My Life Thus Far, Book 1: The Outcast.

January 23, 999 C.E.

9:00 A.M.

After Sky and Hot Shot got back from there little chat he and Dash waited for a good ten minute's while Star's parent's got his paperwork processed and he was able to leave. Soon he was trotting out the hospital surrounded by his friend's and family.

"So Dash what were you up to a few day's ago?" Hot Shot asked as they trotted through the streets of ponyville. A few friendly face's stopped and waved. Star waved back.

"Oh, you mean on the day of the party?" She said looking over to Hot Shot who was looking rather cool-headed after his talk with Sky. He nodded. She gave him a scowl.

"Well if you must know I was cleaning up your mess." She said turning her nose up at his shocked expression.

"What? But how? I made sure those clouds were over the Everfree!" He said then fell silent as several glares's shot his way.

"Oh did I say that out loud?" He said as he rubbed the back of his head. He quickly looked around for a way out. Then he rolled his eye's.

"Would you look at the time. I gotta get going." He said waving a hoof in the air before rocketing into the sky. Dash just shook her head.

"How doe's such a lazy pony become friend's with someone as smart as you Star?" Dash said as she gave him a lopsided look. He snickered.

"Well, Dash are you talking about you or him?" He said. She smiled at his banter.

"Oh come on you know I'm not lazy." She said crossing her hoove's. "I just take little cat nap's every now and then. Being this awesome all the time can really wear a girl out you know." She said blowing a Rasberry at Star. He just chuckled as he threw up a shield to protect himself from Rainbow's saliva. As the now smaller group walked through town they stopped by the bakery. As they entered however instead of a cheerful pink pony to great them they found a plump earth pony mare at the counter.

"Hello Ms. Cake," Star called out as they all entered.

"Star!" She said as she bounded around the counter and latched onto Star's lithe frame with her strong grip.

"Wow, Ms. Cake what's the matter?" He asked as he tried to pry himself away from her. She gave him a sad look.

"It's Pinky dear. She hasn't been the same since you went to the hospital." She said as she lead him up the stairs. He gave her a puzzled look.

"What do you mean?" He asked feeling like he knew the answer. "Well, she's just been depressed lately. She won't come out of her room or eat much. When she doe's come out she bearly even talk's to any pony." Star shook his head. "Ok, so what can I do?" He asked feeling out of place. She gave him a soft smile.

"You can go and tell her your all right for one thing." She said as they came to her doorway. Ms. Cake knocked on Pinky's door.

"Pinky deary there's somepony here to see you." She said as she backed away from the door. There was a sound of somepony tripping over stuff as they made their way over to the door.

"Sorry, Ms. Cake but I don't feel like--" Pinky's sentence was cut short when she opened the door and her mouth and eyes went wide as she stared at one of her best friend's. Star gave her a confident grin.

"Heya Pink's." He said with a wave. Pinky just stood there for a few seconds. Then her mane began to twitch. Star backed up a little bit.

"Uh, Pink's you ok?" He asked raising a hoof to see if she was hearing him. He was suddenly thrown off his hoove's as Pinky all but tackled him to the ground.

"OH MY GOSH! YOUR OK!" She said as she got to her hoove's Star still in her grasp. She then proceeded to squeeze the life out of him with a bear hug that made his spine pop.

"Pinky I'm glad your happy." Star strained to say through clenched teeth and lack of air. "But I can't breath." He wheezed as she continued to hug the life out of him. She didn't hear him all that well as she swung him down the stair's and through the store front. Rainbow gave out a chortle as Pinky danced by with Star now turning a deep shade of blue.

"Heh! Pinky I think Star needs to breathe." Pinky stopped and gave Dash a strange look.

"Whatcha mean?" She asked. Then she looked over at Star in her hoove's. He was as limp as a wet noodle. She quickly dropped him and in a panic, she began to frantically run about the room.

"Og my gosh!" She said as she stopped and a thought came to her head.

"IDEA!" she said as a little light bulb came to life right above her head. Dash gave it a tentative look. As did Star's perent. Pinky just ran into the kitchen and when she emerged she held a pair of bellow's in her hoove's.

"This oaut to do the trick." She said as she ran over to Star's wheezing form. Before he could even think up a proper protest Pinky jammed the bellow's into his mouth and began to pump air into his oxygen starved lungs.

"Come on Star Breathe!" She said as she continued to pump frantically on her bellows. Star was getting more than enough oxygen so before Pinky could continue he used his magic to pull the instrument from her grasp. She lost her hoofing as the bellow's disappeared but was soon caught as Star used his magic to create a solid bar of golden energy above him. He smiled.

"Thank's again Pinky." He said as he scooched out from under the bar. A second later the bar disappeared and Pinky landed on her hoove's. She immediately ran over Star and gave him a proper hug.

"I'm so glad you're ok." She said as a few tears fell from her eye's. Star just chuckled.

"Me to Pinky. Me too." He said as he patted her on the back.

10:00 A.M.

Now that Pinky was back to her old self the store was open for business once more. Dash stayed for awhile to catch Star up on what had happened over the past few days. His parents left to go home and get some much needed rest.

"So there I was watching as Hot Shot flew headlong into a storm cloud trying to dissipate it." She said as she used her hoove's to illustrate what had been happening in the story so far.

"As soon as his hoof touched the outer layer of cloud a huge bolt of lightning come out the thing and ZAP!" She said smashing her hoove's together.

"He get's thrown across the sky to the other side of ponyville and end's up face planting through some poor mare's wall." She snickered.

"What no!" Star said as he listened to Dash's tale. She nodded her head.

"Yes. And you know the funny thing is he didn't even blink as he sat there lodged in the wall and proceeded to try and score a date with the mare." She said as she sat back down. Star sat there.

"Well did he get the date?" Star asked feeling giddy. Dash nodded.

Yup. There set to go out later on tonight." She said as she took a sip of her smoothie. Star sat there stunned.

"Wow. All's he has to do is come crashing through a wall and bam." He said slamming his hoof's together. "He get's a date." He said looking down at his soda. He gave it a long hard look.

"Why can't I ever seem to get a date?" He muttered under his breath. Dash only caught a little of that.

"What?" she asked. He shook his head. "Nothing Dash. Just talking to myself." He said throwing on a fake smile. Dash smiled back and then her face lit up.

"Oh! Guess what!?" She asked practically vibrating in her chair with excitement. Star just laughed seeing her act like this.

"What? What?" He said as he chuckled. Dash gave him a big grin.

"This year Ponyville is going to host the annual Summer Sun Celebration!" She said throwing her hoove's into the air. Star just sat there his jaw now on the floor.

"What!?" He asked looking at Dash with a mixture of both shock and excitement. She gave him a vigorous nod.

"Yup. This July the Princess herself is going to come to good old Ponyville to raise the sun" She said sitting back down in her chair. Then her excitement left her as she thought about her next subject. She rubbed the back of her head.

"So you know that there's going to be a dance on the night of the festival right?" She asked as her face flushed crimson. Star nodded as he listened and continued to look at his soda. Dash continued.

"So I was wondering if you--" She was stopped however as the door to the shop was flung open by a very distraught looking Swift Wing. He scanned the table's, booth's, and seat's until he found Star sitting with Dash. He made a beeline for them.

"Guy's I need your help!" He said as he came crashing into their table. He frantically looked around clearly trying to find some place to hide. Star, however, was concerned.

"What's wrong?" He asked forgetting about his and Dash's conversation and switching his focus to his frightened friend. Swift gave them a sorrowful look.

"You know this morning when I bolted." He said. Star remembered and blushed when he thought about his word's.

"Yeah about that. I wanted to apologize." He said Swift silenced him a soft smile.

"It's fine." He said giving a smirk. "Beside's you have to earn a ride on this pony." He said giving Star a wink. Star flushed at this and looked away. Dash meanwhile had to stifle her giggle's.

"Just get a room you two. I swear it's gettin ghotter in here just by having you both in the same room." She said teasing the two. Star blushed even harder while Swift just grinned.

"Anyway," Swift said trying to get the conversation back on track. "Yes please continue," Star said hoping to break up the awkward atmosphere hanging around them.

"So I went down to The Honey Suckle. You know the all gay bar?" Swift asked as he reminded his two freinds. Star nodded but Dash looked confused.

"You mean that place down on Cherry Lane?" She asked. Swift nodded.

"The one and only." He said. "Now I went there after Star's little impromptu advance." He winked at Star who just sunk lower into his seat.

"Well it got me all hot and you know how I hate to be left waiting." He said giving Dash a nudge. She just rolled her eye's.

"Yeah yeah, we know." She said getting impatient. "Just tell us what happened." She demanded.

"Well well, somepony's desperate for detail's." He said giving them both a sultry wink. They both just recoiled.

"No! No details! Please! Just keep it vague! Very very vague!" Star said with a pleading look on his face. Swift just laughed.

"Well long story short. I ended up making 'friends' with the wrong stallion." He said as his recent date came back to the forefront of his mind. Then his face dropped.

"Oh dear, how am I going to fix this?" He thought.

"Fix what?" Star asked sounding more annoyed at the lack of answers. Swift gave him a funny look.

"Well, you see. I kind of pissed my friend off." He said his nervous voice once more coming back to him. Star and Dash face hooved.

"What did you do this time?" Dash asked. Swift hesitated. "Spit it out!" Dash demanded. Swift sucked in a lungful of air.

"I told him I was seeing somepony and he didn't take no for an answer." He said all in one breath. Both pony's caught what had said however thank's to years of knowing Pinky Pie.

"And who is this mystery stallion of your's?" Star asked. Swift, however, wouldn't meet his gaze. Soon Star's eye's went wide when he put two and two together.

"Ok. How did this happen?" He asked calmly. Swift rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I might have had one too many at the bar." He said as he chuckled. Star just let out a soft sigh.

"Ok. So where is this clown so I can pound him into a pulp." He asked not even fazed by the new's. Swift just gave him a soft smile.

"You mean you'll really help me? Even after I kind of took advantage of our friendship?" He said looking away. He felt a hoof on his cheek and he was turned around to face Star.

"Well, this is my fault. I took advantage of it first by making that poor joke." He said feeling like an idiot. Swift just smiled and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. Star blushed but he reciprocated the gesture. Then Swift shuddered.

"You know it is really a shame you don't swing both way's." He said as the two stared at one another. Star laughed.

"You know, if I did you'd be the first pony to know," Star said as the two were interrupted by the door to Sugar Cube Corner being violently thrown open. their surprise was short lived as Dash piped up.

"You two really need to get a room." She said a devious smirk on her face. "I can practically feel the sexual tension like a blanket." She said laughing her flank off as the two friend's blushed a deep scarlet. They were once again drawn to the door as a huge dirt colored earth pony stallion with a blond flowing mane, and striking blue eye's made his way into the establishment. As soon as he walked in the whole place went dead silent.

"Holy crap dude. Why'd you have to go and piss off the dude with the massive five-foot battering ram for a penis?" Star said as he stared with wide eyes at the stallion's bulging erection. "Seriously how doe's he eve walk with that thing between his leg's?" Dash said as she tried to stare at anything else in the shop. It was not going well for her. Soon the stallion made eye contact with Star. His hoof shot up as he growled out a command.

"You!" He shouted causing the whole building to shake. "We need to talk." He said as his flunky's fled out the door. Star just gave him a timid smile.

"Uhm. Can i refuse?" He asked as he began to tremble in fear. The Stallion just growled. "NO!" He shouted as he charged at the group.