A long while back, before the ages of Stands and Blood began in Ponyville one fateful day, a young Pegasus would receive a gift from his parents. A brown, pleather-bound journal and a set of writing tools to begin telling the story of his life. These are but a few of these entries, ranging from when he first received the book to the present day. Before ever writing, there was only ever one message, from the sage words of your father. "Kiddo! Remember, this is for you to write in. If you ever make a friend you really trust, you can show them what you wrote. But this is for your quills and your eyes. Tell yourself a beautiful story!"

Age 5 (several misspellings are present throughout the earlier entries. All but a few have been corrected for ease of reading): "Hi! My name is Shootting Star! I'm the bravest Pegasus in all of Ponyville! My Dad's name is Shining Beacon, and he's really calm, and strong, and he knows all the right words to call me down when I get mad. And my Mom's name is Bright Glare! She's really nice, and sweet, and likes buying me candy when Dad's not looking. I really like chocolate. But don't tell him, Jorunnal! That's our little secret!"

Age 7: "Hi, Journal! Today, Daddy had his longest shift ever at work! He came home tired and a little grrumpy, but Mom's tea made him all better! But for me, I showed the other kids how braved I was! We were playing tage by that new candy shop on the corner, and one of them ran into a spooky, really spooky alley! There were trash and rats and all kinds of things! But I showed the other kids! I ran in there and tagged him! Got bit by a rat, though. Tomorrow, Mommy's taking me to the hospital to make sure I'm not gonna get sick from it. Wish me luck!"

Age 10: "School! School, school, school! Okay, Journal, listen, this is important! Today's my first day of real, big kid school over at that big schoolhouse! I've written school so much that my teeth are hurting, doesn't even look like a real word! Okay, so, gotta focus, gotta learn, gotta ~~praktice~~ practice (see? Learning.) What else, what else...oh! Dad's a little sick right now. His nose is all stuffy and he's sitting down a lot more. I'm sure he'll be right as rain in no time flat! We're all fast and free Pegasi! Okay, okay, I'm about to go, wish me luck!"

Age 10 (two months later): "Got into a fight at school with that big bully. Like, a real fight. He was shoving me around during recess, and I got fed up and gave him the old one-two! Knocked him silly! But the teacher didn't see it that way, they only saw him get pushed over. He always hides what he did to me, but whenever I fight back, I get punished. I got detention, so then I got home late. Mom was disappointed. But Dad gave me some advice. To control myself. Again. It's not that easy, Dad! I've tried, but it's like there's this heat near my heart that needs to burst or I'll just start shaking! I just sighed...you couldn't have heard it. Sorry, Journal. Anyway, other than that, Dad's still sick. Coughing fit now, more sniffly, his eyes are all red. I'm really scared. Wish him luck."

Age 11: "Dad's in Ponyville Hospital. I didn't catch the name of the disease. Myo-something, in his lungs. They're trying all they can. We have good doctors, I don't understand why he's not already better! My Dad's too strong to let something like an illness take him down! It's all I've been thinking about!"

Age 12 (several pages have been torn out before this one. Those that remain are scrawled into, tear-stained, and ripped slightly, as though a hard hoof pressed down on them and then ripped back. Between it all is one single, intact page with but two words written shakily through the lines.)
"He's gone."

Age 16: "Whoa! Forgot I had this. I was cleaning out some of my old stuff when I slid this old thing out from under my bed. Well, I guess I should maybe write something, right? Well...I'm still Shooting Star. After Dad died, me and Mom kinda just had to deal with what happened on our own terms. The funeral was a mess, we all cried like babies. I blamed myself for a bit, hence the page ripping. It wasn't rational: it wasn't my fault his disease went terminal. I guess I just needed to blame someone for what happened, and the most convenient target was myself. But, well, we're moving past it. Mom's the happiest now that she's been in four years, and I'm starting a pretty small-time weather team position. I guess life just has to keep moving on, right? As for the anger issues...I dunno, they've never gotten any worse. I still haven't hurt anyone I actually cared about. But the flare-ups. It's getting easier to annoy me. I dunno if it's just me being the right age to get the blood pumping or if it's something I need to see a shrink about, or what. But it's for me, and me alone. Anyway, I, uh, I think I'll keep you around. I dunno if I'll write in you again, but I feel like I needed this. Thank you."

Age 22: "Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit. My skin feels like it's been battered with a thousand rulers, but I think I just helped saved Equestria and gained a super-power, and a friend? A Mare friend, sleeping on my sofa? Okay, okay, long story. You're the only one I can spare to talk about this, gotcha? Okay. So, firstly, I have a government position. STAND. I have no idea what that stands for. Not the point. Firstly, I gained this, like, superpower? Psychic ability? New magic? It's called a Stand, these strange reality-bending manifestations of my will to fight. Mine is New Divide, able to fold people and terrain like paper. I got it from this mystical arrow, right as a Chaos God named Discord turned up. I need to take a breather."

Age 22 (cont'd): "Alright. I'm back. I drank enough water to drown a cow. Anyway. Discord invaded Equestria, and I was caught in the middle. Naturally, I knew shit was going down, so I went to Canterlot to tell them about Stands and that little monster. Ended up in a sparring match with Princess Luna? She said I won, but she held back. Still, I fought Princess Luna! Like, what? Okay, anyway, on my way out, I ran into this ~~cute~~ ~~brainy~~ snarky little inventor named Canny Clockwork, who had her shop invaded and needed a place to crash for a while. I took her back to Ponyville (hold for laughter), only to run into an enemy Stand User. I didn't catch his name, but he used some crazy ability called Chaos Lives in Everything to show us our greatest insecurities. Discord then popped up, and shot Canny with the arrow, giving her the Stand Smooth Criminal. She can walk through walls and disappear. If she could fly, she'd probably be much more unique than the other guy. Anyway, we fought him. I think we killed him. His neck was definitely broken, at least. Felt like throwing up. We gave Discord a good distraction until the Elements of Harmony could zap him (by distraction, imagine two walnuts being crushed by a carriage wheel. smile.) Turned him to stone and all. So, now the Princesses gave me and Canny shiny new badges and told us to monitor Stand activity. Speaking of, both Princesses and the six Elements are Stand Users, too? But of course, there's still a lot to unpack. I mean, that guy we fought. He said he was Celestia's "hidden failure." What the Tartarus is up with that? There's also the fact that I am aching more than an elderly Pony my size. Not good. But...all in all, successful! I'll keep writing here after all. I guess just to recap the crazy things have happened to us. Wish us luck!"

Author's Note

Welcome to the first EXTRA CHAPTER!
Basically, a fit of ADHD-pique where I thought, gee, I wanna write! Then I sat down and just did it.

Decided to do this to give Shooting Star some more backstory and character development, and recap the first arc's chapters for any new readers.

Question of the Chapter from last time still applies, and as always, leave Comments to suggest what could happen next in the actual, main storyline! Hope you enjoyed this little special treat. :)