It wasn’t that surprising at all. The castle that Stardust had seen on the way to Ponyville now stood in front of her. She was in awe at the shape of it, never seeing anything like it before. It looked like something out of a painting to her, in fact she wanted to start thinking it was all a dream. It wasn’t, this day couldn’t have been any more real, the bath water reminded her of that. She shivered a little at the memory of the bath earlier that day, and quickly put it at the back of her mind.

Luna knocked on the door to see if Twilight was home. After a minute or two, the door opened to a purple dragon. From what Stardust could tell, the dragon must have been in its teens. This was the first time she had ever seen one before, and quickly took a step back, not sure exactly what he was to begin with.

“Oh, princess Luna,” The dragon said, it’s voice told Stardust that it was kind, and she stepped forward. “I didn’t know you were going to be here so soon. If I did I would have prepared a little quicker,” He looked to Stardust “This must be the pegasus you messaged me and Twilight about about. Stardust correct.”

Stardust nodded in response, not really sure what else to do at the moment. Her idea of Twilight being a dragon was no longer possible, if the words were true. Not knowing what to say, she looked up at Luna for an answer. Seeing Stardust’s confusion, Luna explained.

“This is Spike,” As Luna introduced him he gave a wave to Stardust. “He’s Twilight’s assistant, my sister was there when she hatched him.”

“What?” Stardust’s body froze in fear.

“It’s not like that,” Spike explained, seeing exactly where it was going. “It’s a magic thing, she used a spell to make me hatch quickly… or I think that's correct,” Realizing he was getting of topic, he quickly changed the subject “Come on in, I’ll show you to where Twilight is.”

Following what the dragon had said, Stardust followed him inside. Her amazement at the castle was even greater than it was on the outside. How the heck did somepony make this? Stardust didn’t want to know, but the question still intrigued her. The crystal walls shined, showing absolutely no sign of age. There seemed to have been a dozen rooms lining the hallways of the castle. Stardust wondered how many of them had actually been opened. She felt a little guilty for saying it, but something inside her said that this was more beautiful then Canterlot castle.

“Cool huh?” Spike said, seeing Stardust’s utter amazement.

“This is unreal,” She said looking at the many doors that she had passed by “How do you not get lost in here? Do you carry a map or something?”

“It was a little confusing at first,” Spike admitted. “But once you learn what door is what it’s not that bad. It took Twilight one whole day to memorize the layout, and me even longer just to learn where the kitchen is. We got it down now though, so we’ll help you out the best we can with that,” Soon after finishing they arrived at a single door at the end of the hallway. “This is it.”

Stardust opened the door to find a giant circular room standing in front of her. In the middle was a giant map surrounded by six chairs each with their own design on it. Looking up she saw a giant tree root chandelier (I’m pretty sure I’m getting that wrong) that easily scaled the entire ceiling. Then Stardust noticed two figures talking in the middle of the room. One was a light purple unicorn with a dark purple mane and a blue streak going through it, while the other one was a purple alicorn with even an even darker purple mane color and a pink streak going through it.

“Princess Luna,” The alicorn got up and walked over to the princess “It’s been a while. A whole year if I’m remember correctly.”

“Pretty much,” Luna responded. She turned Stardust to introduce her “Stardust, this is princess Twilight Sparkle. You’ll be staying with her during school weeks.”

So this was Twilight Sparkle. Stardust didn’t expect the pony to be an alicorn, but she realized that she should have known as soon as she saw the castle. Twilight smiled at the young pegasus, she surely was lucky. Not everyday somepony with no home is brought into the royal family. She wondered how the staff at Canterlot thought about all this.

“Nice to meet you Stardust,” Twilight greeted “As Luna said I’m Twilight Sparkle, but you can just call me Twilight.”

“It’s nice to meet you to,” The shock of everything today made Stardust stutter a little as she spoke. She looked over to the unicorn that was patiently waiting in one of the chairs “Who is that?”

The unicorn got up as she saw Stardust look at her. As she got closer, Stardust started to back up, giving a fair amount of space between the two. A little bit of discomfort grew in Stardust as the unicorn got closer. She could tell that the princess was a little confused by her reaction, every time one stepped forward the other seemed to step back.

“Um Twilight,” The unicorn looked to the princess, looking as if she had done something wrong. “Hasn’t everypony forgotten about the whole incident?”

“I don’t think she even knows what you’re talking about,” Stardust could barely make out what Twilight had said. “This is Starlight Glimmer, my student. We met in a very interesting way three years ago, and I’ve been helping her learn friendship ever since. She’s a nice pony, don’t worry.”

Stardust looked at Starlight, she felt a little uncomfortable around her. However, she knew that she would somehow have to get over that uncomfortable. Forcibly, Stardust slowly walked towards her. Something in her head told her to stop, but she tried the best she could. Twilight looked at the pegasus’ as she forcibly moved forward. Something must have traumatized her to have acted that way, then she thought about Luna being her mother. She knew the situation Stardust was in from the letter that had been sent, what happen to her parents must have been affecting her right now.

However, in that Twilight saw something else. It wasn’t that visible, but she could see a weird force surrounding Stardust as she made her way to Starlight. The closer she got, the more it appeared and Stardust started to lose muscle in her legs. It was as if this power was scared of unicorns itself, it was a power far beyond fear. As soon as the other could clearly see what was going, they jumped in to help.

“Stardust, stop,” Luna shouted.

As soon as Stardust heard this she froze. She looked at Luna and saw a face of confusion appear. Stardust looked at herself, seeing the strange aura that had surrounded her. She got scared, not knowing exactly what was going on. She took a step back and saw it fade a little. Questions filled her head, not sure why this was happening in the first place.

“All I was going to do is try and shake hooves and greet Starlight,” She started to freak out as she spoke. “What is this? Is there something wrong with me?”

“Calm down Stardust,” Twilight said. She saw Starlight step forward and knew what was going to happen if she tried to help “Starlight, stay away from her. You’ll make this worse. Get out of the room before this fully takes effect.”

Starlight opened her mouth to object, but stopped herself realizing it was hopeless to try. She had no idea what was going on, but Twilight and Luna did. The best she could do was follow their orders and not interfere. She went to the very edge of the room and then to the door that Luna and Stardust had entered through, not wanting to make it worse. As soon as she left, the aura faded, and Stardust stood there, too scared to move.

“I… I...,” Stardust didn’t know what to say.

In the matter of a few hours, her life had turned from a dump to royalty, literally. Now, she was starting to judge everything she had ever known, her life on the streets, the name of her sister, her name being something she thought up, but strangest of all, the death of her parents. She had no idea why, but she felt as if none of it was true… was it. No, she was sure she had a sister still alive somewhere, but something about the name she had before seemed off. It was almost as if the sister was standing right in front of her, but that wasn’t possible, right?

“What’s going on?” She asked Luna, and as she did, she saw her mother start to cry. “Luna, are you okay.”

“Yes,” Luna answer, she hadn’t realized she was crying. “It’s just… I figured that what Starswirl had told us all those years ago was wrong. Yet here you are, standing right before me.”

Celestia stared at the crystal heart, looking at the strange glow it was giving off. The letter she had received stated that this was happening, but she couldn’t believe it herself. Along with her was Cadance, Shining Armor, and their daughter Flurry Heart. They greeted her as she arrived and accompanied her on the way to the castle. When she got there, she saw that the crystal heart was glowing a light blue color. The light was almost blinded Celestia when she first saw it.

“So,” Celestia said with a deep thought “What you said, it was correct.”

“I heard the story from our mother when I was young,” Shining Armor said, “This means that the third sister isn’t just a legend. We saw this happen a few months ago, but it didn’t grow this bright then. Until last night we thought it was just a coincidence, that is when it grew it’s brightest.”

“The night that Stardust and Luna meet,” Celestia said. “Starswirl was correct after all.”

“What story?” Flurry Heart asked. Out of everyone here, she was the only one that didn’t know the story.

“It’s more like a forgotten legend,” Celestia explained “Most ponies don’t remember it anymore. Would you like to hear it?”

Flurry Heart was excited. “Yes, please tell me.”

“Let’s head inside,” Celestia said, “Then I’ll tell you.”

They headed inside and to the library where Celestia looked up and down for the right book. After a few minutes, she found it. The Legend of the Third Sister, the story Shining Armor had mention earlier. It wasn’t a legend, not anymore. It was becoming real, and it started as soon as Stardust and Luna meet. Celestia sat down on a chair with the book levitating in front of her. More than a thousand years have past since that day, and it was something that had faded from her memory. Now, it was all coming back to her, and it reminded her of how Luna had reacted to it.

“Long ago,” Celestia began “Before the banishing of Nightmare Moon, there lived three alicorns. These alicorns had great magical powers that no other pony could have imagined, and they were seen as the royalty of the land. One had the power to raise the sun at dawn, while another had the power to bring the moon at night, but the third had a power unbelievable to any other. Her talent was limitless.”

“What do you mean?” Flurry Heart asked, not fully understanding. Her parents shushed her so Celestia could continue on.

“The alicorn’s talent,” Celestia continued “Was talent itself, as her cutie mark showed by an infinity sign it had on it. The alicorn spent her time helping those in need around Equestria. She was loved by many, and her sisters loved her for what she did, but as time went on her talent became her own curse.

“In time, she learned the talent of many pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies with her cutie mark, but in time it had reached its limit. Soon, the young alicorns power started to grow out of control, putting the land of Equestria in danger. She never wanted to endanger anyone, and asked her sisters for help. Not wanting to see there sister go through so much pain, they asked for help from a great unicorn wizard

“When the unicorn saw the dangerous power that the alicorn held, he knew exactly what was going on. The alicorns body didn’t have the ability to harness all the magic she had gain over the years, and the only thing he could do was rewrite the destiny of Equestria itself. Using magic, he changed the alicorn into a pegasus, so she no longer had the power to us her talent. With this her cutie mark faded away, but the magic still inside of her tortured her body. To help her, the unicorn place the pegasus into a sleep, and used her magic to form the tree of harmony, which protects us now from the danger that the everfree presents.

“As time went on, Equestria forgot about the young pegasus, and she faded from the memories of all the countries citizens. However, to this day, her sisters still await her return, hoping to one day see there sister again.”

“Wow,” Flurry Heart was amazed by the story, never having heard of it before. “Is it real?”

“Yes,” Celestia said “In fact, not only is that story true, but what the unicorn said was true.”

“You mean she’s back,” Cadance was shocked. “You know who she is?”

“What!” Stardust yelled, unable to believe what she had just heard. “You mean I’m that alicorn,” Luna nodded, having told Stardust they same story that Celestia had told Flurry Heart. She was so confused, “Then what about the memories of my mom and dad dieing? Why don’t remember it? What does this have to do with that strange aura from earlier?”

Luna could understand Stardust's questions, it was hard to believe it was her to begin with. Luna remembered what Starswirl had told her before he cast the spells, and tried to remember everything he had said. After she had the answers to Stardust’s questions, she started explaining.

“Let's begin with the one easiest to understand,” Luna said. “The reason that strange aura appeared was because the tree of harmony feeds off the magic you had in you. Due to your body being drained of all the magic you had when you were an alicorn, the presence of magic is foreign to you. To be more exact, unicorn magic is foreign to you, which is why you aren’t effected by my or Twilight. It also only happens when a unicorn has a great magical potential which is probably why Rarity didn’t hurt you either.”

“As for the memories you had,” Twilight continued off of what Luna said “I don’t think they were fake as much as they were dreams you had while you slept. You slept for so long that dreams started to feel like they were real, and you started to forget about everything when you were an alicorn. In other words, you kind of brainwashed yourself with sleep.”

Stardust tried to process all of this, but it still didn’t seem believable. Her, an alicorn? It felt so fake. Yet, there was something in her that wanted her to believe in what they were so saying. How could it be real? Nothing was beginning to make sense, yet it felt like as soon as she started to walk towards Starlight things seem to be… different.

“So, what exactly was that aura?” Stardust asked, it truly was the strangest thing right now and the thing she had the most questions about.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Twilight questioned back, not knowing what Stardust meant.

“When Starlight got further, I felt something about me change,” Stardust explained. “Twilight, like you said, my memories started to feel like a dream more than reality. Why is that the case?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight replied, sad she didn’t have the answer to such an important question. “I have a theory however. Maybe your bodies trying to replenish the magic you lost when you were turned from an alicorn to a pegasus. It’s a little far fetch, but maybe your fear isn’t a fear of unicorns but of the uncertainty it will not be able to hold the magic you once had. However, I have a better theory that maybe it’s trying to reverse the spell that turned you into a pegasus in the first place because it changed your destiny and caused you to lose your cutie mark.”

“So not only did the tree of harmony take the magic I gained from my cutie mark, but that of what I had as an alicorn as well,” Stardust said, trying to understand what Twilight had said to begin with.

“There’s something that wasn’t mentioned in the story I told you,” Luna said “The unicorn that I mentioned, Starswirl the Bearded, said that the tree of harmony would someday die, and it can’t be changed. In other words, Equestria is about to enter a much more dangerous era then it had before.”

“Wait,” Twilight said in realization “If the tree dies, then the elements will as well.”

“Elements?” Stardust was confused, this is the first time she had really wondered what they were, thinking that they were just the name of a group before.

“When the tree of harmony was created,” Luna explained “Six magical artifacts were created to support the life of the tree. These artifacts are called the elements of harmony, and have been used to banish many evils that appeared after you started sleeping. They are connected to the tree of harmony and need it to exist.”

As soon as she said that last sentence, she realized something. Twilight is right, if the tree goes, then the element of harmony will as well. It’s not that the tree of harmony takes magic as a food, it was magic itself made from the many talents of the world. If the cycle is cut, then it will start to wither away, and because the elements have been supporting the tree for sometime, then they don’t have the ability to save it. However, the magic will still be where the tree is since it’s owner isn’t there to collect it, meaning that Stardust might be able to collect it.

That was dangerous though, in her current form, Stardust wouldn’t be able to hold that amount of magic. If she tried to absorb it, there was a possibility it could kill her, putting Equestria at great risk. She had to figure out a way to turn Stardust back into an alicorn without such great risk. She got an idea.

“Twilight,” Luna said, a smirk appearing on her face. “Would you mind calling Starlight Glimmer in here, I want to try something.”

After sometime, Luna had everything set up just like she wanted. She had informed both Stardust and Starlight exactly what she wanted to try. If what Twilight had said was correct, then it’s possible that aura wasn’t trying to hurt Stardust, but rather trying to collect the magic Starlight had. When Stardust had tried to greet Starlight earlier, she said that she felt herself change a little. Of course there was a few questions asked.

“I understand that this is for the fate of Equestria,” Starlight said, not quite sure about the whole thing. “And I understand that this use to happen all the time with Stardust if the story is true, but wouldn’t that turn me into a earth pony? I have nothing against earth ponies, I just don’t want to lose the ability to lose magic.”

“Don’t worry,” Luna reassured her “If it’s anything like how her cutie mark was back then, all it should do is copy your talent to her. If this is correct, then that should not only change Stardust back into an alicorn, but start her on the way to being able to take the magic that the tree of harmony and the elements of harmony have. Not only that, but Stardust’s transformation from alicorn and pegasus realized some new talents that hadn’t been seen previously. If she is having that aura around her that must mean that some of it can be copied from you.”

“How do you know this?” Stardust asked curiously,

“How do you think I learned this?” Luna asked rhetorically “We’re sisters, I've seen you do this more time then you think.”

“And you think this works the same way?”

“Yes.”

Knowing that they would get nowhere just talking, Stardust and Starlight made their ways to opposite sides of the room. Stardust looked at Starlight as she turned around at the other side of the room. Luna and Twilight stood to the side, they were only to take action if something went or seemed wrong. Stardust’s legs once again tightened as she Locked eyes with Starlight. Ignoring the feeling in her legs, Stardust straightened up and walked forward.

At first, Stardust felt fine. She easily moved forward the first few feet as Luna watched from the sidelines. When Stardust got halfway, she felt it happen. Her body said to turn away, but she ignored what it said and kept moving forward. After a little bit, the others saw the aura start to appear again. It was faint at first, but with every step she took made a glow more and more. Only a foot away from Starlight, Stardust’s legs started to go numb. The aura had grown so visible, that Stardust could easily see it around her. She felt herself breathing hard, but still didn’t give in.

When she was only one inch away, her entire body stopped moving. She was still awake, but she couldn’t move a single bone in her body except for your head. Looking around, the aura started to seem spiritual, as if it was from another world. Luna recognized this, if it was indeed the same as it was back then, all she had to do now was close her eyes and concentrate on the unicorn in front of her.

Stardust closed her eyes, following the instructions that Luna had told her. While she didn’t see what happened next the others did. The aura attached itself to Starlight as if transferring for one body to another. As it went on, Stardust started to glow. It wasn’t the glow that occurred when getting a cutie mark, or similar to when Twilight became an alicorn. This was a dark red glow, the glow Luna was used to seeing. Starlight giggled as the aura covered her.

“It tickles a little,” Starlight admitted, trying to hold it in.

After a few seconds, the aura moved away from Starlights body and back to Stardust. Once it had all gathered back into Stardust, she was surprised to see her muscles loosen and fell to the floor with a thud. Luna quickly ran over to her sister as she got up.

“Did it work?” Stardust asked, not knowing what had just happened. “Am I an alicorn again?”

“Yes and No,” Luna admitted. “You aren’t an alicorn, but your cutie mark seemed to have reappeared.”

Stardust looked at her flank to confirm what Luna had said. Indeed it was true, she saw an infinity symbol on each side. If that was true, then what Luna had said was true. She was so confused. What was real? What wasn’t? She no longer had a clue.

She turned to Luna for an answer. “Luna, does this mean-”

“Yes,” she replied, already knowing what Stardust was going to say “we're sisters.”

“Do you remember anything about who I was.”

Luna looked away, a little ashamed at her answer. “The only thing I remember is that we were really close, and that it drove me mad that no one else cared for me when you went away.”

Twilight was shocked. If Luna was going where Twilight thought the princess was, then there was more to Nightmare Moons story then she thought. Was Stardust really the closest pony she had back then. She knew it wouldn't be right if Stardust learned about that. Then again, was it good for her to learn about her past fully?

“Stardust, Starlight,” Twilight called to them “I need to talk with Luna in private, would you mind leaving the room for a moment.”

Seeing the concerned face Twilight had, they nodded and left the room. When they had both left the room, Twilight let out a sigh.

“Twilight, are you okay?”

“What are we going to do Luna?” Twilight ask Luna. “You know what's going to happen if she gets a hold of that power right now. She might become an alicorn again in the future, but what are we going to do about the tree of harmony?”

Luna was shocked at this questioned. “What do you think? Stardust will be able to-”

“Absorb all that energy,” Twilight finished for her “honestly Luna, I thought her disappearing the first time was hard enough for you. Don't you want your sister to have more of a life then that?”

Luna hadn't thought about that. If Stardust didn't have the ability to hold that magic when the time came, then the sleep spell would have to be cast again. Stardust talent didn't see much of a talent like it us to be, but seeing it's now, it was more like a curse. Luna looked down, ashamed that she hadn't thought about that.

“I do,” Luna replied “but what about Equestria? If we don't do something about the danger will be worse than before. Stardust is our only hope of carrying that magic, and even if it disappears after it's used by magic overload we need her to save Equestria. Do you have a plan.”

“Not fully,” Twilight admitted “I'll need time to research and see if there is a way to increase her magic capacity, or see if I can transfer it into some other item to use,” she walked up to Luna and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, you help her regain her memories, teach her, and make sure she's ready when she becomes an alicorn again. Leave everything else to me."

Twilight made her way to the door. As she reached it, she turned back around. Looking Luna straight in the eyes, she said one final thing.

“And if I fail to do this, then you are going to have to decide what's more important to you. Your younger sister, or Equestria.”

And with that, Twilight left the room, leaving the princess alone to make her choice.

Author's Note

This actually got finished a lot sooner then expected. I know a lot of you aren't happy about Stardust seeming like an overpower alicorn, but I assure you that we won't see her alicorn form until much later and that she will NEVER become that OP. Also, did any of you see the influence from Lullaby for a Princess in this chapter? Please comment if you see it. Also, like and follow to show me how much you like my work, it helps me stay motivated.