As Luna got out of the train, she sighed with relief. She looked at Stardust, who was shaking with fear behind her. Throughout the ride she was getting stared at by everyone on board, it was not a fun experience. However, it was all over now and there was nothing to worry about. Stardust followed Luna as they walked away from the train station, and looking in awe at the giant crystal castle in front of her towering the small town. Even in a place like this, royalty seemed to exist.

As they entered town, Luna and Stardust were happy to see no pony staring at them. Stardust looked around, she already was liking it better here then she had in Canterlot. It wasn’t as lively, but still had ponies talking and walking around in it. No one seemed to wonder what such a young pony was doing with Luna, or why Luna was here at all. Knowing that she wasn’t being questioned or watched made her feel much safer.

As they continued to walk until they came to a store at the end of town. This was their first stop, Carousel boutique. Luna and Stardust walked in to see a white unicorn working on a dress at one end of the building. She looked up as she saw Luna and Stardust come in.

“Well,” Rarity said, shocked to see Luna “This was quite unexpected. Hello Luna and what could I-,” She stopped once she saw Stardust hiding behind Luna. “Why Luna, I believe a your being follow by someone.”

Luna looked down at Stardust, scared of what she saw around her “It’s okay,” Luna explained “She’s a friend of mine.”

Taking a look at Rarity, Stardust came to the conclusion that it was safe. She was feeling the full effects of the fear of the unknown. She knew no one, knew almost nothing about the world, or anything that could contribute to her previous life. However, she felt as if she could trust Luna’s words, so she step out from behind her and completely showed herself to Rarity.

“Stardust,” Luna said, “This is Rarity. Rarity this is Stardust. I guess you could say that she’s my daughter. She doesn’t know much about normal life, so understand if she acts a little strange.”

Seeming to get this, Rarity reached out a hoof to Stardust “Nice to meet you Stardust,” Well, almost got it. Stardust stumbled back when Rarity held out her hoof, unsure of what it was suppose to me. “Your suppose to shake, deary,” Stardust did as Rarity said, but pulled away and shuffled away from her.

“Anyway’s,” Luna said, trying to make things less awkward “I was hoping to have some dresses ordered for her since the Gala is coming up in two months and I want to make sure she is ready for the occasion.”

Rarity nodded and took a step toward Stardust, the pegasus backing away as she did. “Listen darling,” Rarity said, try to make the young pegasus understand. “I know you don’t feel that comfortable but I promise I’m not going to do anything bad. I just need to take some measurements so I can make sure the dress fits you. You’d be okay if I borrowed you for a few minutes right? Luna will be right there.”

Stardust looked to Luna, who gave a nodded. Looking at the ground, Stardust responded “O-okay” She stuttered as she spoke.

Luna looked on as she watched Stardust do the hardest she could to stay still. She new Stardust had little experience with ponies before, but this wasn’t just normal fear in the pegasus’ body. Something about her past made her this tense around others. It became clear to Luna that she was the first pony Stardust had actually been able to get close to, but why?

“Alright,” Rarity said, finishing up. “You’re good to go.”

Before anyone could say anything, Stardust rush over to Luna and hid behind her. Luna sighed, she would have to talk with the young pegasus about this. It would hurt her later on if she kept acting like this. However, she saw the full effects only a few minutes of it after, when a unicorn filly quietly sneaked up behind her.

“Boo,” Was all that Stardust heard before she kicked in self defense at the noise.

Looking behind her, Stardust saw a white unicorn only a year or so younger than her with a purple and pink color mane. She looked to see her go straight across the room into the wall. Embarrassment crawled over her face as she saw what she had done. It wasn’t the first time she had done this to somepony, and it wasn’t going to be the last.

“Sorry,” She apologized to the young unicorn “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just get a little tense when I’m around unicorns. Their probably the one thing that scares me the most next to water.”

“It’s okay,” the unicorn said in response “Should have been a little more thought before trying to spoke you. Name Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s sister.”

Rarity sighed as she saw the entire thing happen. She new Stardust didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but the fact that she took such measures to such a simple scare was beyond belief. If that’s how she reacted to that, she didn’t want to see this pegasus when they came across someone like Trixie.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, walking to help her sister up. Stardust had made a small dent in the wall with her kick “please don’t do that again. I can’t afford to pay bits on things caused by you and your friends. Look at what you made her do to my house,” She looked at Stardust, feeling sorry for what she had just said. “Don’t worry about it Stardust, it wasn’t your fault, but what happened to make you so scare of unicorns?”

Stardust didn’t answer, which didn’t surprise Luna one bit. She knew that unicorns usually saw themselves as high and mighty. They probably did somethings that she didn’t want anypony to know about.

“Sweetie,” Luna said, “Would you mind if Stardust joined you for sometime today, I’m going to sign her up for school and I want her to meet some of the other classmates there."

“Of course,” Sweetie Belle said rushing over to Stardust “Don’t worry, you can trust me.”

Despite the smile on Sweetie’s face, Stardust wasn’t convinced “How can I know you’re telling the truth?” A bit of anger accidentally seeking into her voice “No unicorn has done something to help me in the past, how can I be sure you won’t make me do something I regret.”

“Because this isn’t Canterlot,” Sweetie explained “Things are different here in Ponyville. Everypony helps each other out here.”

Stardust still wasn’t fully certain about going with Sweetie Belle, but she felt sure enough to tag along. After saying goodbye to Rarity and Luna, the two headed out into ponyville. This place made Stardust feel more comfortable than she did in Canterlot. In truth, it seem that what Sweetie Belle had said was true, not one sight of anypony being mean to another. As she was looking around, she accidentally bumped into somepony, knocking her down.

“Oh sorry about that,” The yellow pegasus she had bumped into said, “I was so zoned out I wasn’t looking.”

Stardust got up and took a look at the pegasus she had bumped into. It was a pegasus about her age with a pitch black mane. Despite the smile on the ponies face, something about them gave Stardust and Sweetie Belle an odd feeling.

“Guess I wasn’t the only one,” Stardust said, taking the pegasus’ hoof. “Sorry about that. Names Sta-.”

The pegasus was already running off in the other direction, once again giving an odd feeling to Stardust. Despite everyone else in town, this pony seemed to act somewhat strangely. She helped Stardust up, sure, but that didn’t take away the fact she ran off right afterwards.

“Don’t worry about her,” Sweetie Belle said, “Her name’s Dandelion, or at least that's what she’s told everypony. Moved in a the start of the summer, no parents from what I heard. She’s a nice pony, but it doesn’t seem like she really gets to close to anyone. One minute you're having a nice chat with her about something, and then the next she just runs off without a thought in her mind.”

“Still,” Stardust says, “Something about her makes feel… weird. Not afraid like I did around you or Rarity, but a feeling that she’s trying to hide something.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sweetie Belle replied. “She’s one of the few ponies in town that are more random and odd. It’s nothing unusual, in fact most ponies are quite use to it at this point.”

Deciding that it was nothing, Stardust followed Sweetie Belle downtown. However, they had no idea that somepony had been watching them that entire time.

After walking a bit, Stardust and Sweetie Belle came to a tree-house that was in the middle of the woods somewhere. Stardust had been mostly quiet after the run in with Dandelion earlier, preferring only to answer when Sweetie asked a question that wasn’t to personal. That being said, there wasn’t a lot of questions Sweetie could ask that didn’t seem to go outside that range. Especially on the subject of her mom and dad, which Sweetie even admitted seemed like a stupid question to bring up.

“Hey,” Sweetie yelled up to the tree-house “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, you in their.”

Out of one of the windows Stardust spotted two ponies peek out. One was a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a bow in it. The other was a orange pegasus with a purplish mane. They both seemed to be around the same age as Sweetie Belle.

“Hey Sweetie,” the earth pony said, who Stardust guess must have Apple Bloom “Whose that you got with ya?”

“Her names Stardust,” Sweetie answered “Mind if we come in?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

Stardust and Sweetie Belle head up the stairs leading into the tree house. Apple Bloom opened the door and both of them entered to a somewhat empty room. Stardust once again felt tense, not as tense as she felt with Rarity, but still somewhat tense.

“Stardust,” Sweetie said, “These are my friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, this is Luna’s daughter Stardust.”

Both the ponies eyes widened (as if Apple Bloom’s eyes could get any bigger that is) with what they just heard. “Adopted,” Stardust said, trying to calm them down. It worked… on one of them at least.

“Wow,” Scootaloo said, started to get a little too close for Stardust’s comfort as she tried to back away. “You’re really lucky, you know that. I couldn’t imagine what it’s like act living in a castle, but I think it would be awesome. Is it? Please tell me.”

Once again, one of the CMC had gone to far. Stardust turned and gave a kick, sending Scootaloo flying (ironically) across the room. This time it wasn’t because of her being a pegasus, she just got a little too close for her to handle.

“Ow,” Scootaloo said, sitting up and rubbing her back.

“If it makes you feel any better I did it to Sweetie as well,” Stardust said, trying to make things better. “Also, please don’t get that close to me.”

Apple Bloom reconsidered following Scootaloo’s lead, not wanting to be number three. “Why did you do it to Sweetie Belle?” She asked instead. “She scare you or something.”

“Yes,” Sweetie answered for her, “However I guess something about me being a unicorn also had to do with it.”

“I’ll shamefully admit it,” Stardust said, looking at the floor “I didn’t mean to kick her that hard, but I was somewhat panicked so yeah. Sorry by the way.”

“I’m fine,” Scootaloo said “I’ve been in worse, but what do you have against unicorns?”

“It’s not exactly that I hate them,” Stardust explain “But they did something that caused me to be wear I am now.”

“Oh come on,” Scootaloo said, not realizing what she was about to do, “I can’t think of a single unicorn that would do anything that bad. Besides, you’re living with Luna. What could really be that bad if you have Luna as a mother?”

That seemed to not just go into the limits of personal, but brought back one of the only memories she had of her parents. She always wanted to believe they just abandoned her, but she knew what the truth was. The CMC watched as she broke into tears, and an angry expression crossed her face. Scootaloo didn’t just managed to bring up something horrible, but the very way she said - about it not being that bad - absolutely disgusted Stardust. This was the anyone saw what happened if you pushed it too far, and certainly wasn’t the last.

“Not that bad?” Stardust asked, her voice completely different from the timid tone it had before. “NOT THAT BAD? Is that what you see my past as. I suppose someone like you would understand what I have been through. You never lost your parents didn’t you?” Scootaloo was shocked at those words. “Is that a surprise to you. Why else do you think Luna adopted me, or picked me of the streets in my case? Why do I not trust unicorns? I’ll tell you why. Due to them, my parents didn’t just abandon me. They’re gone, forever, and no one will ever see them again.”

Author's Note

So I'm going to fully admit, I don't like the whole "people who run orphanages are bad" kind of thing. That's the entire reason Stardust didn't start the story in one, because it's one of those cliches I hate to see. I was actually a little histant to write this story because of that, but was able to avoid it so I was good in that area. Anyway, leave a like and comment for the story if you enjoy it. Also, follow if you want to keep up to date with the story. We are about to hit the true beginning of the stories plot, that's right, we are just about to get into the plot. Prepare yourself, it's about whole lot different.