It was a normal day in Ponyville. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were all walking to school.
It was also normal day in late autumn, so the weather was starting to get colder than some might like.
Sweetie Belle was wearing a purple and blue scarf with tassels on the ends that her older sister Rarity had made for her. Apple Bloom was wearing a dark red sweater with an apple patch on it that Granny Smith had knitted her. And Scootaloo was doing her best to pull off the whole "tough filly" routine by going without as they walked along.
What her friends didn't know at the time, as she hadn't wanted them to know, was that her saddle bags currently held a parka within its canvas construction. A gift, mailed to her by her parents should it be needed.
Why was it hidden away rather than being fielded against the chill, one might ask? Because her parents had gotten her a poncho in a hot enough shade of pink that it could practically glow in the dark under its own power. Hardly something that she wanted to be seen in.
But if it proved to be cold enough that her coat and feathers couldn't keep the chill at bay, at least she'd have it should it be needed.
As they made it to school, and filed into the building to take their seats, Ms. Cherilee came into the room with a smile on her face and said, "Good morning everypony. Today, I'm glad to introduce our newest student, Astral Shadow!"
As a young unicorn colt came into the room, the class clapped their hooves. The unicorn had snowy white fur with an icy blue mane and had a snowflake for a Cutie Mark. He wore an old-looking sort of sweater that gave the impression it was a hoof-me-down from an older sibling, and didn't fit him too particularly well, what with its rolled up sleeves, and what looked like a red vest underneath for an additional layer of warmth.
"H-Hello... My name's Astral Shadow... It's nice to meet you all," he spoke up in a soft, meek sort of voice.
As Astral sat in his seat and class started, the day went by as any normal day would. Courses, lesson, gossip, etc.
When it was lunch time, it was hard to not notice Astral meekly sitting by himself. When Sweetie Belle noticed this, she turned to her fellow crusaders. "Hey, why don't we sit with Astral? He's new in town, he must be shy in a new place. We can show him how great of a place Ponyville can be!"
Apple Bloom nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah! That sounds like a great idea Sweetie Belle!"
Scootaloo smiled as well, fluttering her small wings, "Yeah, making a new friend is always fun!"
As the three fillies approached him, Astral looked over at them and then back to his lunch and continued eating. As they sat down next to him, he remained quiet.
Sweetie Belle noticed how quiet Astral Shadow was and offered him one of the cookies she had packed in her lunch, "Hey, do you want one of my cookies? My friend Pinkie Pie made them, they're amazing!"
Astral Shadow still said nothing. But in an effort not to appear as rude, he took a bite of the cookie, and noticed the sweet, cooling flavor of peppermint with a dash of vanilla. He smiled and said, "Th-thank you, it really is good. Peppermint is actually my favorite."
Sweetie Belle smiled back and said, "You're welcome! I'm sure Pinkie would love to make you some more if you ask her!"
Astral Shadow nodded, and said, "That would be nice of her, but... my mom and I don't have a lot of money for that sort of stuff. We... we stay at the halfway home in town. My dad died a few months ago, and things haven't been the same since..."
Upon hearing this news, the girls looked at each other in silent contemplation and nodded, not needing words to know what they were thinking.
Scootaloo spoke up first. "We'll help you find a better place to crash!"
Astral's eyes widened when Scootaloo said this, and took a sip of his drink to wash down the cookie that was still in his throat and said, "Th-that's awfully kind of you, but I-"
Apple Bloom shook her head, "We've learned one important thing over the years, our talent is helping ponies who need it. We always find a way, and like Twilight always says, friendship is magic."
Astral smiled lightly and nodded, "Thank you. Back home, I didn't have a lot of friends. It would be nice to actually make some."
After lunch had ended and the foals went back to class, Cherilee spoke up and told the class, right after Scootaloo whispered in her ear and returned to her seat, "Well class, it's just been brought to my attention that our newest classmate is in need of help. Astral Shadow, can you come to the front and explain your situation?"
Astral gulped, but nodded and walked to the front and spoke up.
"My mother and I recently moved to Ponyville, but we don't have a lot of money; a lot of it went to traveling here. So we've been staying at the halfway home on the north side of town. My dad died a few months ago, and my mom's working two jobs to try to raise enough money to get us by. But it's been hard on her, she doesn't get a lot of free time to herself."
The class murmured to themselves, before one filly spoke up and said, "I can get my daddy to help you two out."
Cherilee smiled when she heard what the filly said, "That's very nice of you Diamond Tiara. With help from us all, I truly hope that we can help Astral, and his mother get through their tough times."
As the students cheered, the school bell went off and as they were leaving the school, they were talking to their new classmate, asking him about himself, and offering to show him around town.
When Diamond Tiara and her friend Silver Spoon came over to him, the former said, "Hi Astral, it's nice to meet you outside of class."
Astral smiled at her, "It's nice to meet you too. You must be Diamond Tiara. It's very nice of you to offer your help for me and my mother. If you want, you can meet her. She should be back at the halfway home by now, she usually gets off her first shift around this time and meets me at the halfway home before she starts her second shift."
Silver Spoon smiled, "Sure, it'd be great to meet your mom! Especially if it means she'll learn everypony at school is willing to help you two out."
As the six foals walked to the north side of town towards the halfway home, Astral thought to himself, "Wow, they're all so nice to me. Nopony was this nice to me back at home. Especially after what happened to dad... I still miss him, but I know he would be happy to see me making new friends."
And so, a new foal named Astral Shadow has started attending Ponyville Elementary School. He and his mother have fallen on hard times due to his father's recent death, but with help from his new friends, perhaps that will soon change.
To be continued...
As Astral lead his new friends to the halfway home that he and his mother currently lived at, Apple Bloom asked him, "So, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from Astral?"
Astral flinched lightly, barely noticeable, and said, "My little village is in the northernmost land of Equestria. I really don't like thinking of home, my dad dying is why we left. My mom and I had to flee down because the bandits were still loose, and my mom was worried for our safety, so we packed what we could and fled here to Ponyville. It's far enough away that we'll never have to deal with those bandits again." He hated lying to his new friends, but technically, he wasn't lying, he hadn't said anything that wasn't true.
The others were shocked when they realized that Astral's father didn't just die, he was murdered. The rest of the walk was a bit quiet from there on. When they arrived at the halfway house, a tall mare with a chocolate brown coat and a lavender and teal mane, walked over to the group of foals and asked Astral, "Hello dear. How was your first day of school?" Before noticing the other foals who were with him, "Oh? Has my son made some friends?"
Astral nodded, "Yes mom, these are my new friends from school. They even offered to help us out. And not just them, my whole class wants to help us!"
Astral's mom smiled and said, "It's very nice to meet you all. My name is Chocolate Harmony. I appreciate that you want to help us out with our hard times, but-" Before noticing her son's eyes sparkling with joy and she smiled back at him, so she changed her response, "I'd be more than happy to accept your help. It's not every day that a group of fillies offers help to a stranger."
Astral smiled back at his mother, giving her a nod to say thank you without speaking. Diamond Tiara spoke up, "My daddy runs Barnyard Bargains, so I'm certain he'll be able to help you get big discounts on almost everything he can."
Astral looked to Diamond Tiara and smiled, "Thanks Diamond, that's nice of you."
Diamond Tiara shook her head, "Don't worry about it Astral." meanwhile she was thinking to herself, "I do wonder how mother is going to react to this though..."
Astral's mom smiled, "Thank you young lady. You've been kind to us. But I have to at least call my boss at my second job to let him know I may be a bit late." before heading over to the phone in the lobby of the halfway home, "Sir? Yes, it's Ms. Harmony. I just wanted to let you know I may be a bit late-"
"If you're late, you better have another job lined up. I have plenty of people who could fill this job."
She kept calm and said, "Sir, I'm going to talk to Mr. Rich. His daughter has offered to aid my son and I without asking anything unreasonable out of me. I am a widow, a single mother, and I barely make enough to care for ourselves. Don't you think I would be showing up on time if I didn't have another offer?"
When her boss heard her mention Filthy Rich, he gulped, "Ah, apologies, I didn't realize. Please, you have my condolences. You can have the day off, with pay even. If you're satisfied with Mr. Rich's offer, don't worry about it, I'll still pay you this weeks' worth of work you've done."
Chocolate Harmony smiled lightly, "Thank you sir. I'll call you back when I get the chance." before hanging up, and muttering to herself, "What an unbelievable jerk. I'll be fine without him as my boss." before walking back to her son and his friends, "Well, my boss knows I might be late, so why don't you introduce my son and I to your parents Ms. Tiara?"
Diamond blushed at the formalities, "Please, you can just call me Diamond. But I'd love you to meet my parents." before trotting in the direction of her and her parents' house. When they got there, she called out, "Daddy? Are you home?"
As Filthy Rich walked down from the second floor, he noticed that his daughter had brought friends from school, which was nothing new. But the two new ponies were ones he didn't recognize. "Hello there, it's nice to meet you. My name is Filthy Rich. I see you've met my daughter Diamond Tiara. May I ask your names?"
"I'm Chocolate Harmony, and this is my son Astral Shadow."
"It's nice to meet the both of you." before looking to his daughter smiling lightly, "So, I see you've made a new friend, but why is his mother with you? Have you been causing young Astral any trouble?" raising an eyebrow as he asked this to his daughter.
Astral shook his head and explained, "No Mr. Rich, Diamond offered to help me and my mother."
"You see, I'm a widowed mother, and we're living at the halfway home on the north end of town."
Filthy Rich's eyes widened and became compassionate, "I'm terribly sorry for your loss. And if my daughter is willing to help you, so am I."
Another voice came down from the second floor as a mare trotted down the stairs and saw the two ponies. She glared lightly at Diamond Tiara, "Have you brought more of your friends to visit? Without permission again?"
Filthy stood between his wife and their daughter and told her, "Spoiled, honey, I believe I made it clear. Our daughter's friends are welcome in our house. Plus, this is a particular different case. We'll be helping a widow and her son."
The mare, known as Spoiled Rich, looked to Chocolate Harmony and Astral Shadow, being strongly offput about the latter's tattered sweater. Before she could say anything, Diamond Tiara whispered in her ear, "Mother, if the public knows we're helping out the less fortunate, it'll... increase our PR rating..." she felt her eye twitching as she forced herself to say this, knowing that all her mother cared about when it came to helping Astral and his mother is how good it'll make the family look.
When she realized it could be good publicity for the family, Spoiled Rich smiled, "Well, if my lovely and kind daughter is willing to help you, so am I."
While Chocolate Harmony didn't want to look a gift deer in the mouth, she could easily tell that the other mare didn't truly care about helping them, but for the sake of her son, she smiled back, "Thank you Mrs. Rich, that's very kind of you."
Filthy smiled and mentally sighed in relief, "Well, allow me to show you to one of our guest rooms."
Before he could start walking upstairs, Diamond asked her father, "Daddy, do you mind if I show Astral to his room?" trying to hide her blush as she said this.
Her father smiled lightly, and said nothing about his daughter's blush, "Of course you can dear. Ms. Harmony, why don't you follow me?" as the two went upstairs.
Diamond Tiara led Astral, Silver Spoon, and the CMC upstairs, still hoping Astral of all ponies didn't see her blush. Well, him and Scootaloo. In the past, she'd teased them about not having cutie marks, and she didn't want to be a victim of teasing because of her emotions.
When they arrived at the guest room, Silver Spoon asked, out loud, "Isn't that your room right there Diamond?" pointing to the doors the closest to the room she offered Astral.
Diamond Tiara's eyes widened and blushed even more, "S-So what? I'm just giving him the nicest room he can get!"
Astral smiled, not noticing her blush or widened eyes and said, "That's nice of you Diamond Tiara. I don't mind being next door to you."
"Th-Thanks Astral." before shaking her head and smiling, "So, why don't we go play? The gardeners should be raking the leaves for us to jump into the piles."
"That sounds fun! My home didn't have a lot of trees, so I've never jumped in leaf piles before!" before trotting after Diamond and his new friends.
And so, with Diamond Tiara's help, Astral Shadow and his mother have found a better place to stay than the halfway house. With this new friendship comes new beginnings, new bonds, and new adventures of friendship. But there lie secrets hidden deep beneath the surface. What will happen when those secrets emerge?
To be continued...