My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Starlight, Starbright

Chapter 14

Getting to know each other

The belts around her fell apart and the pony they were wrapped around fell to the sides. The pony cracked open her eyes and was a slight bit confused.

She looked up to see the doctor hovering over her. “Who’s there?” she asked. “what do you want?”

The doctor smiled. “Congratulations. You’re cured.” the pony he was talking too smiled. “you’re free to go.” she got up and hugged him.

It seemed like an eternity but, after 20 years in the funny farm, Screw Ball is finally able to leave. She wasn’t even crazy but when you’re the daughter of one of their most famous patients, who had you while in the mental asylum, they tend to overreact. They only thing she had was a tick in her eye, nothing more, but it was more then enough for them to keep her for 20 years.

Screw Ball took a deep breath and sighed. “here we go.” she took a first hesitant step. When her hoof touched dirt and snow, it was a weird experience. She took a breath of confidence then headed up to Baltimare.

While on the way home, she passed by a large group heading the opposite way. She looked at them and she swears she was seeing things but she swears that a few of them were Alicorns.

“Great. First hour out and I am going crazy.” she muttered. She shrugged. “At least it’s just hallucinations.” she said with light-heartedness. She continued her trek to Baltimare.

Peewee cooed as he nuzzled up next to Fire Ruby’s neck. He missed this little gal. “Hard to believe this is Peewee. We all thought he was long gone.” she said.

“thank Bass. He’s the one that took care of him.” Starlight said. “though I’m not sure why he called him Zel.”

Bass shrugged. “it was the name that was in my head at the time so I called him that. He didn’t seem to complain, though.” Peewee squawked in agreement.

The group had lost sight of Baltimare 3 hours ago. Worried they were gonna get lost, Eris Shine went back into town, carefully avoiding Glade and his troops, and bought a compass. They needed to go north and they didn’t want to get lost, especially in this area at this time of the year.

“so who’s your mom, Starlight? You said she was a librarian but you never mentioned her name.” Bass pointed out.

“I didn’t?” she replied. “huh. Well, my mom is a beautiful lavender unicorn who’s name is Twilight Sparkle. She---”

Bass interrupted her upon hearing that name. “wait wait wait. Twilight Sparkle? As in the element of harmony Twilight Sparkle?”

“You heard of my mommy?” Goldie asked.

“yeah. All the Elements of Harmony are world famous.”

Everyone slapped themselves in the head. How could they have forgotten? “Right. We all completely forgot.” they all said in unison.

Bass lightly chuckled. He noticed that a few more of these ponies were Alicorns as well. And Starlight told him their names, so… “I take it you two must be Erys and Woona.”

“Yeah. How did you know?” Woona asked.

“Starlight couldn’t stop talking about you guys. Literally. She’d talk for nights how great her friends were.”

Fire Ruby jumped onto Starlight’s back. “you really missed us?”

Starlight giggled and used her magic to pull her cousin off. “of course I did. You’re all my friends and family. I was broken-hearted leaving you guys behind.”

Ruby turned to her friends and said in a dopey tone, “she missed us.” Peppy and Eris Shine lightly chuckled.

“I did.”

“Wait, talked for nights?!” Golden Day said. “did you two… do it?” Starlight’s friends looked at the two of them, wondering that as well.

“WHAT!?!” both Starlight and Bass yelled in surprise and fear. “No. no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.”

“We’re just friends.” Bass said. “everyone used to stay up late to tell stories. Which brings me back to my next question; how do you guys know Starlight?”

“well, we are family.” Peppy, Erys, Marian, Woona, Fire Ruby, Filigree, and Goldie said.

“r-really?” A dirty thought entered Bass’ mind. He saw the more mature ones playing at the beach in skimpy swimsuits. He made sure not to show it outside. “y-you are? You’re all sisters?”

“Me and Goldie are.” Starlight explained. “the rest are my cousins.” that still didn’t make Bass’s dirty thought go away. “my Mom’s brother, Shining Armor, married Princess Cadence and they had Glade.”

Bass looked back the way they came. “that guard pony from Baltimare?”

“yep.”

“Wait, Glade is here?” Marian asked.

“he’s all the way back in Baltimare, but yeah.” Starlight returned to his answer. “my mom married Halo, who’s brother Zilver married Applejack, the owner of the apple farm and sister Trixie married Princess Luna. My mom‘s ‘number one assistant‘ Spike married Rarity, a fashionista. Zilver and Applejack had Peppy, Trixie and Luna had Woona and Marian, and Spike and Rarity had Filigree and Fire Ruby. and Erys is the daughter of Princess Celestia.”

Bass whistled in amazement. “Wow. Big family. And powerful, too.” he turned to the others. “and these guys?”

“our parents are all friends.” Windancer said. The others nodded on confirmation. “my mom’s the mail mare while my dad helps out with Sweet Song’s mothers at their candy shop. Sym’s mothers own the dance club named after him. Cotton’s mother and father, and Pound and Pumpkin’s mother and father, own the bakery. Eris Shine’s and Soarin’ Cloud’s mother is the weather mare and their father is a inventor. and Season’s Edge and Golden Day’s parents are Vets.

“So it’s a extended family?” Bass came to conclude.

“if you want to put it that way.”

“huh.” a pause fell on the group for a moment before Bass asked, “is it true? That there were humans on Equestria all those years ago?”

“didn’t you ever have history in school?” Soarin’ asked. “Of course they did. It’s one of the most famous events in the planets history.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “18 years ago, a group of humans lead by a goddess visited our world and, though a giant dragon, ended up stranded here. They met and befriended our parents. With their help, they destroyed Nightmare Moon completely, brought Chrysalis and her Changelings to the good side, reformed Discord, and defeated the same dragon that stranded them, who turned out to be Windancer’s father eTu`nes.”

That last part caught Bass by surprise. He looked to Windancer with a bit of knowledge depravation. “your dad is a giant dragon?”

“WAS a giant dragon!” she insinuated. “yeah, Dad… didn’t have the most comforting life.”

“huh.” now he just had to ask. “So… did any of you meet the humans?” he asked all of them.

They all shook their heads. “Me and Glade were only just born when we met the humans.” Starlight explained. “Filigree, Woona, Marian, and Season’s Edge were conceived at the time but that’s it.”

“you don’t remember any of them?”

Starlight wondered if she still did. She closed her eyes and looked back. “Well… I remember that one of them had Silver-Blue hair. In fact, that’s the first thing I remember. Mom said she was the one who delivered me. Can’t seem to remember her name, though. I want to say Requiem but… I think I’m wrong.”

Everyone shrugged. They can’t remember either. Heck, most of them weren’t even alive at the time. “So, Bass. What’s your story?” Eris Shine asked.

“My story?”

“Yeah? Where were you born? How did you meet Starlight? Why do you look like a criminal. Things of that nature.”

Seems fair. He was asking them questions on their life, seems fair to tell them about his. Besides, he thinks they don’t trust him, even if Starlight said he was trustworthy.

“Okay. Um…

“I was born and raised in Baltimare to a restaurant owner named Psych Eval. Odd name, I know, but that’s what happens when your grandpa is a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, a fire killed both my parents when I was 10. I moved in with my uncle but he died 3 years later. After that, I took to the streets and became, as the ‘kind’ citizens of Baltimare would call me, a street rat. For 5 years, I lived on the streets, learning to look out for myself. Even formed a little posse with the other street rats.

“Then, around the same time Peewee fell into the city, the cops got corrupt and began putting the boot down on the city; raising prices for everything, evicting those even if they paid, killing those who got against them. Me and my gang took in the orphans left from their rampage and were forced to steal food for them and the starving families. Then, 5 days ago, Starlight came to town, followed by Glade and that Chaos Gun fella. You guys know the rest.”

“Any questions?” he asked with a smug look.

“Yeah. Why are you coming with us?” Pound asked. “you barely know Starlight so why’d you come?”

Bass glanced away and sighed. “Because… I want to know how my parents really died. I know there was a fire but something about it just rubs the wrong way. I have this feeling that they didn’t die in a accident; that they were murdered. But I have no evidence to go with except my gut feeling. Either way, this Necromancer should be able to answer this. That, and I also want a few personal questions answered.”

“Like what?” Eris Shine asked.

Bass chuckled. “now that… is a secret.”

besides, he also had another reason for doing this. That voice from a week ago told him to take care of a important person who was passing though town. He concluded that the voice was talking about Starlight. She’s a Alicorn with power over time. That screams ‘important’. but why her? That’s one of the questions he’s hoping the Necromancer will answer.

Author's Notes:

yeah, it's filler. but important filler. also, that Screw Ball character will play a role.