For the first time Stardust could know, she wasn’t crying in her dreams. Instead her dream made her happy, seeing Luna’s face as the two them played together. It was a much different dream than the others she was use to having. While they usually ended sad, this one stayed happy all the way to the end, when Stardust was awoken by the sound of something knocking around her.

“Excuse me. May I come in?” Stardust woke up to hear Luna’s voice on the other side of a door. Last night wasn’t a dream after all, it was real!

“Yes,” Stardust said giving her answer.

The door swung open as Luna walked in with a smile on her face. She looked at the young, mud cover pegasus with a sigh. She made a mental note to give Stardust a bath as soon as possible. She closed the door behind her as she went up to Stardust, ready to tell the young pegasus what she was about to do.

“So,” Luna said, hurrying to find the right words to use “Last night me and my sister had a talk. I told her about how you’ve been living and that I wanted to do something to help you, and she said that as long as I look after you, you can stay here at the castle.”

Stardust’s eyes widened as she heard this news. That feeling that she had for so long, finally coming into focus. Luna just stated she was adopting her, which brought both shock and undeniable joy to the once homeless pegasus. Never had she expect that it would turn out like this in the end for her, living with princess, having a mother figure to look up to. It was all too much for her mind to process.

“For real?” Luna nodded understanding Stardust’s shock. “I can’t believe this. I know this is real but it just feels like something out of a dream. Thank you so much.”

Stardust jumped at Luna, giving her a big hug as Luna put a bath from mental note to absolute necessity. The odor coming from Stardust’s fur was much worse than she thought. Taking this into account she pulled the dirty young pegasus off of her and guided her to the bathroom. Stardust didn’t know how, but she somehow managed to see exactly what Luna was doing. Of course, seeing how dirty she really was, she didn’t bother to try escaping. Besides, this was a princess, she didn’t want to do anything that majorly upset Luna.

That being said, Stardust hated water both warm and cold. After all her experience out in the rain at night, water was something she never wanted to deal with. Of course, that also didn’t make her struggle due to already stated reasons.

The bath itself wasn’t as bad as Stardust thought it would be, but still didn’t like it. Stardust hated how the water felt, and the fact that she had to get completely wet in order for Luna to fully clean her was one of the scariest things she ever did. She had no idea she was suppose to hold her breath underwater, so she ended up getting water and bits of dirt that had fallen off her fur in her mouth. While brushing wasn’t as bad, it constantly got caught on Stardust and it was a bit of a tug of war to get it out.

“Note to self,” Stardust mumbled during this “Never go out in the rain again.”

By the end, the water was no longer a clear blue color like it was at the beginning, but had been turned brown from all the dirt and mud Luna had cleaned off. Stardust hopped out, soaking wet with a small clump of her mane sticking to the front of her. Despite how filthy she was before hand, she seemed like an entirely different pony. Her dark blue mane (with an occasional bundle that was pitch black) mane shined with all the filth off of her. Her once white coat actually came out to be a very light shade of blue, which somewhat shocked her.

Luna handed Stardust a towel, which she quickly grabbed and used to get all the water off her. When she was sure she couldn’t feel a single drop of water anywhere on her body, she placed it on the floor, not knowing what to do. Stardust knew nothing about living a civil - or high class in this case - life. It was obvious that Luna would have to teach her about that as time went on. She also made note to sign her up for school, and introduce her to Celestia and the elements of harmony.

“I’ll take care of it later,” Luna said, seeing Stardust confusion “There’s a few things we need to do anyways before the end of the day.”

As long as it had nothing to do with water, Stardust was fine (and yes, it well be brought a lot). She followed Luna out of the bathroom and down a set of halls, looking around at the beautiful walls, floors, windows, and other things she had never seen before. After some time, they arrived at the dining hall to see Celestia waiting patiently. Stardust looked in awe at the princess, as she could have almost mistaken her for a good if she didn’t know who she was. Luna simply just smiled and rolled her eyes. It seemed like everything (except the bathtub) amazed Stardust.

“I see you took your time,” Celestia responded, giggling at the young pegasus’s expression.

“There was a bit of a,” Luna looked down at Stardust, “Complication.”

Luna and Stardust sat down next to Celestia, who was on the other end of the table as they waited for the chef to come with their breakfast. Stardust wasn’t so sure what to do after sitting down on the chair, she honestly had no idea what they were waiting for. All she could do at the moment was follow Luna’s example and hope she didn’t mess up.

“Stardust, correct?” Celestia asked, making sure she remembered. Stardust simply nodded. “It definitely is a interesting name. Nice to meet you. I’m Celestia.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Stardust forced out, a little unsure about the words. “Thank you for letting me stay. It was really nice.”

“It’s okay,” Celestia said, understanding the young pegasus’ confusion. “I know this is very different from what you're use to, but we'll try and help you fit in. Also, don’t worry about being too formal, neither me or Luna is,”

Formal? That was a new word for her, and definitely not the last one she will here this morning.

“She means you can act like yourself,” Luna explained, seeing Stardust’s confusion.

At the moment, the most important thing for Luna was getting Stardust comfortable in the castle, fix up her mane as it was still a bit of a mess, getting some attire for proper events, and most importantly, signing her up for school. Stardust wasn’t as young as the CMC, but was still young enough where she needed to know most of the things that she didn’t know in life. Luna didn’t want to send her to school here in Canterlot, as she didn’t feel like it was the best environment for someone like Stardust to learn in. She would probably get picked on a lot and wouldn’t get the help she need from the teacher their. Cheerilee, however, who taught over in Ponyville would be a much better choice. It was a longer journey for sure, but school didn’t start for a week, and she could easily find a place for Stardust to stay during the school week.

When the food finally arrived, Stardust was meet with a meal she never imagined was possible. Fresh pancakes sat on a plate in front of her covered in maple syrup. Stardust has seen them in restaurants, but never got the chance to try one before. Without a second thought, Stardust quickly dug in. Devouring half of a pancake in a matter seconds. When she looked up, she saw the chefs jaw drop as he saw her eat. A small giggle came from Celestia as Stardust realized what she had just done.

“Good luck princess,” the chef said, as she left the room.

“They’re good, aren’t they,” Luna said. She never imagined what it was like eating with magic, but she didn’t need to embarrassed herself to find out.

Stardust gave a nodded to her new mother as she gulped down what she had eating. “I’ve never tasted anything like it before. It’s incredible!”

The smile that appeared on Stardust’s face was different than the one she wore last night under the bridge. She wasn’t smiling because she had to, the smile was as real as any other ponies Luna had seen before. Luna knew just how much of an impact she was making in a single day just by that smile, one that she would never forget.

As breakfast continued, Stardust easily devoured two pancakes before being full. Celestia and Luna leaving the young pegasus alone, not wanting to ruin the smile they had placed upon her face. Luna explained what she was going to do today to get things settled for Stardust. While most of the stuff she could do here in Canterlot, she decided to have Stardust’s mane done in Ponyville since she had to go there to sign her up for school. She would also take Stardust to carousel boutique to get her a few options for attire to wear during events like the Grand Galloping Gala, as well as introduce her to Rarity.

“Is Rarity of friend of yours?” Stardust asked.

“In a way, yes,” Luna replied “She and her friends have helped me out in the past so I figure it would be good if I introduced you to them, especially since you're going to have to stay there during the school week.”

“Are you planning on taking the train?” Celestia asked somewhat surprisingly. “It would be good to not attract to much attention since she doesn’t even know anyone there yet, and people would be wondering why a pegasus is accompanying one of the princesses.”

“Yes.”

Stardust tried to understand as much of the conversation as possible, but couldn’t really keep track with some of the words that they were exchanging between each other. After some time, Luna stood up from the table and walked up next to Stardust.

“Ready?” The princess asked.

Stardust nodded, following the princesses lead as she headed out the door. Luna was wondering how she would explain this to the kingdom that she had a daughter? It would be tough for sure. However, it wasn’t that urgent at the time, so she pushed away. Looking down at Stardust, full smile on her face, Luna made sure of one thing.

She was never going to let the smile disappear, never.

Author's Note

There we go, the second chapter is up (and much sooner then I thought). I want to thank all of you who are supporting this story, it's been amazing seeing how well it's doing after just one chapter and I hope to continue delivering what you want in terms of this story. That being said, I do want to finish of the Class Trial for Equestrian Despair and it will probably go up before this. That being said, I hope to get the next chapter up very soon. Please leave a comment, like, and follow as they all help show me your support and thoughts on the story.