of what to make of it. He was a male white unicorn with cerulean eyes and sapphire blue hair, he was wearing a red nobles outfit with the puffy shirt and the black pants.

“Hey you two, what's going on?” Twilight asked as she walked up.

“Twilight?” Shining Armor looked back and smiled. “Well this is unexpected, what are you doing here?”

“I needed to clear my head of some things when I came across this, where does that door lead?” Twilight asked.

“We're not sure, it could be something really bad or really good, Sombra went through a lot of trouble to hide this after all” Cadance said focused on the door.

“That's true” Twilight said going up to the door. “But we'll never know if we just stand here”

“It's to dangerous to open Twilight, we shouldn't open this” Shining Armor pointed out.

Twilight didn't hear him in time as she twisted the knob and opened the door. A light came through the cracks and Twilight was taken in awe as she saw what was inside. Inside was a large circular room, stairs that led up to bookshelves there was so many books it was like a mini library, on the first floor looked like a small girl's room.

Twilight went over and looked at a dresser with a mirror attached to it and some beauty supplies were laid out, what she found odd was the fact it all looked well kept, as if someone was living here. Cadance went over to a fancy bed and felt the sheets. “It's still warm”

“Someone has been living here? Weird” Shining Armor said opening a drawer and took out a small square. “What's this?”

Shining Armor unfolded it and revealed it to be a red pair of panties with a pink heart on the front. He blushed and felt strangely allured to the smell, it was fresh and smelled like crystal roses. “Whoa...”

Cadance went over and grabbed the panties away from him. “Shining!? You can't go through a girl's panty drawer like that! What are you an animal!?”

“Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know it was panties I swear!” Shining Armor tried to explain but he knew he was in trouble.

Twilight rolled her eyes at them and went back to looking around, she went over to the library and scanned through the books, her eyes gleamed as she realized how old those books really were. “Oh Celestia these were thought to be lost forever!”

Twilight drooled as she took a book from the selves, the title was 'Forbidden magic's' Twilight saw that it was an old book but it wasn't dusty or old feeling at all. “I've never heard of this book before”

Twilight opened it and a purple glow came out of book. “A book on forbidden magic...amazing...”

She noticed that the book talked about Alicorn magic and dark magic mainly, she was interested to see alicorn magic as a forbidden magic though. “How odd...”

Twilight decided to keep the book for study later and moved on, she was amazed how all the books were so well kept even though they were so old. She went all the way upstairs and heard the sound of a girl singing.

Her voice was soft and pleasant to the ear, the voice drew Twilight further up until she was at a throne, it was a large crystal throne and what sat there was a armored figure holding an orb that glowed a dark green, the armor it wore was that of the ancient kings before even Sombra had taken over. “What?”

Twilight went over to the figure and stepped over a magical grid. “Oh boy...what did I just do?”

Twilight watched as a door behind the figure opened. “You are of royal blood...you may pass, welcome descendant of Starswirl”

Twilight raised her brow at this. She wasn't a descendant of Starswirl, as far as she knew anyways, in fact history would say he never had kids because he was to much into his studies. “Uh...right?”

The old figure looked at her with a stone cold gaze. “Your doubts...cloud your rule, princess of friendship”

“You know who I am?” Twilight walked up to the figure and saw it wasn't some old wise man or anything like that, it was a statue, a living statue with real armor. “Your...what are you?”

“The girl who sings at the edge of the world is waiting for you, go to her and take her away from her curse” The statue spoke.

“But wait...I don't understand, who is this girl who sings at the edge of the world? How do you know about me? I have so many questions” Twilight tried to get some answers but the statue only lifted the orb it held up to her.

“All will be revealed with time this orb holds the past and the present within, but the future is uncertain and thus it sees many outcomes” The statue spoke before it's eyes dimmed.

Twilight took the orb into her own hands and looked it over, it was old but it felt brand new, the runes on it were older then this place, she figured only Melody Bloom could make sense of this kind of relic so she put the orb into her purse and walked to the door, she could hear the singing get louder as she walked inside.

Twilight saw a large waterfall coming down, she saw a small island surrounded by a small lake and a walkway under the waterfall, she could smell steam like hot water was running but she couldn't tell from where, she noticed a girl sitting on the island singing gently as she bathed. The figure was a sky blue girl with long crystal purple hair and her eyes were a gem pink, she had a unicorn horn and also pegasi wings.

Twilight was shocked to see an alicorn just bathing right there, she couldn't help but be in awe, this girl was another princess, she thought there was only four, but now she didn't have a clue. But what really got her was the girl's singing voice, she was just as good as Fluttershy, her voice was beautiful.

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked as she walked up to the edge.

The girl stopped singing and saw her with a quiet. “Eep!” she jumped and fell into the small lake making a large splash.

“Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!” Twilight set her things down and went down to the lake to see if she was okay.

The girl came to the surface taking a deep breath before seeing Twilight coming up to her, without a word she stumbled out of the water and tried to run for the waterfall but Twilight was already blocking her path. “Don't run! I just want to talk”

The girl fell backwards onto the ground landing on her butt and backed up in a corner, Twilight could see complete fear in the girl's eyes, as if she had never seen another person in her life. “No, no, please don't be scared, My name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm a princess like you, see?”

Twilight smiled as she showed the girl her horn and wings. “I'm not a threat I swear, I promise I didn't come here to hurt you, I was just drawn in by your amazing voice...what's your name?”

The girl stared at her not sure to be confused or to be scared anymore, she looked away from her and and avoided eye contact before quietly speaking. “Sh...Shining...Star....”

“Shining Star? That's a pretty name” Twilight said, she had gotten used to shy girls thanks to Fluttershy. “You want to be friends with me?”

Shining Star looked at her for a second and shock her head. Twilight could tell she was going to be a handful, but her bigger question was why she was in here in the first place. “Well we can work on that, how about you tell me what your doing under the Crystal palace?”

“......I live here...” Shining Star said covering her naked body so Twilight didn't get a good look at her. Although Twilight could tell she had rather large breasts, much bigger then hers.

“You live under the castle? How long?” Twilight asked trying to get something out of her without losing patience.

“....I don't know....over a thousand years now...I guess...” Shining Star spoke in barely a whisper, luckily Twilight heard the thousand years part.

“Were you sealed away with the other Crystal ponies?” Twilight asked.

“I don't know...” Shining Star said looking elsewhere to avoid her eyes.

“So....have you ever left this place? Gone outside before?” Twilight asked trying to get answers.

“No...I'm not allowed outside...” Shining Star said a bit more clearly.

“Are you the girl the statue spoke of? The one who sings at the edge of the world?” Twilight asked.

Shining Star looked at her finally but with confusion in her eyes. “What statue?”

Twilight stopped and pondered a little. “I'll...be right back....”

Twilight then headed back to the entrance and saw that the throne and the statue on it were completely gone. “HUH!!!?”

Shining Star walked up behind her. “Are...you..real?”

Twilight looked at her and then back at the empty space. “I swear there was a throne here and a statue not even five minutes ago!”

Shining Star backed up from her shouting. “I...I don't know...there was never anything there....before...”

Twilight sighed as she noticed that Shining Star was not good around shouting ether. “Sorry..and yes, I'm real, why do you ask?”

“It's....it's just that....I haven't seen another living being in....a long...long time...” Shining Star admitted.

“Your quite the shut in huh?” Twilight said looking her over. “You should get dressed”

Shining Star nodded and headed back into the waterfall bathing area to get dressed.

As she was doing this Cadance and Shining Armor walked up and Shining Armor looked worried. “Twilight are you okay? We heard shouting”

“I'm...uh, I think I'm fine...” Twilight said and noticed a glow from her purse. “Huh?”

She took out the orb given to her and took a sigh of relief, holding the orb meant she wasn't crazy but that only raised more answers. “Well at least I know it actually happened”

“What happened? And what is that?” Cadance asked looking at the orb.

“I'll explain later, right now, I'd like to introduce you two to someone” Twilight said as Shining Star walked back in dressed in a one strap dress, the top was white and showed off her cleavage without hindering her movements and was supported by a pink corset that hugged her tightly, the skirt was short but long enough to hide her panties as well as it was doubled layered with matching colors.

“Whoa! Who is this sexy friend of your Twilight?” Shining Armor said looking Shining Star over mainly at her breasts. This however made Shining Star duck behind Twilight and blush seeing him.

“Shining Armor don't be rude” Cadance said before turning to the shy girl. “I'm sorry about him, my name is Cadance and this perv is my husband Shining Armor, what's yours?”

Shining Star shook her head denying herself any words and Twilight looked back at her and smiled. “It's okay, their my family. Her name is Shining Star”

Cadance smiled at this. “I'm pleased to meet you-whoa!?” Cadance only then realized she had wings and a horn. “She's a...a...”

“Yep, I don't know how, but she's a alicorn” Twilight said. “By the way Shining Star, who gave you alicorn magic?”

Shining Star looked at her completely lost. “Gave?...I was born like this...”

Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor looked at her and the Cadance spoke in shocked excitement. “This is...this is big! There hasn't been a naturally born alicorn since the two sisters, it's completely unheard of!”

“Yeah and Celestia and Luna never said it was even possible. Isn't it just some sort of magic spell or something? I thought there were made alicorns after birth or something” Shining Armor added.

“I don't know how it works myself, but if she's a natural alicorn...what does this mean?” Twilight asked herself.

Shining Star was watching them as they talked, she had been thinking the whole time about how they got inside her room in the first place, as far as she knew there was no exit, and she had tried finding one before, she knew she could trust the two alicorns, they didn't seem all that bad, but she wasn't sure about Shining Armor, she couldn't trust him because when she looked at his chest she could see it was flat, what girl had a flat chest?

“Excuse me...” Shining Star spoke clearly for once getting their attention. “I forgot to ask, um...how did you all get inside my room?”

“Oh! I'm sorry, we just sort of walked in here without knowing you where in here” Cadance said bowing her head little. “We sort of looked through your things too...I'm so sorry about that”

“That doesn't really bother me, I'm just interested in finding out how you got in” Shining Star said clearly. Twilight was impressed with her stance and way of speaking when she wasn't scared.

“We actually got in from over there” Shining Armor said pointing to the open wall they entered from.

Shining Star looked down and backed away, Cadance and Twilight noticed that she was still uncomfortable around him for some reason. Cadance put a hand on Shining Star's shoulder and smiled warmly at her. “Would you like to see the outside world?”

Shining Star looked at her and nodded. “I'd like that...”

“That was weird, what happened?” Shining Armor asked as Cadance took Shining Star and walked by them.

“I think she's scared...of men” Twilight said pondering as they followed. “Or maybe it's just because she's been in here all her life with no real contact with anyone”

“I don't think I could imagine what it would be like to grow up in a sealed room, never having any friends or even family around” Shining Armor said.

“Yeah, even when I pushed all my friends away you, mom and dad were still there for me, I wonder if she ever had a family?” Twilight said as they walked.

Cadance took a deep breath of fresh air as she stepped outside into the garden and Shining Star squinted her eyes and raised her hand over her face to block out the sun she had never seen before. “Wha...it's so bright...”

“That's the sun silly, you must have read about it in one of your books at least right?” Cadance asked with a bit of a laugh. “Your not a complete shut in right?”

“What's a shut in?” Shining Star asked confused at the humor. “My books are mainly about magic and princess's, large balls of gases that burn holes in your eyes if you look at it wasn't really included”

Cadance nodded and got an idea. “I think I can help you with that”

Cadance then walked off inside the castle as Twilight and Shining Armor made it out. “Hey Shining Star, how is your first time outside feeling so far?”

“It's....different then I thought it would be” Shining Star said looking around the garden. “Wow...I was living right next to such a beautiful place...”

“There is a whole world of beauty you haven't seen yet, trust me” Twilight said.

“Well girls, I have to get back to my royal duties, see you around” Shining Armor said before he headed off.

When he left Shining Star seemed to calm down a lot more as if she had her guard up around him. This made Twilight curious. “Hey Shining Star? Do you not like my brother?”

Shining Star raised an eyebrow and turned to her. “What's a brother?”

Twilight looked at her in shock, she wasn't afraid of men like she thought, she didn't even know what a man was. “Your kidding? Your kidding right? A brother is a male sibling”

“Male?” Shining Star was now even more lost. “I was wondering why she had such a small chest...what's a...male?”

Twilight gulped as she realized she might have to give...the talk to this innocent minded girl. “A male is...uh well...a male is a he...and uh...they are not...like us girl's...oh how do I put this...their like another species from us”

“Really? So males are..aliens?” Shining Star looked at her in awe as if a child was learning something brand new. “That's amazing!”

Twilight looked at her and sighed. “No Shining Star, males aren't aliens their a different gender, you do know where babies come from right?”

“......” Shining Star looked at her more confused. “I guess I don't...”

Before Shining Star could ask where they came from Cadance came back with a white sunhat. “Hey you two, I just messaged Celestia and Luna about Shining Star, they said they would like to meet her, but I'm too busy here and Shining Armor can't take her, Twilight? I know you just got here, but could you take her?”

“But I...” Twilight tried to object to it but she could tell Shining Star needed the help. “Yeah, sure”

“Don't worry, I'll come by later in the week and we'll have a girl's night” Cadance said with a smile. “I promise”

Twilight nodded and took Shining Star's hand. “I guess we better go then”

“And don't forget this” Cadance put the sunhat on Shining Star's head. “You should be able to see better now”

Shining Star smiled as her vision cleared up slightly, she really just needed time to adjust to the sun but this helped in the meantime. “Thank you..”

“I hope we get to see each other again Shining Star, I'd love to get to know you better” Cadance said. “Now you two be careful okay? It's not as safe as it was for girls nowadays”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“It should be a problem, but you are a princess now Twilight and being a girl all by herself is just asking for...trouble” Cadance explained. “A strange group of men have been kidnapping girls lately, we're pretty sure their up to no good so just be careful okay?”

There was that word again Shining Star had no clue what these men or brothers were but she was getting the feeling it wasn't a good thing. “Uh...excuse me?”

“Yes?” Cadance smiled at her waiting for her to speak.

Shining Star blushed at the sudden attention but kept talking. “It's just...I...what are men? I'm afraid I don't know...”

“Boy, you really were locked in that place all your life...” Cadance said trying to think of how to explain it. “Well, men are...Twilight's brother Shining Armor is a man”

“So...he's a bad person?” Shining Star asked complement ignorant.

“My brother isn't a bad guy, he's the nicest guy I know” Twilight said a bit offended at her words.

“I'm sorry...did I insult him?...I'm sorry” Shining Star looked down at her feet feeling like she got Twilight upset.

“Don't worry about it Shining Star, you'll get to know him and maybe other guys as well, most are friendly of course, but some aren't. Twilight will help you understand better” Cadance explained more. “Now you two shouldn't keep the two sisters waiting”

“Right, let's go Shining Star” Twilight said and they walked out of the castle. It was more like Twilight walked out as Shining Star was hiding herself as best she could behind Twilight trying to avoid the working people around them, she had never seen so many people before she was getting more scared by the minute.

“Uh...do..do I have to do this?” Shining Star asked hugging her new friend from behind tightly. “So...so many....people...”

“Your a lot like a friend of mine you know that?” Twilight said as they walked. “She's so scared of everything she jumps at her own shadow, of course you both have different reasons why”

“Is she kind?” Shining Star asked as she clung so tightly to Twilight she was being carried by her on her back. Twilight however didn't mind carrying the shy princess.

“She's the kindest girl I know, although she can be kind to a fault, it gets her in a lot of trouble” Twilight said laughing a little as she remembered some of the things she did with Fluttershy. She sighed as she hadn't seen her friends in what felt like years.

“Is something wrong?” Shining Star asked hearing the sigh. “Did something happen to her?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped out of it and shook her head. “Oh uh no, she's fine. It's just I haven't seen my friends for awhile now and I miss them”

“Why haven't you seen them? Did they all move?” Shining Star asked.

“No, more like I moved, after I became princess I haven't had the time to spend with them, it's always work work work with me now” Twilight said annoyed at her new life.

“Your lucky to have friends Twilight, you shouldn't let your job rule your life” Shining Star said quietly. She didn't have any experience with work herself but her books told her all about stuff like that.

“I wish it was that easy” Twilight said.

“A book I read said that friends is like having a second job, friends and work don't go together but you have to make it work....I uh....don't know if that's true or not. But it's worth a shot...right?” Shining Star said as Twilight made her way to the trains.

“Yeah, after this I should go see the girls, they must be pretty busy themselves” Twilight said smiling.

“That's a good idea, I'm sorry you have to watch me” Shining Star said hiding behind her more to avoid attention.

“It's okay, I don't mind at all” Twilight said with a smile as they got in line.

Shining Star saw a bunch of people look at them confused Shining Star was so scared she buried her head on Twilight's back. Twilight could feel her shaking so much she was vibrating. Twilight went up to the train and was stopped by a train worker.

“Tickets please” He said before getting a good look at them. “Oh I'm sorry, princess Twilight, please come aboard”

“Thank you, and this girl is with me” Twilight said motioning to Shining Star.

“Oh, well enjoy the ride” He said as they walked in the train.

Shining Star bit her lip as she and Twilight went over to some seats, luckily they were the only ones in the car. “Okay, you can relax now Shining Star”

Shining Star looked around and stopped shaking so much. “Sorry...It's just...people scare me..”

“Why? Their all nice” Twilight said sitting down.

“Well for starters I've never even one person before today, it's a lot to take in that I'm not the only princess and I lock up when I see others...” Shining Star admitted as she sat across from her.

“Well you talk to me fine enough” Twilight said and then got an idea. “Hey, how about I teach you about our world on the way to Canterlot? We have time”

“I'm going to need to learn it all, okay Twilight, let's study” Shining Star said happily.

Twilight was overjoyed that she finally had someone she could talk to that was on her same level of intellect. She felt relieved that she still had friends and was making new ones, being a princess was so tiring she couldn't keep up much longer. And now there was a new princess nobody even knew about, things in Equestria were about to change. But how much it was going to was the question she had in her mind.