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.