Dreams Do Come True

Chapters

Chapter 1 :Dreams Do Come True
Chapter 2 Twilight's House Guest
Chapter 3 Parties And Memory's
Chapter 4 A Crazy Day
Chapter 6 Its Kind Of A Long Story
Chapter 7 Mystery Of The Dream's
Chapter 8 Shocking Truths Revealed
Chapter 9 A Little Bit Of Sweetie On My Side
Chapter 10 A New Friendship
Chapter 11 A Weekend In Canterlot
Chapter 12 Star's First Year
Chapter 5 ShadowFoot's Past And Shooting Star's Frienship

Chapter 1 :Dreams Do Come True

Dreams Do Come True

Written by Sparknanator and Southpawfighter614, based on the MLP Universe.

chapters 13 through 20 will be under going a re-write soon

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Damian had reached a dead end in his life. His family had all but forgotten him; his friends barely spoke to him at all, if he could consider them friends. The only solace he found was in a show he stumbled upon by accident. The show had brought him unending happiness whenever a new episode had come out, but the series had finally ended. Now he felt he had

nothing to live for. Damian was sitting on the very topmost point of the 10 story parking structure, caressing a little pink pony with blue wings and hair. The pony was named Princess Celestia in the show. Celestia was forever the symbol of wisdom and courage. He silently wished to himself “I wish Celestia were my mother, she’d understand. She always understands” Still grasping the pink pony, he let himself fall of the structure.

Damian had woken up with a sharp gasp and jolted from a prone position. The last thing he remembered was the night sky melding into the asphalt below the parking structure, and a sudden blackness. Now he was laying on an ornate plush carpet, red in color. Around him were stone walls, with scenes of his life playing. He was learning to ride a bike on the screen directly

right of him. On the left, his sixteenth birthday party, which had only happened a day or two ago. A voice floated in from a door, and out of the door walked something he could only describe as an Angel. He (or she) was clad in a white robe of Roman style, a crown of green adorning its head. The voice sounded omnipotent, though it was clearly uttered by the Angel.

“Welcome, Damian, to your memories.” It said. “I’m the embodiment of your soul. Your time was not due yet, but once you’re dead, I have no choice in the matter. Here I can offer you a new life, if you so choose, to be reborn, and start over. To make a better life for yourself. Obviously, your life previously must have been horrid, in order to take it upon yourself to end it.”

The Angel helped a confused Damian to his feet. “You’re saying I’ve been given the chance to be reborn?” Damian asked quizzically. “As in a whole new lease on life, wherever I please?” Damian feeling more invigorated now.

“Yes, you have, but only within reasonable boundaries. I can’t send you to hell or heaven just because you want to go there. Nor can I send you back to earth. Your body was far too damaged. If you like, I can give you the names of what dimensions exist. But you must earn your place in heaven or hell.”

Damian thought to himself for a moment. “So what dimensions exist?”

“Oh, several” The Angel said. “Mayhaps even a few you already know of” He said with a wink. “As a matter of fact, I recall one we are both VERY fond of, Inhabited by colorful ponies." Damian stood there, flabbergasted.

“You mean I can go to Equestria? As a fully fledged pony? family and all?” Damian asked excitedly.

“Of course you can. You just need to tell me what family you’d like to be birthed or adopted into. You also need a name” Said the Angel.Damian suddenly realized his final wish was being granted. And he knew immediately what he was going to do.

“Angel, I’d like to be birthed into The Royal Family. My name will be Shooting Star and I want to be an Alicorn.

“So mote it be” and Damian was suddenly engulfed in a brilliant white light.

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Shooting Star woke up as a young colt, adorned with wings and a horn, just like his mother and Aunt. He shook the sleepiness from his head and stumbled out of bed. Today he would start visiting his Aunt Twilight. According to mommy and LuLu, she was a very dear friend and quite the respected pony. Since his mother and aunt always had royal duties to attend to, Twilight would start training him in using his magic. He would even live part-time with Twilight in her library. He looked at

himself in the mirror and made sure he wasn’t too raggedy looking. After a satisfied huff, Star turned to his bedroom door. Star was very excited and could barely contain it as he galloped out of his room and down the main hall to the dining room and kitchens.

Skittering into the kitchen, Star nearly ran face-first into a dining room table. He trotted slowly up to the serving counter and shouted to the cooks, who he had become friends with. They served him a fresh stack of pancakes, heaped with warm butter and syrup, with a side of apple chunks. He ate hungrily, waiting for his personal guard to arrive.

A large Unicorn entered the dining room, a katana slung across his back. He was one of the biggest stallions Star had ever seen. He had a vivid red coat, a shade above crimson, with black stripes and Green-Blue eyes. He was not dressed in standard guard regalia, and preferred to just wear his blade around the castle. Star called him Shadowfoot for the black on his hooves. Even though Shadow was gruff, he was kind and strong, always looking out for Star when his family couldn’t.

“Have you finished breakfast, young prince?” Shadow asked in his gravelly voice. “We have much to prepare before your trip to ponyville this afternoon.”

“Yes Shadow, I’m finished.” Star said as Shadow levitated the now empty plate into the sink behind the counter.

“Very well, let’s go.” Shadow led the young prince out into the hallway and toward his mother’s chambers.
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Shooting Star trotted into his mother’s chambers, slightly apprehensive. He knew deep down once he left he would not be coming back home until he was grown. He would still get visits from Momma and Aunt Luna, but magic training required intensive amounts of studying, and it would be awfully inefficient to make the 8 hour trip between canterlot and ponyville

every day. Star approached his mother, whom was sobbing slightly. He coughed lightly, garnering his mother’s attention.
Princess Celestia looked over to her young foal, realizing now he was in the room. She slipped off the bed slowly, dreading the next few minutes.

My young prince” Celestia cooed, trying to lose the last bit of shakiness in her voice. “I’m glad you were up early enough to come see me before you left” She said as she nuzzled him. “I have a small gift for you.” She levitated a small black box toward him, opening the lid. Inside was a small pendant of a Shooting star, on a braided silver chain. It was a bright yellow gem, in the shape of a star with a tail.

“This pendant I had especially crafted for you, for I knew this day would eventually come, and I did not want you to forget your roots. You won’t be returning to me for some time, after you’ve grown up into an adult. Until then, take this keepsake and remember us.”

Shooting Star embraced his mother, nuzzling her affectionately. He walked over to Aunt Luna, also embracing her. A few stray tears were shed, as Star was escorted to the inner gate by the only family he’d ever known. Shadowfoot walked Star to the outer gate that led to the city and Star’s awaiting chariot.

“Young Prince, I’ve never enjoyed my time more in Her Majesty’s services, as much as when I was your personal guardian.” Shadow said solemnly. “You gave me purpose once again, As I was on the brink of retiring before you came into this world. You are a brave, young colt, and I’m sure with time you will grow strong, mentally and physically. I want you to have this.”
Shadow levitated a hand-drawn map to his young charge. “Should you ever get lost, this map will lead you back home safely.
I hope you treasure it as much as I’ve treasured my time with you.”

Star sniffled a little as he accepted the gift from his first friend. He climbed into the royal chariot that was waiting for him, and with a heavy heart, waved goodbye to the first home he had known, and his first friend who shown him where kindness, compassion, and strength really came from.

Chapter 2 Twilight's House Guest

Twilight Sparkle awoke that morning to a painful-sounding belch uttered by her draconic assistant, Spike. She had just received a letter from Princess Celestia. In the letter, a detailed report was given about the Sun Princess’s son, Shooting Star. Celestia and Luna didn’t have time to teach him the ways of magic, so Twilight was charged with teaching Shooting Star everything she knew about magic. Twilight was also warned that at his young age, Star was still prone to uncontrollable

bursts of magic, much like the same day Twilight had gotten her cutie mark. A package arrived shortly after, containing a small savings box of about 5000 bits, to serve as a buffer for food, lodging, and any materials they may need.
Twilight was now visibly flustered, scrambling to put together some semblance of a spare bedroom for her soon-to-be arrival.

She hadn’t appreciated the lack of time to prepare, but she was good at cramming, whether it came to her studies, or a bedroom. After about an hour, Twilight had a freshly made bed and dresser for her new housemate, along with a picture of his mother, aunt, and guardian which she specifically requested from an old friend of hers in the castle. As she was putting the finishing touches on the hastily erected bedroom, she heard a knock on the door downstairs. Trotting downstairs after composing herself, she opened the door gently.

Standing outside the library door, Star knocked tentatively. It was answered by a purple unicorn with a pink stripe in her mane. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m very pleased to meet you, Shooting Star.” Star stood, shocked. How did she know his name?

“H…Hello, Miss Twilight…” Star said nervously. “I guess this is my new home for a while?” Star said, trotting nervously into the massive tree-like structure.
“Yes it is. I’ve already got your room ready for you. I’ll bring your bags inside while you go get settled.” Twilight said, taking on a motherly tone.

“Yes, Miss Twilight. Thank you” said Star as he ascended the stairs slowly, not wanting to go to the room right away, for when he did, he knew he would break down and cry. He already missed home dearly, and it was getting to him.

“Yes it is. I’ve already got your room ready for you. I’ll bring your bags inside while you go get settled.” Twilight said, taking on a motherly tone. “Yes, Miss Twilight. Thank you” said Star as he ascended the stairs slowly, not wanting to go to the room right away, for when he did, he knew he would break down and cry. He already missed home dearly, and it was getting to him. As Star laid down on his fresh bed, he noticed the picture on the dresser. He picked it up and clutched it close to his chest, and began to sob. He fell asleep still holding his picture.
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Twilight heard her young student sobbing in his room, and decided to let him have it out. She knew he would feel much better afterwards, and set to making dinner. Eventually, the sobs were replaced by gentle snores, and she decided to let him nap before dinner. As Twilight was finishing up cooking the meal, she heard the tapping of little hooves on wooden stairs,
and saw her student enter the kitchen, mane slightly ruffled by sleep.

Hi there, sleepycolt” Twilight said to Shooting Star, as he entered the kitchen. “I made some dinner if you’re hungry.” Star nodded to his teacher, and plopped down on the haystack chair he was provided. He ate slowly, picking at this and that. While it was silent, there was nothing really to be said. Star thanked Twilight for dinner and retreated back to his room. He

wanted to enjoy the last little bit of alone time he would have before his magical training started tomorrow.
The next morning, Star was awoken rather early by a giddy Twilight. “Shooting Star, time to wake up, sleepycolt.” Twilight nudged him gently. He awoke, bleary eyed and slightly grumpy. Twilight was instantly reminded of Spike, and trotted off to wake him up. Star shook himself out from under his covers, and stretched, climbing out of the warm pocket that was his bed. He combed his mane quickly, and trotted downstairs to a waiting breakfast. Spike was sitting on another chair nearby.

“Good morning, Shooting Star” Spike greeted the new arrival warmly. Star plopped next to the tiny purple lizard, who wasn’t much older than him. They both ate hungrily. Now fully awake due to the hot meal they had just eaten. Spike hopped off of his stool to clean the dishes, while Shooting Star headed downstairs to the study, where Twilight was waiting for him.

A loud from upstairs startled both Twilight and Shooting Star. They jumped in almost perfect sync, as Pinkie Pie came barreling down the steps, nearly smashing into Twilight. It was then Pinkie noticed the new colt that had been present with Twilight in the study room. Pinkie gasped quite audibly, similar to when she had first met Twilight. Pinkie began babbling incoherently, right in Shooting Star’s face, their muzzles almost touching. Shooting Star was scared by this, and ran to hide behind Twilight.

Twilight stuffed a hoof into Pinkie’s mouth. “Pinkie, what could possibly be so important that you needed to break into my library, and proceed to scare me and my student?” Twilight asked sternly.

“Twilight, I heard you had a new colt move in and that he was Celestia’s son and that he was really sad and weepy so I decided to come see him and meet him and throw a ponyville party for him with cakes and cookies and cupcakes and muffins and all our friends” Pinkie said, in one continuous sentence, as was Pinkie’s habit.

Twilight gasped. She hadn’t realized that word traveled so quickly about her new arrival, but this wasn’t surprising considering it was Pinkie. Physics, the fourth wall, and even logic never applied to Pinkie Pie. She was “So random” as Rainbow Dash often said. Twilight pulled Pinkie off to the side, and told her that because Star was Celestia’s son, word must

not get around, otherwise he could be in grave danger. Pinkie made the motions of a Pinkie promise, and literally flew out of the study as a poofy, pink blur. Star came out from behind the book he had been studying. Twilight had told him he had an important event to attend tomorrow, and gave him the rest of the evening to collect himself.
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As Shooting Star headed up to his room lethargically, he waved to Spike who was busy dusting some shelves off and reorganizing some books. Spike bid him goodnight, and Shooting Star flopped onto his bed, too tired to even get properly comfortable. He fell asleep quickly, into a vivid dream about cake. The dream quickly changed into something entirely different.

Chapter 3 Parties And Memory's

sorry could not think of a good name for the chapter

The dream started sweetly, with Shooting Star climbing a cake mountain with Pinkie Pie in tow. Most of the dream was spent climbing the crumbly, tasty mountain, talking to several animated desserts as Shooting Star and Pinkie hiked along. Right before they reached the top, there was utter blackness, and Shooting Star felt cold all over, even though he was probably

wrapped up in a nest of blankets. Shooting Star suddenly felt very scared, and kept screaming to himself “wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!!” But he did not wake. Instead he was dropped into a gray place, with tall buildings surrounding him, and strange machines that made a lot of noise and smoke.

There was rain, thunder, lightning, and Star was wrapped in a soaked cloth of some sort. He was walking on two legs. On two
legs!? Since when did he have two legs? A name echoed in the confines of his subconscious. Demon, was it? or dark man? Wait…”Damian” it said to him slowly, placatingly. It was enchanting, and hauntingly familiar. Was that his name in this other world, this other body? Damian? He wasn’t sure what to make of this dream, but he was scared.

Star began to run, tripping and falling into mud puddles and garbage heaps. Things were being thrown at him. Rocks, cans, all manner of garbage. Star was crying, being chased by monsters, on two legs just the same as he. They were laughing at him and calling him names. He didn’t know why they were being so cruel to him. Star ran into a dark alleyway, rain beating down on him. The pale monsters caught up to him, and he got a good look at them.

The monsters were pale and tall. There were three of them. Two of them had dust colored manes, and the third one, the biggest, had a dark brown, mud colored mane. They stood on two legs, and did not have hooves on any of their limbs. They were wearing cloths, similar to what he was wearing. Also, he realized that they had no fur either. Whatever these were, they
were certainly not ponies. And certainly not from Equestria, if his old story books had any truth within them. The monsters approached him, brandishing sticks and pipes.

Star acted on instinct, though he didn’t realize what kind of instinct he was acting upon. He picked up some sort of long, wooden object, with metal bits sticking out of it. He then charged the nearest monster, swinging his ill-suited weapon at its torso. The monster easily sidestepped him and hit him across his back with a grey pipe. Star felt the sharpest jolt of pain he

had ever experienced, and he collapsed under the jolt. He felt the other monsters beating upon him, laughing and yelling, as if they enjoyed every second of his torture. With three final hits, they dropped their weapons on him, and left him for dead. Gasping for air, he collapsed in a final white light.
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Shooting Star jolted awake with a scream that was quite unlike him. Twilight and Spike barged into his room, Twilight activating a magically powered lamp on his bedstand. Twilight rushed to Star’s side, cradling him in her forehooves. He was sobbing loudly, and shaking. Star was also drenched in a cold sweat, even though the bedroom was pleasantly cool for being the middle of the summer.

Twilight was still holding Shooting Star, rocking him gently. She told Spike to make some warm tea and bring it up to the room, while she talked to Shooting Star. She asked him about his nightmare, and he recounted every last horrifying detail, erupting into fresh sobs every time a particularly painful piece came forth. As Twilight held Star gently, Spike had returned with the tea, and Shooting Star drank deeply, having cried himself nearly hoarse. Twilight waited until he fell asleep, and

returned to bed herself. Twilight hoped that tomorrow’s festivities would take Star’s mind off of his horrifying dream.
Twilight dwelt upon Star’s nightmare for a few moments. From what Star had told her, it seemed like he had lived through the events, rather than dreamt them. She had heard of lucid dreaming, where the dream feels real while you sleep, but hadn’t yet come across a case where it woke the dreamer up with such vivid recollection. Twilight placed the dream to the back of her mind and dozed off. She had to help Pinkie with the party preparations, so she would need to be up early.
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The next day, Star woke up at about 10am, judging by the sunlight streaming through his curtains. He saw a note tacked to his lamp. The note read as follows:“Shooting Star, today’s the day of Pinkie’s welcoming party for you. Please tidy yourself up and come downstairs when you’re ready. Signed, Twilight Sparkle.”

Shooting Star frowned and looked at himself in the mirror. Living at the castle required a certain amount of grooming which he never liked. Nonetheless, he ran a wide-toothed combed through his mane, checked himself in the mirror, and trotted downstairs to a waiting breakfast. After cleaning his plate, Twilight entered the library with a smile, telekinetically placing a midnight blue bowtie around Star’s neck. Star grumbled at this, but kept it on for Twilight’s sake. After that, Twilight and Star
climbed into a waiting carriage, driven by none other than Spike himself.

The long walk to Sweet Apple Acres was not an easy one, so Twilight decided to rent a carriage for the day. Even though other young fillies and colts walked the same route, Twilight felt the young prince shouldn’t have had to. They arrived at Sweet Apple Acres at just about 11:30, and the party guests were filtering in as pairs or threes. All the faces were new to Shooting Star, except for Spike, Twilight, and Pinkie.

Twilight led Shooting Star to a lavishly decorated table, marked “Guests of Honor”. At this table were 7 chairs, and Twilight seated Shooting Star at the most lavish of the chairs. She then proceeded to introduce Shooting Star to her 5 best friends. First up was a yellow Pegasus with a butterfly cutie mark. She introduced herself as Fluttershy, rather shyly as her name

implied. She seated herself at one of the chairs. Next, a rather pretty unicorn introduced herself as Rarity. She ran the Carousel Boutique, designing clothes for the rich and famous as well as the less privileged. She was a sparkling white color with three gems as a cutie mark and a purple mane. Spike’s eyes went all googly with little hearts in them every time he looked at Rarity, Star noted.

Third was a rather well built earth pony with three apples as her cutie mark. She had an orange coat and dirty blonde hair. She was the proprietor of the very farm they were at. She introduced herself as Applejack, giving Star a warm smile and
rather vigorous hoofshake, leaving Star’s eyes spinning in their sockets. Lastly, a rather colorful Pegasus flew above the

crowd and directly to their table. Introducing herself as Rainbow Dash, she went on about how she was the best young flier in Equestria, destined to become captain of the Wonderbolts. She filled the last chair at the table, and the group began to chat excitedly among themselves.

They were equally astonished that there was another Alicorn among the ponies of Equestria. The last anypony had seen of an Alicorn besides the princesses, was over a millennia ago, before Nightmare Moon’s exile. The ponies chatted amongst themselves about nothing in particular, which bored the horseshoes off of Shooting Star. After he’d had quite enough of the conversation he didn’t understand, he began to mingle among the other ponies. They were all adults, well most of them, so he didn’t get too much excitement from them.

Sitting alone in a corner were three young fillies. Shooting Star approached them, unsure of what he was going to say. Ultimately, he introduced himself and they happily introduced themselves. Their names were Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo was a brash orange Pegasus with tiny wings and purple hair. Her attitude reflected Rainbow Dash’s, albeit younger. Apple Bloom was a slightly chunky Earth pony with red hair that was related to Applejack. Even her

voice reflected her older sister’s. Sweetie Belle was a white unicorn with a pink stripe in her blue-purple mane, related to none other than Rarity, the boutique owner. They called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, revealing their blank hindquarters.

Shooting Star sat and chatted for a good long while with the young fillies, and found that they had many interesting stories to tell about their adventures in seeking their cutie marks. He found that some of the stories were outright ridiculous, and they all laughed about them. The party went on around him, occasionally a new pony would introduce themselves to him, but he

barely remembered their name a few seconds afterwards. It’s not that he was particularly mean or ungrateful, but he was still young and couldn’t hold very many thoughts at once. As the long night drew on, Star felt himself getting sleepier and sleepier. Taking leave of his new friends, he made his way to the Honored table, and asked Twilight if they were ready to go home.

Twilight garnered everypony’s attention with a purple flash, and announced the party to be a complete success, as well as over. Seeing other ponies out the barn doors, Twilight bid each of them goodnight, and thanked them for coming. After the cleanup was finished, Twilight levitated a barely awake Shooting Star into their waiting carriage. The trip home was quiet and uneventful, and Star somehow managed to stay partly awake.

As Twilight and her protégé disembarked the carriage, Star wandered into the treehouse, barely able to keep his eyes open. Twilight wasn’t watching him as she was busy. Twilight barely had time to lock up before she heard a loud thunk of skull on wood. Whipping around, she noticed that there was a crying Alicorn Prince on her floor, before there was a brilliant flash of cobalt blue light and a resounding explosion that blew all the windows out of the treehouse. After the magical aura disappeared, Twilight looked around at her now exploded main room. Books littered the floor, some damaged, some just cast about as if they were thrown. Twilight looked on in amazement. She knew Alicorns had immeasurable power, even at a young age, but she had never seen a magical discharge this powerful, even from herself as a young filly.

Shooting Star woke up in a daze, bandages on his head, in his own bed. He had remembered leaving the party and getting back home, but not much after that. He stumbled downstairs dizzily, supporting himself on the sturdy oak rails. He walked blearily into the kitchen, surprising Twilight and Spike. Just then he noticed the library was all but destroyed, as if an
explosion occurred within the sturdy oak building. Frightened, Star ran to Twilight, asking her what had happened.

Twilight explained to Shooting Star that he had caused a magical discharge, by being so tired and bumping his head on one of the tables that dotted the library. The resulting explosion had damaged and scattered some books, and broke some windows. Twilight saw the hurt on her nephew’s face. She immediately comforted him, saying that it wasn’t his fault, and that even young unicorns can have astounding magical discharges. His was only so powerful because he was an Alicorn.

Holding back tears, Shooting Star offered to help clean up the library along with Spike, while Twilight was repairing the shattered windows. Twilight though this was an excellent idea and gave Shooting Star permission to help. During that time, he and Spike bonded little by little, goofing around here or there when Twilight wasn’t watching. By time the work was all

done, it was leaning towards late afternoon, leaving little time for Star’s studies. Twilight decided that Shooting Star and Spike should play together for the rest of the evening, while she caught up on studies of her own. To this end, Spike and Shooting Star sat down for a game of checkers, placing candies and sweets up as bets for who would win the game.

Spike enjoyed playing with Shooting Star. It was nice to have somepony to be a kid with, even if he was royalty. Spike often was bored or frustrated with the tasks he was often assigned by Twilight or Rarity, and it was good to just enjoy a game or two with a friend. The Cutie Mark Crusaders rarely came around, unless looking for new cutie mark shenanigans. And the other fillies and colts from Cheerilee’s class never stopped by the library unless on some sort of school trip. So it was always Spike, Twilight, and Shooting Star.

Twilight visibly saw an improvement in Star’s demeanor and mannerisms when he was free to play around. He smiled more, grumbled less, and was more prone to study harder if he was given frequent rests. He still had several years ahead of him before he would really need his magic, so Twilight saw no harm in his innocent games. Magic did require intensive study. Too much studying impeded the process for everypony except Twilight, who enjoyed studying. Twilight made it a point to

give Star a few breaks a day to get some fresh air or play a game, and his attitude began to stay positive as time passed. He would even ask to write to his mother occasionally if Spike weren’t available to play right away. In this respect, he felt closer to his mother. His first letter went along these lines:

“Hi mom. It’s me, Shooting Star. For the first few days I was living in Ponyville, I was very sad and scared. But after I had gotten to know other ponies thanks to Pinkie Pie and Aunt Twilight, I felt much happier. I also made some new friends with these three fillies that go to school here. I want to go to school just like them someday. I also play games with Spike. He wins a lot, but sometimes I win. Then I get a bellyache from all the candy I win. Just today, My new friends came by and asked if I wanted to go crusading with them and Aunt Twilight let me as long as I was home before dark. She takes very good care of me. Thank you for sending me here, mommy. I need to go to bed now because I have to get up early for studies.

Love, your Shooting Star”

Star held the pendant he had received from his mother close to his heart. He asked Spike to send the letter for him, and with a burp, it went up in green flames. Spike explained how his dragon flames worked. His letter wasn’t really burned up, it was just magically fixed after it was sent.

After a few weeks had passed, Star had gotten his very first visit from both Aunt Luna and his mother. He was overjoyed that day, tears streaming down his muzzle as he was hugged both by Luna and Celestia. They talked all day about everything Star had learned. He even showed his mom that he could lift and move things with his magic, dumping a glass of water over

Spike’s head, accidentally (though it really wasn’t). His mom even played some games with him, as did Aunt Luna, and eventually they were all laughing and playing and having fun. Aunt Twilight even got pelted with a fluffy pillow thrown by Celestia herself.

As night drew near, Aunt Luna had to do her job and raise the moon, and Celestia was tuckered out from the events of the day. With bittersweet smiles, The colt and his family parted ways, but not until they shared a dinner and a huge hug. After he watched his mom leave, Shooting Star finally realized how tired he was, and dozed off on the couch in front of the fireplace. Twilight couldn’t bear to disturb him, so she pulled a terrycloth blanket over him and Spike, as they had both fallen asleep

relatively quickly. With a bemused smile, Twilight collected up the pillow that had been thrown at her, and trotted lazily to her room. Burying herself in a nest of blankets, she also fell asleep rather quickly. Tomorrow was Sunday, so it was going to be a relatively quiet and easy day. She made it a point to at least give her boys a day off from their duties, and Sunday was that day. She would even allow herself to sleep in, but not too much.

Chapter 4 A Crazy Day

Twilight awoke the next morning to the rays of the sun beating upon her muzzle. She looked at the clock and said to herself “oh horseapples! I should go and wake up Spike and Star! Twilight walked down the stairs to see Spike and Star in an epic game of checkers. She giggled to herself and said “good morning, boys”

“Good morning, Twilight” Spike said

“Good morning Aunt Twilight!” Star said with a smile on his face.

“Oh! before I forget, Star you have a doctor’s appointment.” Star's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. When he heard this, a little fear in his voice made itself known.

“ D…Do I have to go?” Star said, nervously.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a check up and to get your stitches removed. You don’t need to be afraid” Twilight said with a reassuring smile on her face. “So, I need you to take a bath. We have to leave in thirty minutes.” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

Shooting Star sighed. “ok..” he muttered, and trotted to the bathroom.
Twilight walked to the doctor’s office with her nephew. When they arrived, Star looked up at Twilight and said “Aunt Twilight,
do I really have to go?” still fearful.

Twilight looked at him and said “yes” in a firm tone.“Don’t worry; it’s just a checkup. Nothing bad will happen.” Twilight said, attempting to reassure the young colt once again.

After they entered the clinic and signed in, Twilight filled out all the annoying forms. About ten minutes later, they heard Star’s name being called. “Shooting Star, Doctor Whooves will see you now.” A white nurse with a pink mane and tail approached the duo. She escorted them to their room. Shooting Star and Twilight walked into the examination room. Star looked around the color filled room. The doctor walked in shortly after the two sat down.

“Well first of all, we are going to need some blood work, Ms.Twilight. Then we will need a physical. Afterwards, those stitches will come out.”

At the sound of “bloodwork”, Star’s eyes grew even bigger than before. Star tried to run, but before he could Twilight grasped him in her magic. “You’re not going anywhere. Nopony is going to hurt you.” Twilight said in a motherly tone.
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After a frightening half hour in the Doctor’s office, Shooting Star and Twilight emerged from the sanitary-looking clinic, Star happily toting a huge peppermint lollipop. Twilight followed a few steps behind, organizing his outpatient records for future reference. As Twilight and Star trotted down the main street of Ponyville, Star got to thinking about his guardian from his palace life. He missed his friend dearly, and Star hoped every day that his mother or his guardian would come visit him. As they approached the library, there was a Unicorn waiting patiently outside of the door. Twilight asked Shooting Star to wait behind her as they approached.

Shadow had hoped he found the same library that his young friend had come to live at. Shadow noticed a very angry looking unicorn approaching him, and almost regretted not carrying his beloved blade with him. Shadow put on his best “indifferent” face as she approached. Other unicorns were not to be trifled with; especially judging by the stories Shadow had heard about this particular purple mare.

Twilight approached the large red unicorn adorned with black stripes. She’d never seen this particular pony around, and he didn’t look like he belonged here in Ponyville. She asked of him “Who are you, and what do you want with my library? Are you lost?” His green eyes seemed to stare deep into her soul as she waited for an answer.

Shadow did not have time to answer her question, as he was then hit with a full force tackle-hug from his young friend, whom he now noticed had been standing behind Twilight. Laughing, he embraced the young colt warmly. “Well well, Shooting Star, your strength has grown, but not your size.” Shadow laughed as he hiked up the young colt onto his back. He wasn’t allowed

such frivolities in front of the princesses and their court, so he allowed himself this minor show of affection.
Twilight blinked twice, a dumbfounded look on her face. Shooting Star was shy at best, even around other young ponies, but here it seemed like he had known this scary-looking unicorn since he was a foal. The red unicorn bowed gently, introducing himself.

"My name is Shadowfoot, Miss Sparkle. I was Shooting Star’s personal guardian back at the castle.” Rising from his polite bow, Shadowfoot finally managed to get out what he had been trying to say for the past few minutes. “I’ve so graciously been given leave of the castle for the next couple days. So I figured, why not see what all the fuss is about here in Ponyville? The town’s been all over the papers back home. But mostly, I wanted to visit Star.” He finished, smiling.

“I’m sorry Mr. Shadowfoot. I was unaware of your impact on Star’s life. I saw you in the photo, but he hasn’t told me anything about you. Would you like to come in and sit for a while?” Twilight asked, attempting to finish on a polite tone.

“I’d be honored to, Miss Sparkle.” He said sagely. Shadow followed Twilight into her treehouse, Shooting Star riding high on his back. The door shut behind him with a soft thunk, and Star hopped off of Shadow’s back to go find Spike. He wanted revenge on Spike for winning their last game. And who better to win in front of, than Shadow?

As Twilight and Shadow settled into uneasy conversation in Star’s absence, she did not want to hear the question that had came rather shortly after sitting down. “Miss Sparkle, I happened to notice a small cut on Star’s forehead. Have you any clues to how that came to be?” Shadow asked, rather seriously. Twilight swallowed hard before finally answering.

“Well, to cut a long story short, he bumped his head on the table we’re sitting at. He hit the corner, so it opened up quite widely. I immediately took him to the hospital and had him stitched up. He just got the stitches pulled out today.” Twilight tried to force a reassuring smile, but failed. Something about Shadow’s steely gaze would not allow her to hide the magical eruption from him".

“There was something rather strange that happened, before I managed to get him stitched up.” Twilight said uneasily. “A few moments after Star bopped his head, he had a magical eruption. Most young unicorns are prone to them, as you and I both know, but this one was quite powerful. It devastated my library. It shattered all the windows, and threw books everywhere. Some of my books were even partially burnt.” Twilight finished flatly, levitating a slightly scorched book in her magical kinesis. “I knew grown Alicorns were beyond powerful, but a young alicorn carrying around a loose cannon that powerful is frightening, at minimum.”

“Hmm.” Shadow grunted, affirming his suspicions that an accident had occurred. “Well, as long as it was nothing serious, I have nothing to worry about.” Shadow said lightly, offering a smile. “But perhaps you should look into finding ways for him to control his magic, instead of teaching him new things all the time. With control comes power.” Shadow levitated a pen and pencil, having a pretend swordfight between the two. “With control, I learned to do this with something 100 times as heavy and 10 times as long as these writing utensils”

Twilight stared hard at Shadow “What do you think I’ve been trying to do? Star’s still young yet and he can only concentrate for so long before he gets bored.”

“I understand this, Miss Twilight. Please keep trying hard for his sake as well as yours.” Shadow said.
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Just then, Shooting Star came skittering down the stairs, Checkerboard in tow. “First to the table gets first move!” Star yelled as Spike jogged along behind him. Plopping the checkerboard onto the tea table, Star levitated the little black and red pieces into their places on the board. As he had soundly beaten Spike to the table, first move was his. Star made his move, but did not see Spike waiting on the other end of the board. Instead, Spike was stopped dead in his tracks, staring down a

Unicorn that may possibly have been bigger than Big Macintosh. Walking slowly to the unicorn, Spike asked him who he was. Shadow then proceeded to introduce himself in a much simpler fashion than he had introduced himself to Twilight. Satisfied with Shadow’s answer, Spike sat and made his move.

While the adults were talking, Spike and Shooting Star engaged once more in an epic checkers war. Making satisfying –clack- noises with each move, the two went move for move, while the adults watched on in moderate amusement. Shadow was impressed at Star’s skill in this simple game. He could tell that Star would grow to be quite a smart young ruler of

equestria, if that’s what Star planned to do. Shadow decided to take a crack at the checkerboard, and was soundly beaten by both Spike and Star. But he kind of enjoyed cutting loose and acting like a colt again. Dropping every bit of his formal decorum, Shadow stayed engaged in activity and conversation with all those who were assembled, but had to take leave of Twilight and Star, as it was getting late and Star needed his sleep. Bidding a farewell to Twilight, Shooting Star, and Spike in turn, Shadow made his way to the library door, bowing his way out as was custom in most canterlot homes.

Shutting the door behind Shadow with a wave, Twilight rounded on the boys, levitating both of them. “Time for baths and bed, gentlecolt and gentledrake.” She said in a playfully menacing tone. After the boys had settled down, Twilight cleaned up the small mess that was left from tea and the boys’ game. She then retreated to her favorite couch in front of the fireplace, levitated a book onto a pillow, and proceeded to read. She wanted to do some research on alicorn magic before she turned in for the night.

Chapter 6 Its Kind Of A Long Story

Sorry it took a long time to make this chapter

Shadow stared at Celestia in disbelief. How did she know his human name? The Angel never told him that the ponies would know who he was. He would have appeared to be a drifter.“What did you call me, highness?” Shadow asked again, wanting to verify he hadn’t gone bananas.

“Jason.” Celestia replied curtly. “That was your human name, was it not?”

“Yes it was, princess. But how did you know? I was under the impression I appeared to be a drifter. Just a background pony if you will. The being who brought me here, he told me I would start over with all of my memories intact, but no pony else would know me.” Shadow said, voice dropping slightly.

“Shadow Foot, you give me less credit than should be given. I am an all powerful goddess, am I not?” Celestia said, allowing herself a small chuckle. “I knew since day one who you were and how you came to be; what interests me, my servant, is why you were so adamant to be my son’s protector, when I have so many other qualified guards ponies at my disposal.” She gestured around the room with her wing, pointing at 5 guards stationed about. They nodded to her in turn, and then resumed their stoic forward glance, every bit as serious as ever.

“Well, princess, it’s a bit of a confusing and long story.” Shadow said. “You see, your son and I were actually very close friends in our past lives. “ Shadow said. “He committed suicide after a particularly tumultuous period in his life. He has no memory of who he was or where he came from. As far as he knows, he’s only your son. As far as I can tell, he may not ever recover his previous memories, but I could be wrong. I didn’t think actually coming to equestria was possible, but here we are…” Shadow said, trailing off.

“Your story is a strange one, but I sense no guilt in your voice. You must be telling the truth, or a very good liar. But regardless, I gave you the guardianship of my son for the very reason you just told me. Who better to watch over him than someone who already knows him so well?” Celestia said, chuckling again.

“On my home dimension, there are far stranger things than a unicorn who utterly fails at magic.” Shadow said, his tone lightening considerably.

“Quite.” Celestia said, ending the rather uncomfortable conversation quite suddenly. As if mailed with perfect timing, a letter appeared in a puff of green smoke, no doubt sent via Spike belch. That always unsettled Shadow, even as a human.
“Speaking of my son…” Celestia trailed off, perusing the freshly mailed letter. After a few tense moments, Celestia spoke again. “Shadow, I believe my son has started having nightmares. Does this seem like anything a perfectly normal young colt should dream about?” Celestia asked Shadow, levitating the letter to him. As Shadow read the letter, a look of recognition crossed his features.

“I remember this very well, princess.” Shadow said. “This was the same day I met Damian. He was chased from school by a bunch of asscolts.” Shadow frowned, remembering every last detail. “I followed them to an alleyway. They were shouting cruel names at Damian for no other reason than he was different. He’d only just started coming to my school and hadn’t made any friends yet.”

Shadow introverted, trying to remember. “I followed them, but stayed out of view. They left him for dead in the alleyway. I kicked all their asses the next day, after taking Damian to the hospital for his wounds. They messed him up real bad, broken ribs being the biggest problem. I left them in even worse condition.” Shadow finished his speech, a sadistic smile crossing his muzzle.“Needless to say, me and Damian became close friends, and they never messed with him again.”

Celestia blinked in amazement. Did she entrust her son to some psychopath? “You didn’t kill them did you?” Celestia asked, her voice raising slightly. Celestia seemed to double in size when Shadow looked at her again. Regretting he had gone into such detail, he decided to clarify.

“No, I didn’t kill them. I’m not a murderer. I’m just very overprotective of others, especially when those being defended weren’t given a chance to fight back. It was three versus one. Imagine Twilight trying to fight off Discord or Nightmare Moon on her own, with no friends or elements to back her up.”

Celestia imagined what Equestria would have been like if left to Discord and Nightmare Moon. She didn’t like the odds. “Seems justified” Celestia said. “But how are you here? You explained my son, but not yourself.”

“Well, I just wished to be reunited with Damian, for there were things left unsaid that I really needed to let loose. I personally felt a little guilty for his death because in a note he left me, he said he felt alone and forgotten. If I had just been there more often, or called or visited, he might still be a human as well as me.”

“So, whatever benevolent force brought you here, must have felt that you owed Damian something, otherwise why bring two strangers across dimensions and across time, to then be reunited?” Celestia summed up.

“I’m just as confused as you are highness.” Shadow said. “Trust me, I have no clue why the ‘benevolent force’ as you put it felt it was a good idea to send me here, but I swear on all equestrian glory I will protect your son from anything and everything in his path, if it means laying my life down for him. I only regret he had to leave the castle because I reached my teaching limits.”

“Twilight is my best student from the academy, as I’m sure you know. She will not let him down if it means letting me down. She is beyond gifted in the ways of magic. If any pony can teach him all there is to know, it is she.”

“What do I do now, princess?” Shadow asked. “I have no bits to my name, and the bits I did have, I earned by doing cheap magic for young foals. I’d dearly like to visit Star more often, but a train ticket is not bought on desire alone.”

“I can do two things for you, if you’re willing to earn it.” Celestia said, a sly smile crossing her muzzle.

Shadow didn’t like where this conversation was going, if fanfics from earth taught him anything. Nervously, he bit at Celestia’s tantalizing bait.“What would you have me do, Princess?” Shadow asked. He secretly hoped it may have been some carnal favors more suited to a mature rated fanfic.

“Simple, really. I provide you a wage and a home in ponyville, you send me reports every couple of days on Star’s progress in all things. Be they social, educational, or otherwise. I can’t very well go to ponyville as often as I’d like, but I can certainly have eyes and ears everywhere. Whatever you feel is relevant for me to know, you tell me.” She finished. “You didn’t think I would ask you for such strange favors as you were undoubtedly thinking of?” She said, laughing. “Although, you are an attractive young stallion…” She said, smiling scandalously.

Shadow realized in that moment that a red-coated pony could certainly blush. That had to have been the giveaway. “Princess! Of course not!” Shadow said, trying to defend himself, and ultimately failing. “It’s just that, you know, I’ve read and seen some things…”

“It’s settled then, you’re officially spying on my son for me.” Celestia said, writing out a letter quickly and levitating a small bag that undoubtedly contained some bits, judging by the jingle noises emanating from it. “Simply deliver this to the town hall, and you’re address will be given to you. You got lucky on this one. It’s not very far from town, right down the path from a yellow Pegasus named Fluttershy. Once she warms up to you, I’m sure she’ll show you around, if Pinkie doesn’t find you first.” Celestia laughed cryptically. Reports every two days, Mr. Shadowfoot, or I may be forced to go princess molestia on you.”

“Yes, princess” Shadow said, unsure if he should obey or not. Next thing he knew, he was on the train back to ponyville and his new life.
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Shadow arrived at Ponyville town hall a long eight hours later. He hoped they were still open. It was quite late in the afternoon, and if equestria was anything like earth, most official government buildings closed at 5pm. Thankfully, the Princess had taken this into account, and the title deed to Shadow’s new cottage was in his hooves not even an hour after he got off the train. “Guess I won’t be sleeping in the CMC clubhouse tonight” Shadow thought to himself as he magicked his door open. That was a lot harder than it looked. The cottage was dark inside, and with some fumbling, he found a lamp. Clicking it on, he was pleased to find that the home was modestly furnished, with a single bedroom, much like his earth apartment. He decided to write a letter to the princess to be sent in the morning mail, and after that was done, he settled into bed.

Chapter 7 Mystery Of The Dream's

Sorry i ran out of ideas for chapter name's

Twilight had been pondering something lately. Star’s horrible dreams had been getting worse, and more vivid. Concerned about this, she decided to consult the princess as usual. She told Star that she would be going to Canterlot within the next couple days, and Star wanted to go with her, but she would have none of it. Much to Star’s dismay, he was to go stay with Fluttershy during Twilight’s absence. After twilight finished packing Star’s bags, they began the long trek to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Star arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. It was his first time away from the library for more than a few hours, and he was nervous. But he eventually got used to being around Fluttershy and her animals, and found that many of the animals liked to play. Star’s thought he would definitely have fun while he was staying with Auntie Shy. Little did he know he was also in for a huge surprise. While he was outside playing with a family of squirrels, a certain red unicorn approached Fluttershy’s cottage. Before Shadow could make it through Fluttershy’s gate, he was tackled by Shooting Star.

Star hadn’t expected to see Shadow so soon, but he found out much to his glee, that Shadow only lived right down the road. Walking with Shadow to Fluttershy’s door, Star barged straight in, not giving Shadow a chance to knock. Fluttershy was startled by the sudden amount of traffic in her home, as she was having tea with Twilight also. After introductions were made, Twilight offered to escort Shadow to ponyville before she left for Canterlot. As they departed, Star went back outside to play with the squirrels while Fluttershy prepared supper.
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Twilight and Shadow discussed Star’s dreams as they walked, Shadow being very careful not to reveal too much information. Shadow realized, seemingly out of nowhere, that Twilight was fairly good at interpreting dreams, and if she were asking for Celestia’s help, she must have been quite worried. Shadow and Twilight parted ways at the center of town, Shadow making his way to the marketplace for something to eat, and Twilight fixing for her departure by train.

Meanwhile, Star had just sat down to supper with Auntie Shy. The two ate happily while Angel Bunny ate in a corner by himself, upset that his spot as Fluttershy’s primary concern had been taken by a young pony. After supper, Shooting star had become quite tired, and Fluttershy settled him into bed while singing him a lullaby he had not heard before. Before he could think, he was fast asleep. Fluttershy sighed with relief as she prepared herself for bed. Angel Bunny was still scowling in a corner, and didn’t even look at Fluttershy for the rest of the night.
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The following morning, Twilight had woke bright and early. It was relieving for her to be back in her old room at Canterlot palace. Being here, she could have access to some of the best books on dream interpretation, and have easy access to the Princesses, should she need their assistance. After setting up an appointment for that afternoon with Celestia, she delved into some books she had borrowed from the archives. The appointment wasn’t really necessary, but Twilight could use the time to get a jumpstart on her research, so she could in turn find out what questions she needed to ask Celestia. Poring over one of her books, Twilight got engrossed in her Research and nearly lost track of time.

Twilight had found the questions she needed answers for, and finally met Princess Celestia in her study, after the day’s royal duties had been completed. After pleasantries were passed about, the pair got down to brass tacks. Twilight vocalized her worries about Star’s dreams, and Celestia shared the same fears. Even though Celestia knew exactly what was happening, she did not know how. She also couldn’t reveal too much to Twilight, for it may have earned her scorn if she knew Shadow was practically spying on her.

The pair talked at length about what Star’s dreams could have meant, but there was nothing conclusive to draw upon. At least not that Twilight knew of. Celestia was worried about how she would deal with questions Star may have concerning his nightmares. Ever the figure of poise and confidence, Celestia elected to cross that bridge if it came to it. She secretly hoped there was a way to block those old memories from resurfacing, but that was a domain not even Discord dared to mess with.

Twilight knew Princess Celestia better than she knew herself sometimes, and she could tell that something deep below the surface was eating at Celestia’s conscience. Twilight hated seeing her mentor so distracted, and inquired as to the cause. Celestia told her the bare minimum she could about Shadow’s origins, as Twilight listened in disbelief. Celestia swore Twilight to secrecy, and implored Twilight to maintain an ignorant façade, treating Shadow as she would any other pony.
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Star turned out to be enjoying his time staying with Fluttershy, and his filly friends from his party had come by to play. They chased each other all day, playing tag or catch, and chasing Fluttershy’s chickens around. Though Fluttershy didn’t care much for joining in their rough play, She kind of enjoyed watching the young fillies and colt play together, reminding her of a litter of kittens or puppies playing. Eventually, they tired themselves out, and Applejack came by to escort the three fillies to their respective homes, since Sweet Apple Acres was the last stop on the path through town.

Star had another fun day with Fluttershy and his friends, and Auntie Shy had even taught him a little bit about flying. He was really tired when his friends went home, and immediately fell asleep on Fluttershy’s couch.Star awoke the next morning and went to visit Shadow while Fluttershy cleaned up her yard. After he made sure all his bags were packed, he trekked down the path to his friend’s house. Shadow greeted Star warmly, just as he finished sending his first report to Princess Celestia.

Shadow then obliged Star in a game of checkers. Even as a Human, Shadow was never good at that game. After being beat three times in a row, Shadow decided to show Star some basic hoof-to-hoof combat. Jason was raised to fight, so he believed you were never too young to learn to properly defend yourself.

Chapter 8 Shocking Truths Revealed

Author's Note sorry it took so long but here is my longest chapter yet

As Twilight was packing her bags and getting ready to depart Canterlot, she wondered how Star was holding up with Fluttershy and his friends. She was concerned, but in an amused way. Fluttershy could barely handle the Cutie Mark Crusaders on her lonesome, much less a hyperactive Shooting Star on top of it all. But Fluttershy had an Ace in the Hole, so to speak. The Stare. She’d seen it used on several of her animals, and suspected it was magical in nature. But with Shadow living just down the path, it couldn’t be all that bad. Smiling to herself, she boarded the train and set out for home.

Shadow and Shooting Star were waiting for Twilight at the Station. Apparently, Fluttershy had an urgent appointment that afternoon, and requested of Shadow to keep an eye on Star. Greeting him warmly, Twilight hugged Star. Shadow offered to help carry some of her bags for her, and the three of them set back off in the direction of the library. After letting the bags drop gently onto Twilight’s couch, Shadow took his leave. Then he went to hunt down Spike who was still at Rarity’s boutique. By now, Star had grown enough to go most places nearby on his own.

While Star was absent, Twilight looked over some of the articles she’d copied from the Royal Archives. There was next to no useful information she could find. The only thing even close to what she was looking for was about flashbacks from a past life. Twilight couldn’t understand how Star could even have a past life, he was only just brought into the world almost a year ago, but he did grow exponentially. She also had suspicions about Shadow. He was a nice enough pony, but he seemed unable to use most forms of advanced magic, resorting mostly to levitation spells, which most unicorns learned well

before they were close to Shadow’s age. She decided she would test him at a later date.

Just then, Star and Spike barged in through the library door, startling Twilight and scattering papers about the floor. Grabbing them both up in a magical field, she inquired as to exactly why they charged into her library like a herd of cattle. With sheepish grins, they explained they were playing speed tag. Twilight instructed the both of them to clean up the mess

they made, while she proceeded to archive the research she had come across in canterlot. After all was said and done, they went out to eat for once. This surprised both boys, as they were used to Spike being the cook of the library.

While they were out to dinner, they were joined by Pinkie Pie, who seemed to appear from under the table they were sitting at. As the patrons chatted amongst themselves, the sun began it’s slow descent, making way for Luna’s moon. It was a balmy summer night, and Twilight let the boys play outside for longer than usual, since she needed to focus on this Dream Interpretation of hers.

After a little while, the boys came in on their own accord, and since it was getting late, Twilight sent them off to bed. In the back of her head, Twilight had a feeling Shadow knew more than he was letting on, and she would have to get the truth out of him one way or another, otherwise she might never solve this mystery.
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“A dark, windy night. A full moon glowers down upon an alien landscape, familiar yet not. A young man with dark hair and clothes is walking through a forest, the place was very unfamiliar to him. Shadowy figures stopped the young man in his tracks. He looked around worriedly for any sight of his campfire. He knew he should not have wandered off, but his parents were fighting again over some stupid food issue that could have been easily resolved.

He heard snarls and howls reverberating through the woods. His breaths came, shallow and ragged, for fear had gripped his chest and held it in an icy grip. He began to run. The thrill of the hunt incited the hairy beasts that had been following him. Yellow eyes, dripping fangs, they smelled of rot and decay. He was running for what seemed like an eternity. Then he saw a light in the distance. He ran toward it, hoping for salvation. He tripped just out of range of the light’s heavenly beams. Rolling onto his back after being briefly stunned, the last thing he remembered seeing were yellow eyes, and hearing gunshots.
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Shooting Star awoke, screaming as if he had been stabbed with a red hot blade. Then, before Twilight or Spike could reach him, he had another magical eruption, this time blowing the meager furniture in his room to little wooden splinters. Twilight barely had time to erect a barrier in front of her and Spike, wood chunks bouncing off of the purple dome of magic. After the bright light had faded, Twilight entered the room cautiously, maintaining her glance between the floor and Star’s quivering body. She instructed Spike to immediately send for help. As she levitated Star gently, she carried him down to the couch in the living room, setting him down as gently as possible. Applejack and Rarity had been the only two Spike could rouse from slumber.

While Rarity tended to the destroyed bedroom with the aid of Spike, Applejack helped Twilight with Shooting Star. He had awoken fully now, shivering and sweating. As Applejack soothed Star, Twilight sent a letter to the Princess, informing her of how bad the past half hour had gone. Celestia replied that she would be setting off for Ponyville as soon as the sun had risen. Twilight then proceeded to question Star about his Nightmare, and after a couple hours, she had gotten a rough idea

of how it went. Documenting this, she put Star upstairs in her room. It wouldn’t be the first time she shared her bed with another pony. She also sent a letter to Shadow, requesting his presence at his earliest convenience. Now she knew for sure something was screwy, because night terrors weren’t usually followed by a magical explosion. Whatever was happening to Star, it would eventually rip him apart possibly, both physically and mentally, especially if he couldn’t control his magic or his nightmares.
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The next morning dawned brightly, but the glorious weather was overshadowed by the grim faces assembled in Twilight’s library. Celestia had arrived nearly with the sun itself, and Shadow had followed shortly after. Twilight was also awake, but still groggy, for she had next to no sleep the previous night, fearing for Star’s safety. Shooting Star was excited to see both his mother and Shadow, but had a feeling this was not a casual visit. Star was seated at a round table, the three adults seated there as well. Twilight knew she would have to get this discussion started with if she expected to get anywhere.

“Shadow, how exactly did you come to equestria?” Twilight asked him, in a serious, flat tone.

Trying for a nervous smile, he replied as he was supposed to. “I came into this world just as any other pony does.” He said, a sheepish grin coming across his muzzle.

Twilight was not amused. “Then why does a fully grown unicorn have only rudimentary magic at his disposal? I’ve never seen you teleport, or levitate anything heavier than my bags from the train. And you even had the light ones.”

“I suppose I just never learned the spell to teleport. I was born into an earth pony family.” He tried again, falling back on the backstory he had made up for himself as a human. “never needed to teleport.”

“If that’s the truth, what region are you from? I’ve seen every map of equestria, even the ones I’m not supposed to see.” Twilight fixed him with a cocky smile, realizing she had probably trapped him.

At this, Shadow flatlined. “I think perhaps the Princess could explain that.” Shadow said, hanging his head.
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Twilight now bid Spike to take Star to Sugarcube corner and order some cupcakes. This was to get Star out of earshot. She then rounded on her mentor, after they left. With the most earnest look she could muster, she proceeded to question the princess. “With all due respect, princess, I need to know how Shadow got here and why. Even a pony younger than him knows somewhat more magic. They usually develop certain spells out of necessity, like Rarity’s gem-finding spell. You must know something I don’t.”

“Very well, Twilight. I knew I couldn’t hide it forever, though I tried my hardest. Shadow is not from equestria, or even this planet. He’s a human from the planet Earth. This is why he has no real magical skill, or even has a place to call a home. He’s here due to certain circumstances. As you know, Alicorns rarely reproduce. This is why I was quite taken aback when I realized I hadn’t put on weight through eating copious amounts of food. Though I do enjoy cake here and there, I would never let myself get that out of hand.” The princess scoffed. “Star technically does not have a father. Imagine my shock

when I found out he had been reborn here in equestria, also coming from Earth. Mr. Shadow Foot explained that very fact to me. Shadow, if you would.” Celestia pleaded, wanting to take the focus off of herself. She felt like a little foal who had messed up quite badly, and she didn’t like it, but Twilight had every reason to be ticked off.

“Well, Shadow?” Twilight asked in an open-ended sort of way. “What do you know about Shooting Star?” Hating the fact that he had been spotlighted, Shadow prepared himself for the no doubt long and confusing speech that was going to follow.

“Well, the pony you see before you, is a pony version of my human self. Shooting Star was also a human in his past life, and my best friend. He killed himself and was offered to be reborn in any dimension he chose, and I suppose he chose equestria. It wasn’t his time to die, so he was given a second chance, and for some reason, I was offered to come along for the ride, so to speak. My real name is Jason, and I used to be a construction worker’s apprentice before I came here. I guess I was given enough magic to fit in, but I’m still trying to learn more. I honestly can’t say why Star’s having so much trouble, but I’m here to protect him, just as I used to back home on Earth.”

Celestia chimed in, unasked. “I personally assigned Shadow to be Star’s guardian. He’s also acting as a liaison between Star and myself. You’re busy with your friendship reports, so I asked Shadow to send me reports on Star’s progress and growth. I really don’t have the time to come visit him like I want to, but at least with Shadow’s help, I can feel that I know something about my son.”

Twilight, though she knew the entire truth now, still felt something was missing. “Then I guess these night terrors Star’s been having, have been memories from his past life? Stressful, traumatizing memories?” Twilight asked, feeling slightly confused.

“That’s about the idea of it” Shadow said. “I still have all of my memories, but Star isn’t supposed to. He’s supposed to live and breathe equestrian like all of you.”

“And we haven’t figured out how to block them, either. I’m sure you’re even having trouble, Twilight,” Celestia chipped in.

“Star came to live with you because your talent is magic. If anyone can block his memories or help him control his magic, it’s you.” Celestia finished, matter-of-factly. Appreciating the praise, but still unsatisfied, Twilight was drawing a blank. She didn’t know what else could possibly be explained.

“So what do we tell Star?” Twilight asked, unwillingly breaching the question that she had left to ask.

“We tell him nothing, until he asks one of us himself. Once he does that, he’ll be ready for the answer.” Celestia said flatly. “I can imagine he’s still very scared and unsure of what questions to ask.” Now it was Celestia’s turn to take control of the discussion. The best we can do is try and let him come to us. But for now, let him enjoy being young” Celestia finished, a

note of finality inherent in her voice. “I think it’s high time I got back to the palace before everypony wonders where I’ve gone. “I’ll expect a letter from both of you before the day’s out” as she shot Shadow a malicious wink. Twilight was about to ask
what the wink was for when Shadow cut her off.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell.” He grumbled. “I’m gonna go see Star and Spike. They’ll be on their way back shortly.” Shadow managed a friendly grin as he left.Yet, after all had been revealed, Twilight felt no closer to her answers. She swore she would drive herself to drink one day.
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Spike and Star worked their way back to the library, greeting passing ponies with friendly smiles and waves. Pinkie decided to join them for the walk back home, since she had several cookbooks she needed to return to Twilight. Babysitting for the cakes had taught her much about responsibility, and returning books was one way to develop a better sense of it.

As the three new arrivals to the library entered, Twilight fixed the boys with her best “Im fine” smile. She was pleased to see that Pinkie had also returned several cookbooks she borrowed, still in good condition. Twilight was proud of her bubbly friend for being so careful and responsible with her books. She was also quite hungry, and was elated that the boys had

thought of her and brought her a pair of her favorite muffins. Twilight munched happily at a floating muffin, while she made record of the books Pinkie returned. Twilight, after eating, had instructed Spike to work on the library’s main sitting room while she and Star went to their studies. Twilight needed to look more into the apparent angels that could give new life, and Star needed to practice his magical control badly.

As the residents of the library went about their daily routines, nothing more was said about the events of the previous night. Surprisingly enough, Rarity had come by and offered to redecorate Star’s room for him, since it wasn’t his fault that it had been wrecked. Trailing her were Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, hoping they could help. Scoots had a doctor’s appointment, so she couldn’t come.

Rarity had magically painted Star’s room a soothing midnight blue, with dark purple curtains, trimmed with gold threads. She felt these were very soothing colors and would help ease the young colt as he slept. She also repaired his picture of his mother and aunt, with that strange red unicorn she sometimes saw around town. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom dusted up the leftover wood and glass bits carefully, singing their CMC song. After the work was said and done, Twilight and star had

just come back from the study for a lunch break. The fillies, young colt, grown mares, and young dragon sat down at the same massive round table from the earlier discussion, Spike serving up salads and sandwiches to those assembled. After lunch was finished, the young ones played while Rarity and Twilight cleaned up.After a little while, Rarity, Sweetie, and Bloom all said their goodbyes, Spike got back to his dusting, and Twilight retreated to the study once again with Star.
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Twilight only had one choice as far as controlling Star’s magic. Magic was an unruly thing, even with older unicorns. Twilight noticed that his magical explosions often occurred when he was distracted, such as when he hit his head. If his focus were intensified, his magic would be less likely to explode out of him.

“This is an easy little trick that I used as a filly.” Twilight instructed Star. “All you have to do is move a ball up a small ramp, using only your magic.”

As his times got faster, she would use heavier objects. It started with a small plastic ball, up to a solid metal sphere the size of a grapefruit. As long as Star couldn’t levitate the final sphere freely, his magic was still unstable. Once he could manipulate the sphere, freely, it was time for even larger objects to be used. Of course, he would need to learn other types of spells if he was supposed to be king of equestria one day, but that time was still a long, long way off. Magic was all about willpower, Twilight felt.

Star liked the idea of the new game Aunt Twilight had taught him, and happily attacked the goal with all he had in him. Twilight would reward him somehow every time he moved on to a new object. Even Spike earned himself an allowance every week, which is how he often ended up with stomachaches every Sunday. Star couldn’t wait to earn his first reward, so within

the first day, he had already moved on from the plastic ball to a small wooden ball that was about the same size, but denser, and therefore, heavier.After the lessons were done for the day, Spike and Star decided to go back to Sugarcube corner for a second round of sweets. Trotting back to the library with their purchases, they gorged themselves until they were both sick.
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The next morning, Spike and Star both woke up with horrible toothaches. After a brief examination by not-a-dentist Twilight, she found they each had cavities in the back of their jaws. Twilight promptly scheduled dentist appointments for the three of them, which were to be held the next day.

Twilight tried her best to reassure the boys they were going to be fine, but they were both jumpier than jackrabbits. Then after they refused to settle down, she threatened them with the might of the Fluttershy and her adorable ocean blue eyes, a.k.a The Stare. They decided they’d much rather face a dentist than a ticked off Fluttershy. The boys heard the whine of some sort of machine, and their fears returned. But they squashed them immediately.

The previous patient had come out of the Dentist’s office with a dreamy look upon his muzzle, almost as if he we’re ready to laugh at the slightest provocation. If a pony could be that happy about having his mouth examined, it couldn’t be that bad.
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After their dentists’ visit, the boys felt positively giddy for no good reason. They had been put in the chair and worked on, and they couldn’t help but be amazed at how clean their teeth were. Spike’s fangs were now as white as Rarity’s coat, as were Star’s. They’d also been given more sweets, which was pretty awesome. All in all, it wasn’t a bad visit.
That night, Twilight and Shadow sat in their respective homes, scratching out their letters, though there was nothing they could really write about. Still, they managed.

“Dear Princess Celestia,
Star’s magical control has increased by quite a bit, after he started messing with the ramp-and-ball mechanism that Miss Sparkle used as a filly. He’s been working at it with full focus for the past two days, and he’s moved on to a small steel ball, not much bigger than one of the little gumdrops that decorate some of the cupcakes at Sugarcube corner, though it is quite weighty. He also has made several friends, who he makes a point to go see at least once a day if he can get away

from Miss Twilight. Methinks he has grown an especially soft spot for one Sweetiebelle, little sister to Miss Rarity, and a talented young singer. I personally believe that is her special talent, although she doesn’t quite realize it yet. Things are going well with Star, as I hoped they would. I’ll continue tracking his progress on your behalf, Highness.
Signed; Shadow, Ponyville Liasion.”

Shadow finished his letter with a satisfied sigh, grateful that he had once again spared himself from the possible wrath of the Princess. Folding the letter carefully and dropping it into his mailbox for the lovable mailmare that came by in the early morning.

Twilight’s letter went along like so:
“Dear Princess Celestia,
I learned today that sometimes even the best of friends can be rivals. Such is the Case of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. But regardless of their abilities, they still are willing to go hoof-over-hoof to help each other out when it’s needed. I quite enjoy watching their rivalry, and find it funny at times. I haven’t found any new information on how or why Star is having such problems with night terrors and magical bursts, but his progress with the ramp and ball mechanism is quite impressive. I hope it helps him as much as it helped me.
Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle"

Author's Note will Star and Sweetie Belle hook up well only i know that so you will have to wait for a new chapter

Chapter 9 A Little Bit Of Sweetie On My Side

i got a few pm's asking for it and here you go

Shortly after joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Star was invited to his first CMC meeting at their clubhouse outside of Sweet Apple Acres. After they brainstormed for a while, they couldn’t really think of anything to try. So the CMC decided to just play at the clubhouse until Applejack came for them. She usually made sure they all got home safe since they were still her responsibility as long as they were on the farm. Right before they left for the night, Shooting Star had asked Sweetie Belle to talk to him, away from the other crusaders. While the other crusaders were cleaning up their mess, Sweetie and Star went to the picnic table under the tree.

“Sweetie Belle, I’m happy you decided to talk to me without the other two. Sometimes they can get really excited over nothing.” Shooting Star began, unsure of how he was going to ask what he wanted to ask.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, and I have a lot of fun every time we play together. But I don’t always get to see you, which makes me sad. I thought maybe we could you know, play more, together, without the girls?” Star asked, fully aware of how silly his question sounded.

Sweetie fixed Star with a look that very much mirrored her sister’s when something confused her. “Shooting Star, are you asking me out on a date?” Sweetie asked, half smiling, half laughing. “Why, that’s the most roundabout way you could have asked. But I’m glad you did, because I think I like you too.”

Sweetie had called his bluff, and very skillfully. “Uhm, yeah…” he coughed, trying to hide the goofiest grin ever. “Will you go with me to sugarcube corner or the donut shop sometime?” Star asked, bolstered by Sweetie’s acceptance of his crush. They heard a rustling in the tree above them, and when they looked , nothing was there but a few falling leaves.
“I’d love to.” She said, flashing him a coy grin and flipping her tail in his face as she left. He followed quickly after her, eager to be in her presence. This whole love thing was new to them both, but they had to learn somehow, right?
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Shadow was in the tree above the picnic table, hunting for one of Fluttershy’s birds who had flown off in fear. Fluttershy was incredibly worried and quickly enlisted Shadow’s help. She had a dreadful fear of heights and couldn’t bear to climb or fly very high for very long. Funny fear for a Pegasus to have, Shadow thought to himself as he was wandering about inside the tree. He heard voices below him, which sounded quite familiar. Poking his head out between the boughs, he

eavesdropped on a conversation between Shooting Star and Sweetie Belle. It was rare to see one crusader without the others, and Shadow’s curiosity got the best of him. He was surprised at what he heard and found it kind of cute. Star had just asked Sweetie Belle out, which also confirmed Shadow’s suspicions he’d had for a while now. Damian had been similarly shy in his past life, Shadow noted

Shadow then nearly fell out of the tree, and managed to barely pull his head back in before Star and Sweetie looked his way. Gripping onto the tree branch for dear life, he waited in silence until he could no longer hear hoofsteps.

Then, there was a flash of blue against the tree branches. The bird Shadow had been looking for was on the branch just above him. Reaching out with a hoof, he made a grab for the bird and failed. Losing all control of his body, Shadow fell out of the tree with a painful –whump- sound, and landed on his flank, feeling quite dizzy. His eyes were spinning in their sockets.

When he looked forward, he saw two very confused crusaders staring at him, Applebloom wearing a dumbfounded look, Scootaloo was on the verge of laughing at the grown unicorn. Seeing a unicorn fall out of a tree was quite hilarious, apparently, as Scootaloo lost all control of her laughter at the sight of his spinning eyes.

Shadow sat up, and proceeded to run in the opposite direction, forgetting all about the stupid bird he was chasing. He just realized he embarrassed himself in front of a pair of children, who would probably not let him live it down. Better the CMC than Applejack or Rarity.
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Since the other CMC had yet to notice they left, Star and Sweetie took this time to go on their little date. Star decided he wanted to take Sweetie to The Ice Cream Shoppe, since Pinkie would undoubtedly make a fuss about the two young ponies being together without the other CMC. After picking up his bits bag from home, Star met Sweetie outside the library, and they headed off towards their destination.Orange Sherbet built the old Ice Cream Shoppe from the ground up several years ago. It was now frequented often by many

denizens of Ponyville, young and old alike. This particular day had been pretty slow for the humble shop owner, and he was about to close up shop early when a pair of young ponies, probably no older than 7 or 8, walked into his door. Fixing them with the most earnest smile he could muster, he spoke to the pair.

“What can I get you kids today” Sherbet announced happily, greeting the young pair.

“Uh, I don’t know.” Star said, reading over the brightly colored menu. “Sweetie, what would you like?” Star turned to his not-yet-marefriend.

“I’ll have vanilla with a lot of raspberry and blackberry syrup, with lots of sprinkles!” Sweetie announced happily, bouncing around a little.

“Give me chocolate ice cream with strawberry syrup and cherry chunks. And lots of chocolate sprinkles” Star announced happily after making his decision. While their Ice Cream was being prepared, Star and Sweetie sat down at the counter.

“Did you hear that weird noise in the tree, Sweetie?” Star asked, the memory suddenly popping back into his mind.

“Yeah I did, but when we looked there was nothing there, remember?”

“True, but I couldn’t help but feel like we were being watched. By what, I’ll never know.” Star said, making small circles on the counter with a hoof.

“You’re just imagining things, Star. It was probably just a squirrel or bird or something. Who could possibly want to spy on a pair of innocent kids? Some tree creeper or something? I’ve never heard of such weird ponies. Maybe it was squirrel ninjas.” Sweetie said, a hint of a laugh in her voice.

"You’re probably right, Sweetie” Star said, as their porcelain bowls clanked onto the table, being served by the owner himself.
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Shadow was now calm, after having run off the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins in the aftermath of being laughed at by Scootaloo and falling out of the tree. He decided he would hunt for the bird later. As he walked back to his cottage, he noticed his letter was still in his mailbox, unsent.“Luna save me….”

Then a Familiar voice rang in his head, omnipotent.“I might join her” which was then followed by maniacal laughter.

END

A/N if your wondering about the tree creeper joke its a inside joke with me and southpawfighter614

Chapter 10 A New Friendship

Well its done i hope you like it

Twilight awoke the next morning knowing the fact that she needed to pack her, Spike, and Shooting Star's bags because they were going to Canterlot today. Not to mention Shadow was going to be there with them. When she went to check her mail, she found about five letters at the front door that were to Princess Celestia from Shadow.

“Oh, horseapples! Spike wake up, I need you to send these to Princess Celestia now!” Twilight yelled, sprinting up the library stairs. “And after you do that, I’ll pack our bags for Canterlot.”
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A few hours later Star woke up and Twilight was shocked that he didn’t wake up screaming like a banshee.
“Well I guess Rarity was right. Those colors are soothing.” She then heard the toilet flush and Star’s bedroom door shut. “Wow, just like Spike.” She muttered to herself. A few moments later she heard gentle snores coming from his room. She looked at the clock and realized it was 3:00am.

“Well I do have a lot to do, so he will be fine or maybe not. I’m just going to have to wait and see.” 4:30 rolled around and Twilight heard Star screaming his head off. Twilight rushed to his side, picking him up in her forehooves, rocking him back and forth.

“It’s ok, nopony will hurt you.” Seeing his horn was starting to glow, Twilight continued trying to console him. “Star, it’s ok, we’re going to see your mom today.” Star started to perk up and his horn’s light died down, and he started to smile.

Twilight sang a lullaby that Fluttershy would sing to him when he stayed with her. After Star had finally fallen asleep, she laid him back down gently. Twilight noticed the necklace in his dresser ,sitting next to the picture of his mother. Twilight tiphooved out of his room and said to herself “Wow that was a lot easier than normal. This one might not have been as bad but still it almost caused a magical discharge.”
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The whole train ride to Canterlot, Shooting Star couldn’t help but be hyper and jumping around. Twilight smiled at him and said “Now calm down Star. You don’t want to get hurt. Star heard her and turned to look, and fell and scraped his knee. Twilight quickly ran to his side and picked him up asking “Are you ok?” as she pulled out a first aid kit Fluttershy made for her. She pulled out some disinfectant and a band-aid, sprayed his scrape and bandaged it. A few minutes later they arrived at Canterlot.
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The trio arrived at the Castle and were welcomed by no other then Celestia herself. Star ran up to her and jumped into her arms and said “mommy I missed you!” Celestia smiled and said “I missed you too, my little Star.” She returned the hug and threw him up on her back, knowing that she hadn’t given him a ponyback ride in a long time. Star smiled and said “I love you mommy.” Celestia said I love you too, my little Star.” Now let’s get something to eat. The cooks have made all your

favorites, and also I have a surprise for you when you take a nap, Star.”

“Really?! I can’t wait!” Star said with a smile that would make Pinkie jealous.

“Let’s go eat” Celestia said, nosing towards the dining areas.

“OK, mommy. Aunt Twilight, are you coming?” Star asked.

Twilight responded softly “No. I need to go get something for me, you and Shadow to do today.”As she trotted off in the opposite direction.
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“Mommy,” Star said, the fear in his voice making itself known. “I had a bad dream last night.”

“What was it about, my little star?” She said, with concern in her motherly tone.

“Well, I had a dream that you and Aunt Twilight and Aunt Lulu left me and never came back.” Star started to tear up a little, but Celestia picked him up and wiped the tears forming in his eyes.

“Now, you know that we would never leave you. We all love you. Your Aunt Twilight and Aunt Lulu love you and your
mommy loves you and don’t you forget that.” She smiled at him, cradling him in her arms.The cooks then brought out Vegetable stew and Strawberry flavored water. Celestia looked at her son and said “for dessert we will have your favorite carrot cake.” Star’s eyes got wide at the sound of his favorite cake. Celestia saw her son’s smile

and kissed him on the forehead. After they ate, Star yawned loudly, so Celestia levitated him onto her back and walked him into his old bedroom. Star said “I love you mommy” which was muffled by a yawn.

“I love you too, my little Star” Celestia said as she laid him down on his bed a covered him in his blankets. She smiled and walked out of his room and saw Luna waiting for her. Celestia said “so, did you get the Star cooled off and shaped right?

“Yes sister, I did.” Luna replied nonchalantly.
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“Shadow! over here!” Twilight shouted. Shadow saw her and greeted her is his classic gentlecolty fashion.

“Miss Twilight, what are we getting tickets for anyway?” Shadow asked. He was only told to meet Twilight here, not why or for what.

“It’s a magic show. I remember you said something about Star liking magic shows in his past life.” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

“So who is the magician we will be seeing?” Shadow pressed on, not liking being out of the loop.

Twilight sighed. He really was a tenacious pony. She found that she kind of liked it. “Well, it’s somepony that came to ponyville a year or two ago.”

“Well, Miss.Twilight, who is it?” He pressed harder. “I have a feeling you are stalling and are trying to hide something.” Shadow was also quite good at reading other ponies. Scary.

Twilight let out another sigh. “The Great and Powerful Trixie” Twilight said, almost ashamed. Not even ten seconds after she said that, a guard approached the duo.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie wants to talk to you both.” He said sternly. They followed him to her and entered her room.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said, greeting the other mare haughtily. “Why are you trying to get tickets to see The Great and Powerful Trixie when you humiliated her in ponyville?”

“Trixie, I’m getting tickets for Princess Celestia’s son. And before you ask, this is his personal guardian from Canterlot Castle.”

Trixie pondered for a moment at what she just heard. “There is something else I need to tell you, Twilight Sparkle. I am sorry.”

Twilight went into a temporary state of shock. “Did I hea-“ before she could finish, Trixie cut her off. “Yes, you heard me right. I am sorry. To show this, take these.”

Trixie levitated front row tickets and backstage passes to Twilight and Shadow. “I want to meet Celestia’s foal personally, after the show.” Trixie finished, leading Twilight and Shadow back out to the hallway.
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Star woke up a few hours later with a big yawn. A note was attached to his lamp. “Come to my room when you wake up.
Love mommy and Aunt LuLu”

Star read the note and stretched, then hopped off his bed. He used his magic to lift his hair brush, tidying up his mane and tail. When he walked out of his room, he ran into a Royal Guard. He started to tear up, and the guard turned around. “Oh, Prince Star, are you ok?”

Star nodded his head and said “yes, sir.” He then walked to his mother’s chambers and

knocked on the door. Celestia came and opened the door, greeting him warmly.

“Hello, sleepycolt. Did you have a good nap?” Celestia asked her son, the feature of grogginess still on his face.

“yes mommy” Star said with a smile. When he saw Luna, he ran to her and gave her a big hug and shouted “Aunt LuLu!”

“Hello Star, sweetheart. I missed you too. We have a surprise for you.” Luna levitated a box and opened it. Shooting Star’s

eyes got wide as he saw it. A white dwarf pendant that wasn’t too bright or too dim, on a golden chain. His smile got even bigger when they put it on him. Celestia said it looked great on him. They then walked out of her room and into the garden to a nice outdoor lunch.A few hours later, Twilight and Shadow got back to the castle with the tickets.
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When the time came to leave, Twilight went and got Shooting Star and Shadow. They walked to the theatre where Trixie's show was being held and showed their passes to a Ticket taker. The nice pony led the trio to their seats, and they sat just as the show began.

There was a drumroll and the theater went totally black. Star scrunched closer to Shadow, and didn’t move until the curtains finally opened. There were brilliant flashes of green, red, and yellow sparks emanating from a lone blue unicorn mare on stage. She was dressed in a midnight blue cape and hat, adorned with silver and gold stars. Fear soon gave way to

astonishment, as Star’s eyes grew wider and wider with each passing trick. He saw lights and shapes, made entirely out of magical essence. Trixie then followed her light show with the recount of her “Ursa Major” battle. That always kept the spectators awed, whether they believed her or not.

Trixie then pulled her top hat off of her head, and Angel Bunny popped out, looking rather angry. “Wrong bunny, folks!” Trixie said, shoving Angel back down into the headgear. Trixie then levitated several odds and ends, juggling them in the air.

“For my final trick, I need a volunteer! You, young colt in the front row! How would you like to assist the great and powerful Trixie?” She smiled at Star, as the lights focused on him. Star looked at Twilight and Shadow respectively, and they bade him to go on stage. He trotted up slowly and nervously, focusing on the wood planks under his hooves.

“Now, what’s your name, little one?” Trixie asked Star.

“Shooting Star, ma’am” He said, remembering the manners Miss Rarity had drilled into his head.

“Well Shooting Star, thank you for helping me. Just hold still while I wave my magic wand.” She began waving circles around his head and a box appeared under him. The box closed above his head and there was a puff of blue and white smoke. Shocked, Twilight stood up and was fixing to charge the stage when Shadow held her back.

Star appeared in his old seat, between the two of them, slightly ruffled, but fine nonetheless. Star clapped and yelled louder than anypony else. Twilight relaxed, disgruntled, but happy that Star was safe and that he enjoyed himself. Something then occurred to Twilight that hadn’t before. Trixie really was good at magic, so maybe she could give Star some advice. It was a stretch, but what could it hurt to ask?

After most of the assembled audience had cleared the sitting room, Twilight approached the backstage door, and after producing their VIP badges to the on-duty guard, he waved them through. When Trixie wasn’t in her garish magician’s outfit, she seemed much more approachable. Twilight introduced Shooting Star to Trixie more formally now.

“Trixie, this is Shooting Star, Princess Celestia’s young colt.” Star nervously stood as Trixie approached him, unsure of

what she was going to do. She turned out to be nice, nothing like what she used to be when Twilight first met her in ponyville. Trixie eagerly answered all of Star’s questions, and even showed him some of the tricks she didn’t always use in her show. Two of them involved turning Twilight’s horn into a flower (appearance-wise, anyway), and Shadow’s stripes yellow. Star

laughed raucously at this, much to Twilight and Shadow’s dismay. After Twilight had gotten over her initial embarrassment, she got down to the task at hand.

Twilight spoke privately to Trixie as Star and Shadow played catch with a small object. “Trixie, I know this is a strange request, but perhaps could you give young Star here some advice on controlling his magic? He’s still young yet, obviously, and I’m using all the tricks I know, but a fresh opinion wouldn’t hurt.”

“Trixie is willing to accept your request, if you are willing to accept Trixie’s friendship".

If you didnt figure it out Damian aka Shooting Star when he was human loved magic that is why Star loved the magic show so much

Chapter 11 A Weekend In Canterlot

A/N: This chapter contains some characters from the season 2 finale of MLP:FiM. You have been warned. May also contain slight nonsensical OC-m6 shipping. My co author was having a little too much fun with this chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**************************Ready, Begin************************************************
Twilight stood there, mouth agape.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, will you accept Trixie’s friendship?”

“yes...yes I will.” Twilight said, offering a hoof. After they shook, Trixie was instructing star on some o the finer points of using magic, and Twilight noticed he was getting sleepy.

“Trixie, I think we better go. I think Star is getting tired.” Twilight said, pulling Trixie’s attention away from the young colt.

“Very Well, Twilight Sparkle. You can take leave of the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Thank you for your help, Trixie. Maybe we will see you in ponyville sometime.” Twilight said as She and Shadow left.
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“Twilight, Star can barely stand, we should probably carry him the rest of the way to your parents’ house. I’ll take him the rest of the way.” Shadow said, gently lifting the young colt in his red magic aura.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Twilight said, stifling a yawn.

“Looks like you could use a nap too, Miss Twilight.” Shadow said, chuckling.

“Shush!” Twilight hissed, embarrassed. Come to think of it, she’d barely slept more than a couple hours on the train. With Star’s nightmare and the ensuing chaos of calming him down and getting him back to sleep, then packing for the trip to canterlot, she’d had next to no sleep the night before.

Shadow was accustomed to being up all night, so he was unfazed. Probably a side effect from his Earth job. As the trio walked through the dusky streets of canterlot, they came to a modest home, not too big or small, painted purple and blue. Twilight immediately seemed to be filled with energy. They had finally arrived at her parents’ home.

Twilight knocked quietly on her parents’ front door. Her father, Night Light, answered.

“Twily, how nice to see you dear.” He said, greeting her with a smile and a hug. Just then, he noticed the strapping young stallion standing next to her, and a wide grin spread across his muzzle. “And who’s this young lad? Your coltfriend? And a foal! How lovely!” Night Light said, greeting Shadow.

“He’s NOT my coltfriend, daddy.” Twilight said, flustered and blushing. “and that’s NOT my foal. I’m babysitting him for a friend. May we come in?”

“Certainly dear, certainly. It is getting rather dark out, innit?” He said as he allowed the trio to pass the threshold.

Twilight was greeted by several staring faces. Namely, her mother Twilight Velvet, her big brother, Shining Armor, and his newlywed wife, Princess Cadence.Each of the looks plastered across their faces were as different as night and day, for they heard the commotion that Night Light had made at the door.

Shining Armor was staring down Shadow, with an expression somewhere between cold analytics and shock. It was the same
stare Shadow had often gotten from other humans when he was dating their sisters or other close friends and relatives.
Cadence was looking back and forth between Twilight, Shadow, and the sleeping Star, wondering why they were toting around Celestia’s foal at this time of night. She decided to ask Twilight about it later, in private.Twilight Velvet was beaming at her daughter, happy that she had finally found a coltfriend.
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Before things could go any further, Twilight explained that Shadow was not her coltfriend, and the foal was not hers, just as she explained to her father moments previously. After that had settled, they were invited to have some tea and cake. Twilight took Star up to her old bedroom, and nestled him into her bed, then trotted back downstairs.Shadow and Shining Armor were adamantly talking about swords and their history, as Cadence and Twilight Velvet

were going on about some book they had recently just read. Night Light was sitting at the table also, poring over the evening edition of the Canterlot Daily Newspaper, reading some article about the results of some “Young Stallions” contest last month. For all intenst anr purposes, it was a pretty typical, cliché type of setting. Twilight set down next to her mother, and poured herself some tea, listening to her mother and Cadence.

Twilight and Shadow explained they were in town, taking Star to see Trixie’s magic show at the theater. “I decided it may be a good time to visit since I don’t get out here all that often, what with my studies on friendship and magic. Shadow just came along because he was bored.”

“No, I came along to help you make sure you got tickets for the show because Trixie used to hate you. Also,the donuts here are the best.” Shadow said, upset that Twilight made him sound like some sort of pathetic tag-along. He then went back to his cookies and conversation with Shining Armor.

Twilight Velvet giggled. “You two sound like me and Night Light before we got married.” Twilight Sparkle heard this and blushed quite profusely, thanking Celestia shadow didn’t see it. He was just like Spike and would pick on her about it. Then she might be forced to hit him with something heavy. Like a book, or that stone statue on the library table back home.
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“Armor, how about some swordplay drills while dusk is still on our side?” Shadow asked the young guard.

“You sure you wanna take me on, Shadow?” Shining Armor said, a smile creeping across his muzzle.

“Challenge accepted.” Shadow followed Shining armor into the backyard, Armor levitating two crude wooden swords.

“Challenger first.” Armor said, flicking the wooden sword Shadow’s way. Shadow caught it midair in his red aura, surprising himself and Shining.

“You’re quick, but let see how much quicker you can get!” Armor lunged at Shadow, going for a thrust that was easily deflected by Shadow. The two went back and forth, exchanging hits, which attracted a small crowd. They saw this and decided to make a show out of it, especially for the young colts that were present.
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Meanwhile, Twilight, Velvet, and Cadence were talking at the table about nothing in particular.

“Twilight, may I speak to you privately?” Cadence asked Twilight, motioning towards the front room.

“Sure, Princess- I mean, Cadence.” Twilight knew better than to be formal with Cadence.They went out to the sitting room, Leaving Velvet and Night Light to the kitchen. Cadence sat across the room from Twilight.

“Twilight, why do you have Prince Star with you and that strange young stallion? Why is he not home with Aunt Celestia and Luna? Are they OK?” Cadence began, quickly regaining her rambling string of questions.

“Cadence, the Princesses are fine. I’ve been given a very important task, along with Shadow, the ‘strange young stallion’ as you put it. Shadow is Star’s personal guardian, and I’m training Star to better control his magical powers. He’s scary strong, Cadence.” Twilight said, a hint of worry in her voice. “I hope I can help him before it’s too late. It wouldn’t surprise me if his magic ripped him apart.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great, Twilight. No one’s better at magic than you. You were gifted since you were little. Since I can remember, anyway.” Cadence said, reassuring Twilight.

“I suppose you’re right, Cadence.” Twilight said, smiling slightly.

…

“Why is Shadow not your coltfriend, again?” Cadence asked her, a smile creeping along her muzzle. She’d been waiting all night to pick on Twilight about Shadow.

“What? why would you ask me that?” Twilight said, getting flustered again.

“Cuz I wanna know, Twinklebutt” Cadence said, poking Twilight in her ribs. “He’s obviously a strong, attractive, well built stallion. I’m sure many of the mares back home want him, too. But you can easily make him yours if you learn how to work your feminine charms on him. He doesn’t seem to be very smart. OR if he is, he hides it well. Why not ask him on a date?” Cadence finished, a sly smile plastered across her muzzle.

“Because he doesn’t read, isn’t very smart, and even though he’s polite, that will only get him so far.” Twilight said with a huff.

“How do you know he’s not smart? Or doesn’t read? Have you ever talked to the stallion without getting into a topic about Star or some smartypants gobbledygook?” Cadence asked her, pressing harder at her buttons.

“Well no, not really. He keeps to himself mostly. He helps Fluttershy and Applejack out a lot, too. So he’s always busy. I don’t even think-“

Cadence cut her off with a tsk-tsk noise. “Twilight, you have a lot to learn about being a young mare. You see him helping Fluttershy and Applejack a lot, so perhaps he’s trying to make moves on them? And how many days do you have left here in canterlot? One, maybe two? Now’s your chance to get to know him better. Just leave Shooting Star here for the night. Armor and I will protect him with our lives. And you couldn’t possibly wake a sleeping colt could you? That’s just mean.” Cadence said, satisfied she made her point.

“I suppose you’re right, but I have no bits on me. I bought round trip tickets.” Cadence levitated a small bag in front of
her.

“This should cover one or two hotel rooms, supper, and after-dinner drinks.” Cadence said, the shy smile creeping back to her muzzle. “Now you have no excuses.”

Twilight frowned and accepted the jingling bag. “You win this time, Cadence.” Groaning, Twilight left the sitting room, with a very pleased-looking Princess Cadence following her.
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Shadow and Shining Armor had ‘fought’ their way to exhaustion. They were sweaty, dirty, and covered in who knows what. But they didn’t care. They were having too much fun trying to gain the upper hand on one another. Shining Armor had a feeling Shadow couldn’t use very much magic, as he mostly relied on holding his sword in his mouth, but he was amazingly agile for a stallion his size. He must have had some previous training or had been born to fight, either way, Shining Armor
could use more ponies like him.

The two new friends were cleaning up as best they could in the flowing-water pond that was erected in the backyard. Taking deep draughts of the crisp, clear water, they were discussing what had just transpired.
“Armor, I had no idea magic could be used so deftly, especially levitating things. I can barely manage that myself.”

“All it is, is practice, Shadow” Shining Armor said, after Shadow extricated his head from the pond, water streaming down his muzzle.

“I didn’t get a lot of practice.” Shadow said sheepishly, once again nearly being called out on being a former human.”I was born on a farm way to the east, to earth pony parents. We all know pony genetics are weird.” Shadow said, avoiding directly answering why he stunk at magic.

“I suppose that’s true” Shining Armor said. “Weren’t there other unicorns back home you could learn from? I’m sure you weren’t the only one.”

Now Shadow was worried. He hadn’t thought his being here in equestria would be so difficult.“No, I wasn’t. But nopony could ever really teach me. I was a late bloomer.”

“That explains why you rely mostly on physical prowess.” Shining Armor said, matter-of-factly. Now he was caught. Shadow really hoped Armor didn’t notice that, but he did.

“Shadow, where in Celestia’s name are you?” Twilight yelled from the back door.

“Saved by Twilight” Shadow thought to himself as he trotted off, giving Shining Armor a farewell salute.

“Over here, Miss Sparkle.” Shadow trotted up to her, noticing she seemed nervous about something. “What do you need? Is it time to go?”

Twilight mumbled incoherently. “What was that, Miss Twilight? I didn’t quite understand.”

“Would you like to go on a da- I mean, go out to eat?” Twilight said, a hint of despair in her voice.

“Sure, let me go get Star.” Shadow said, trotting towards the humble house.

“NO! I mean, let him sleep.” Twilight said, composing herself.

“You mean a date?” Shadow said, half-assed, as if he didn’t believe what he heard.

“NO, it’s not a date, you big red dummy. We’re just a pair of friends, going out to eat, and getting to know each other a little bit. Not a date.” Twilight refused to admit she was going on a date.

“Yeah, I guess not a date then.” Shadow said jokingly. “Even though it sounds like one.”At this, Twilight decided to give him a swift kick towards his stallionhood. With a squeak and groan, Shadow simply said “not a date” His eyes going temporarily in either direction of his muzzle.

“Let’s go, you big red baby.” Twilight said, laughing to herself. Shadow walked behind her, out of range of her rear hooves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they arrived at the modest café that Twilight always ate at, Shadow’s stallionhood had mostly recovered. They had sat at a table near the back of the café, this area was lit only with candles on the tables, and on the walls. After they ordered, awkward silence had set in.

“So, Shadow, do you read at all?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, a little bit, at least back on earth anyway. Lots of books about science and the history of foreign countries. I also like thriller and mystery books.”

“Really? Science? I love science!” Twilight said, visibly excited. “What’s your favorite science subject?”

“I really like archeology and geology, and stuff about unknown species.” Shadow said, unsure of how he should react to Twilight.

“Fascinating! I love all types of science!” Twilight said, relaxing a little bit now that they shared some common ground.
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It was late and Night Lighte had retreated to bed with Twilight velvet in tow. Cadence and Shining Armor were in the living room, listening to the latest DJ mixes from Manehatten. A ponyvillian DJ had been featured that night, and went by the name of DJ Pon-3. The DJ was incredibly good at her music, especially something called “dubstep”, which the pair enjoyed. So far, Shooting Star was sleeping soundly, while the newlyweds cuddled on the couch. They’d been given the guest room for the night, but weren’t tired yet. They were discussing Shadow and Twilight, and how cute they’d be together.

“I’d really like to have Shadow join my guards. A unicorn with that much physical prowess is hard to come by. Most of them couldn’t even get close to me while I was training with them. But Shadow was going hit for hit. I actually enjoyed myself, honey.” Shining Armor said excitedly. “Do you think he’d accept an invitation?” Armor questioned.

“I couldn’t say for sure, love. He seems like a very respectful, upstanding pony. He’s perfect for Twilight.” Cadence snickered. “You should have seen how embarrassed she got when I asked her about him” A whimsical look played across her face.

“Really now? Close to the time I found her playing in mom’s gala clothes?” Shining Armor laughed. He remembered little Twilight running around the house while their parents were out, singing at the top of her lungs “at the gala, the gala” It took him forever to repair and clean that dress. But she was so cute, he couldn’t resist letting her play.“So, do you know where those two went off to? They’ve been gone for a while. I thought they were going to dinner and coming right back. It’s unlike Twilight to waste time like this.” Shining armor commented nonchalantly.

Cadence smiled to herself. She really knew what was going on and wasn’t going to tell him if she could help it. “I’m sure the restaurant is just busy. It is a Saturday night after all. And most of the young ponies from the colleges are probably out and about.”

“I suppose your right. I hope they get back soon. Canterlot isn’t as safe at night as you’d think.” Shining Armor chimed in, a note of seriousness in his voice.

“They’re fine, you big worrypony.” Cadence cuddled up to Armor and nuxxled him, then gave him a quick kiss. “Shadow is a strong pony, like you said. I doubt he would let Twilight get hurt.”

Just then, they heard screaming and crying coming from Twilight’s room. Remebering Star was sleeping in that room, the pair charged up the steps, just as the parents were coming out of their bedroom. They all ran to Twilight’s room, flicking open the door with three distinct bursts of magic. Star was rolling around and crying in Twilight’s bed, a visible grimace of fear and pain on his face.

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Damian found himself walking around his hometown. It was a dark night, with no moon to be found. He walked across an intersection in the road, when a car came speeding from around the corner, clipping him. The last thing he felt was a bump, and then immense, blinding pain in his right leg. When he looked at it, the shin bone was sticking out, in all its white and red glory. He was alone in the intersection, with no cell phone or contact of any sort. Even the car that had hit him was gone. He

was too thirsty to yell, so he scooted inch by inch out of the road and next to a garbage can, lifting himself up. Hopping on one leg and nearly falling several times, he finally found a 2x4 piece of wood, and used it to prop himself up. Biting down hard on his shirt, he moved foot by foot up two blocks to a hospital, where he was checked in and got his leg splinted up the

next morning. Only Jason came to visit him, and only Jason took him home. His parents pretended to care, but he knew they didn’t. He was never wanted in the first place. So he spent the next 8 weeks in his room, cooping himself up like some rabid dog. It was this time in his life that he had found My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”
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Star woke up, still crying. He was surrounded by strange ponies, except for cousin Cadence. He immediately ran to her, burying himself in her arms as she picked him up and held him.“Shh, shh, it’s okay, Star.” Cadence said. “You’re ok, it was only a nightmare. All a bad dream. There there, you’re ok little one.” She cuddled him closer, lying down on Twilight’s bed with him. He buried himself next to her, in the blankets, still sobbing.

“Cadence, I was so scared” He mumbled, half asleep. “There was a big metal monster, and it hit something that was walking. It was dark and I couldn’t see the thing’s face. It wasn’t a pony. But it was hurt, crying and screaming, And I wanted to help him feel better, So I cried with him. I think he was aved by other things like him” Star finished, his eyes still red, but much more calm now. “Cadence, can you stay up here with me? I’m still scared.”

“Sure I can, baby cousin. I’d love to.” Cadence pulled blankets over them both, holding Star. “go to sleep, little one.”
The rest of the family had left the room, closing Twilight’s door as they left.
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Shadow and Twilight had a wonderful night. While they waited for their meals, they talked about all sorts of subjects. Twilight was surprised that Shadow knew so much about history, and even though there was no way to get to Earth she

enjoyed hearing about it. She learned that Shadow used to build houses for other people, as a charity project. He was a genuinely kind soul, which explained why he fit in so well in equestrian life.Shadow was surprised he was on equal footing with Twilight. She really was a smart pony, but somewhat introverted, like

himself. He enjoyed her company, which was always a bonus. They ate and conversed, and then set off for one of the nicer taverns here in Canterlot. They had a couple rounds, and Shadow found out what exactly was so special about cider here in equestria.

They drank just enough to feel good, and made their way to a hotel not far from Twilight’s old home. Being the gentlecolt he was, Shadow rented a room down the hall from Twilight, after making sure she didn’t fall asleep in the lobby. Shadow then proceeded to his room, and passed out not long after laying down.
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Back at the small house, the assembled family members were sitting in the living room, wondering about Star’s extremely vivid nightmare. Cadence explained what she had been told by Star, but nopony could make heads or tails of it. Twilight and

Shadow had not come back that night, which also made the atmosphere a bit tense. While it had been established that there wasn’t room for them, they were supposed to report back before going to their hotel, for safety reasons of course.

Cadence explained to her in-laws about the young colt that had been left in Twilight’s room. They understood completely and had decided they would love to have him come stay again. While Star was sleeping soundly once again, those assembled retreated to their respective rooms, happy that Star was finally alright.

The next morning, Twilight and Shadow returned to the domicile. They were told about Star’s dream, and Twilight once again made a document for reference. It would be really difficult for her to explain to the other four ponies, so she was ecstatic that they did not ask.
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(A/N) This is by far our longest chapter yet, and took me and Southpawfighter614 almost four hours consecutively to complete. There’s some humor, some sadness, and even some light shipping. We hope you all enjoy this as much as we enjoyed writing it. Southpawfighter614 may make a side chapter concerning Shadow and Twilight, and maybe some others of the mane six. If you’d like to read that, send him a PM or leave us a comment on this chapter. He checks our comments almost daily (being the weird stalker-editor he is), so make your love (or hate for Southpaw’s shameless plug) known!! I promise he’s really a good guy. Also, we don’t mind advice, as long as it’s constructive. (trolls will be shot, surviving trolls will be shot again.) If trolls survive the second shot, we sic princess molestia on them. Mehehehe. >:D

Chapter 12 Star's First Year

A/N well chapter 12 is here feel free to PM me or Southpawfighter614 with any suggestions or ideas

Twilight went to her old bedroom and saw Shooting Star sleeping, sucking his tip of his wing and she smiled. She walked over to him and shook him lightly “Star, sweetie, time to wake up. We need to go back to the castle and say goodbye to your mommy.”

“ok” Star said groggily. He hopped out of the bed, stood up and shook a little. Twilight smiled at her nephew.

“Oh, before we go, my mother and father cooked breakfast and Cadence helped cook some of your favorites” Twilight told him. Star’s mood brightened immediately.
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“So Cadence, does Star drink milk or water with his breakfast?” Velvet addressed her daughter in law
“Hmm, I don’t know. Usually milk last I knew” Cadence replied over her shoulder.

“Ok” Twilight Velvet said.

“Oh, did I tell you all about one of the times when Shooting Star was a foal? He crawled into Aunt Celestia's room with this little stuffed bunny he carried everywhere…but he went in there wanting a late night snack, It was so cute.” Cadence continued as she set out plates.

“Well, Aunt Celestia wasn’t in there. She was helping Aunt Luna, so I was sleeping there. Star climbed into the bed and woke me up. His face was so adorable, I couldn’t help but smile. I said “Well hello there, what are you doing out of bed?” He smiled and said “can I have a snack?” I smiled and placed him onto my back, took him down to the kitchen, where he ate a whole six muffins.” Cadence laughed remembering the little colt’s seemingly endless appetite.

“aww, that sounds adorable.” Twilight velvet said “Speaking of adorable, there’s the little dear now.”
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Star walked down the stairs, and went into the kitchen with Twilight behind him.

“Well, good morning sleepyhead. Did you sleep ok?” Twilight velvet asked the little one.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied, still remembering his manners.

He walked to a chair, and attempted to climb into it. Cadence picked him up in her magic and sat him down, much to his chagrin. “I’m a big colt now, I can do it, cousin Cadence.” Star said, frowning.

“There you go, baby cousin” she said as she ruffled his hair.Star smiled at a plate of eggs about the size of his head. A smile crept across his muzzle and a glass of milk was put in front of him. A fork shortly followed, but Cadence wasn’t sure if he could use magic just yet. Star looked at the fork, focusing, and lifted it. Cadence was shocked. Most young colts his age could barely manage any type of magic.

As everypony sat down to eat, Star was eating his eggs. Cadence noticed he had some of it on his face, and everypony else looked at Star and couldn’t help but giggle. Star looked back and said “what’s going on?”

After everyone ate, Cadence came over with a napkin and wiped Star’s face off. He glared at her.“Oh, calm down silly. Now let’s fix that mane and tail” He tried to run, but failed. Cadence had a brush and held him down with her hooves while her magic used the brush to fix his unkempt appearance.

“Now you look like a proper young prince.” She said, smiling at her handiwork and giggling at Star’s disgruntled face.
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After breakfast was over, Twilight, Velvet, and Cadence cleaned up the leftover mess, while Star and Shining Armor played out back. After all was said and done, Twilight bade her family goodbye, and trotted off towards the hotel, to gather up Shadow. From there, they would have a final meeting with Celestia before going home.

With Shadow in tow, Twilight made her way toward the place gardens, where it would be most likely to find the Princess at this time of day. Sure enough, they found her in the gardens, having afternoon tea with Luna. While Star played in the gardens with Luna, Twilight and Shadow recounted everything on Star’s progress, and told her about his nightmare the night before. Satisfied that she had been filled in, Celestia enjoyed a few minutes with her son, before the train to ponyville left.

On the ride home, Star slept most of the trip away, occasionally tossing and turning, or grumbling. But at least he was having normal dreams for once. Twilight was watching over him, and Shadow decided to make himself scarce. He’d had quite enough of the whole “social” thing for now, so he was in a dining car sipping at a cup of tea, a special brew he grew himself.

Twilight was deep in thought when Shadow finally returned to their car. He plopped down in a seat across from her, avoiding sitting on Star. There wasn’t much discussion to be had, so the ride went by pretty silently. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder what had Twilight so preoccupied, but he knew better than to ask cause she wouldn’t tell him.

When the trio finally got home, they took to their respective domiciles, a groggy Star following Twilight to the library, and Shadow making his way to his house. He didn’t need to write the Princess tonight, so he decided to go do more research on his magical powers. He knew he wouldn’t be nearly as good as a purebred unicorn, but hopefully he could learn something besides levitating things.
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Twilight entered her library and was greeted by a happy Spike. He didn’t get to go to canterlot this time because Twilight didn’t have enough money, so he stayed behind with Rarity, which he didn’t horribly mind. Spike hugged Twilight and then Star, who was instantly awakened when he saw his favorite playmate. It was too late to go see Sweetie, so that would
have to wait.

After Star and Spike had played for a while, they took themselves to bed, which was surprising to Twilight. This just gave her time to think of more experiments for Star to work on. He was progressing pretty rapidly at the ball game, so it was time for new material.

After she’d gotten her fill of research, Twilight took herself to bed. Tomorrow was going to be an intense day of studying for the two days that Star was slacking on while he was in canterlot. She gave up trying to solve his night terrors, so she was putting all her focus into magical control.
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Eventually, weeks turned into months, and into a year, finally. Twilight was beside herself with glee. Today was Star’s birthday, and also a milestone, for he had spent the entire year studying under Twilight, making new friends, and most of all, spending time with Sweetie. Twilight smiled to herself as she walked into sugarcube corner, where Pinkie was taking orders at the front counter.

"Good afternoon, Pinkie.” Twilight greeted the puffy-maned pony at the counter. “Today’s a very special day.”

“I know I know I know!” said Pinkie, beginning to bounce around. “Today’s Shooting Star’s ‘happy living in ponyville for one year with all your friends and sweetie belle’ day. Can you believe he’s been living with us for a whole year? that’s like, 400 days!” Pinkie chattered excitedly.

“365 days.” Twilight corrected Pinkie, laughing. “And that means we need some really special cupcakes and muffins and stuff. We’re holding the party at Applejack’s again, so there’s room for dancing and things” Twilight went on. “You’re in charge of the party as usual, Pinkie. Make sure to make it the next-best night ever.” Twilight said happily, placing her order list on the counter.

“Okie dokie lokie, Twi!” Pinkie said, rushing to the back of the store to begin preparing her mixes for all the sweets.
Twilight left the excited pink mare to her baking, while she went to go arrange the barn with Applejack.
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Shadow had been asked to meet Twilight and Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres, so they could decorate the barn for Star’s birthday / one year in ponyville party. He trotted happily up to Applejack, striking up a conversation with her while they waited for Twilight. He’d improved his grasp of magic quite a bit over the past year, and could now levitate and teleport freely, though he still got exhausted pretty quickly.

Twilight walked up the main path of the farm that led to the big brown barn. The supplies were already delivered earlier that morning, so they just had to be put up. After discussing momentarily with Shadow and AJ how the decorations were

supposed to look, they all knew their respective duties and got straight to them. They’d finished early with the surprising help of Big Mac, so the four had time for Idle chatter while Star and Spike were on their way, with Rarity, Pinkie, Dash, and Fluttershy. Sweetie Belle also came along.

Star had no idea what was going on. All he knew was he was going to Sweet Apple Acres for something that involved a lot of ponies he knew. He didn’t even know that he’d been living in ponyville for a year so far. By now he had grown almost 6 inches, standing slightly taller than Spike. His wings hadn’t grown in yet, and they wouldn’t for a while, but he could easily

move them if he tried. He didn’t attempt flying yet. Last time he did, he ended up with a face full of pond water. He was
happily chatting with Sweetie, while Spike was talking to Rarity. Dash and Shy were busy arguing over who was the best
wonderbolt.

When the assembled ponies trotted up and into the barn, it was fully dark. Then there was a purple flash, and Star couldn’t believe what he saw. There were two huge buffet tables, fully decked out with sweets, cakes, muffins, cookies, anything you could imagine. Above the two tables was a huge purple and blue banner that said “Happy Birthday Shooting Star!” in silvery-

white letters. Many of the ponies assembled were friends of his from school, or other ponies that Twilight knew. Star wasn’t very good with names, but he knew every pony by their faces.

Then, the music started, and with that, the party went into full swing. Ponies were dancing, laughing, and conversing with one another, or playing random games that Pinkie invented on the spot. For once, Star was enjoying being surrounded by ponies. He and Sweetie were even able to find a table to themselves.
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About half an hour into the party, Star suddenly felt very ill. He hadn’t eaten or drank very much of anything yet, but he usually wasn’t bothered by that. He could barely focus on the conversation at hand, and slipped in and out, before finally collapsing in a shaking, writhing heap of fur. The last thing he remembered hearing was Sweetie’s voice yelling for somepony to help him.

}}}}}}}}}}}}}
It was a brilliant summer day. A lone human was sitting on a lakeshore, a fishing pole in one hand, and a cold can of soda in the other. As he stared at nothing in particular, the human heard a sound in the woods behind him. He froze. So far as he knew, nobody knew he was here. He hadn’t even told Jason. And he usually told him everything, much to Jason’s chagrin. EVERYTHING. Even things that he didn’t want to hear. But what was your best friend for? Gripping his fishing pole tighter, he

lifted himself slowly off of the log, when there was a rush and a crackle of splintering twigs and crushing leaves. He didn’t turn around fast enough, and found himself nearly airborne, heading towards the ice-cold lake.
KER-SPLASH!!
Surfacing, the human saw another human cackling like a madman on the shoreline. Standing nearly 6 feet tall and 275 pounds was Jason.

“Ey, Damian, how’s that water taste ya shite? You know you ain’t allowed to go fishing in my prized spot without me, punk!
“Who said this was your spot, you overgrown human-bear crossbreed? I should come up there and kick you straight in yer

nutz!” the human called Damian retorted.
“I’d rather look like a grizzly bear than a scrawny little beanpole.” Jason sneered back.
Just then, there was a splash behind Damian. Turning around, he saw a huge something coming straight towards him. He swam quickly towards the shore, which seemed a hell of a lot farther away than before. The whatever it was grabbed onto

Damian’s leg, and pulled him under. Jason saw this and knew he wasn’t fucking around.
Jason took a header into the pond himself, swimming out to and pulling Damian to the surface, He pulled his pocket knife from his belt, and stabbed the huge, toothed fish in its left eye socket, effectively making it release Damian. Carrying them both back to shore, Jason examined Damian’s leg.

Pieces of skin had been ripped out, and the puncture holes were deep. If Damian had struggled anymore, he might have lost some muscle pieces. Then the pain hit Damian, and he gripped onto Jason’s arm, hard leaving nail marks. Wrapping up Damian’s leg in his T-shirt, Jason rushed him out to the nearest hospital. The result had been Damian getting several dozen stitches in his lower leg, and being stuck in a wheelchair for a week.
{{{

Star woke up surrounded by all sorts of ponies, wondering if the young colt was ok. Thankfully, he hadn’t lapsed into a magical fit. He was helped up by Twilight, and asked to talk to her in a separate room. He detailed the memory to her, and

told her how he’d managed to hear names in the memory. Shadow’s human name came up, which thoroughly shocked Twilight. So Shadow wasn’t lying about being human in his past life. She would definitely need to interrogate Shadow again.
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After Star relaxed, he returned to his party. He wasn’t about to let his nightmares get the best of him tonight. The party went on for what seemed like hours, and all the food had actually been eaten. It was a Saturday night, so Star and almost

everypony else had nowhere special to be, so they kept going until ponies left on their own accord. Even Pinkie had tired herself out, so they were going to come back the next day to clean up.

A/N i ment to put this in there but got lazy Damian asked Jason to let him stay with him for a wile

Chapter 5 ShadowFoot's Past And Shooting Star's Frienship

Sorry for the shitty chapter name i couldn't think of a good name i you payed me

Jason sat there reading a book, while “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” was on. He heard the phone ringing. Answering it, the voice on the other line was audibly sullen.

"Hello, is this Jason?" The deep, gruff voice inquired.

“This is he. May I ask who is speaking?” Jason retorted.

“My name is Detective Largo. I’m with the Johnson City police. I regret to inform you that your friend Damian has killed himself."

"What? That’s impossible. I talked to him a few weeks ago"
"Once again, I am sorry for your loss, but he left you a note and some things. If you don’t mind, can you pick them up today?"

"Yeah, sure. I’ll be there in about ten minutes" Jason replied flatly, clicking the receiver onto its stand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ten minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Here you go. I am so sorry for your loss.” Detective Largo said, placing a box onto the table in front of Jason.

“I said its fine. Where is that note he left me?” Jason demanded sternly.

“Here, sir,” Replied the Detective, passing the young man a hastily scribbled upon piece of paper. The note read as follows:

‘Dear Jason,
I’m sorry you have to find out that I ended it all, but I couldn’t take it anymore. My family had forgotten about me, and I couldn’t find a reason go on living. This is my final note to you my friend. You’re not just my best friend. You are also my brother.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason was thinking to himself one day, while sitting in his bedroom, looking at a photo album.“It has been about three weeks since Damian killed himself. I don’t know what to do. In a way I want to leave this world behind. Maybe go to Equestria, but in a way I don’t think it would ever happen.

Suddenly, a white light enters Jason’s room. It looks like an angel.“Jason I heard your prayers and wishes, so if you want, you and Damian can be reunited. You can go to Equestria and become Shadowfoot.”

“Shadowfoot? My ponysona? But he’s just a nonexistent pony. How could he even exist in equestria?” Jason inquired.

“Damian will not have any memories. You will be his guardian at Canterlot Castle and you will basically raise him, but later in life. In his life he will start to have memories of you, but they will be scant and confusing. He has become his Ponysona, Shooting Star.”

Jason’s eyes grew at the sound of being reunited with his friend who was like a brother to him "Yes, do it. I want to leave now."

The angel smiled at him and said “You will have all of your memories. So don’t be shocked if Damian doesn’t know who you are.”
“I won’t" Jason promised, eager to be reunited with his friend.

A bright white light engulfed Jason and he was taken to Equestria. Standing in front of Princess Celestia she spoke to him.
Shadowfoot, do you want to stay and be the personal guardian for my soon to be child?

“y...yes.” Jason said, astounded that he was standing in front of the very ruler of Equestria. “But have you thought of a name?”
Celestia smiled and said “Shooting Star.”

Shadowfoot stared in shock. “Yes, I will do this.”
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Time passed, as it tends to. Days turned to months, and this particular month, A certain baby alicorn was to be born. Waiting outside of the medical wing of the castle, Shadow paced back and forth, wearing a pattern into the plush carpets underhoof. In his time in Equestria so far, Shadow was designated as on honorary royal guard, and as such, would accompany the princesses as was fit.

This particular day, he had been studying alongside Princess Celestia when she went into labor with the young foal she carried.Shadow quickly rounded up some guards, and they proceeded to the medical wing. The Royal Guards that had trailed Shadow had to return to their posts, so he was left as moral support for the mother to be, as well as Princess Luna.

He wanted to see the young foal as soon as possible. Even though he wasn’t the father for the youngling, he was going to take his job as guardian very seriously. He let his best friend go once, he wasn’t about to let it happen again. After a few intensive hours, Young Shooting Star was brought into the land of equestrian, and Shadow’s job truly began.
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After the initial few weeks Celestia was allowed to tend to her foal, her royal duties would not allow her to spend very much time with him. When Celestia or Luna weren’t around, Shadow was there for the young colt. He started teaching him all he knew about magic, But Shadow was also a new arrival to equestria, and in turn didn’t know much. What Shadow did know, was the difference between right and wrong, and being a true gentlecolt, the same way Shadow had been in his past life as

Jason. As the years passed, Shooting Star grew quite quickly, reaching the same size that most young colts and fillies took years to do, within weeks. Shadow had assumed it was because of the longevity of Alicorns is why they grew so quickly.
One fateful day, though, Shadow had reached his limit of teaching Shooting Star. Shadow and Celestia both knew that he would have to learn from somepony else. Celestia believed that there was no better teacher than Miss Twilight Sparkle, her

personal protégé. With heavy hearts, Shadow and Celestia sent young Star away to live with Miss Sparkle. Shadow sent star away with a very valuable gift. It was an enchanted map that would safely lead Star home, should he ever get lost and not have any assistance. Shadow didn’t like sending Star away, especially since he had grown so attached to the young colt. But Celestia was his mother, and Shadow had no right to be any part of that decision. He was just a guardian, nothing more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Night After Shadow’s Visit to Ponville~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shadow dropped his saddlebags unceremoniously on his bed. He proceeded to the dining hall to meet up with the Princesses. They had specifically asked Shadow to report back to them. It had been several weeks since they visited Star
themselves, and were eager to know how far he’d come in his social and magical growth. Shadow had reported back with
more than pleasing news. After Princess Luna took leave of her sibling to perform her nightly duties, Shadow was stopped by Celestia on his way out of the dining hall. Wondering what she could possibly want, he obliged her.

“Shadow, can we talk, privately for a moment?” the tone in her voice not fitting a question, but a demand.

“Certainly, princess. What might you need of a humble servant such as myself?” Shadow inquired.

“I know your secret, Shadow. A full grown unicorn does not simply appear in my kingdom, with not the faintest clue of rudimentary magic.” She said sternly. “Are you a changeling spy, or something close to that, Jason?”