AN: I have this story on my mind for a while, it is also the first time I have the main character as my own original character. Please bear with me on slow updates work takes its toll on me which impacts my writing alongside writer's block

Disclaimer: I do not own any MLP characters mentioned in the story except the ones I made

It was an average day in Canterlot, everypony was going about their day without a care in the world. One such pony was heading out to do some shopping for her family, the mare walked calmly through the street with little care unaware of how this day would change for her and her family.

The mare in question was Twilight Velvet, she was a wife to a fantastic husband and the mother of three wonderful kids. For her it was the making of an average day with little or no concern, she was doing a small bit of shopping for her family.

She was unaware at the time, who she would meet and how she and her family's life would change due to how events played out this day.

(Outside of Canterlot)

A unicorn colt walks down the path towards the city, his goal was to resupply in town and continue own with his journey. He had been traveling around by himself for a few years now. He would normally avoid a city like Canterlot due to its reputation of its residents looking down on others and belittling them for personal amusement while pretending they were superior in every way.

The colt had cobalt blue fur with his hands, feet, and underbelly. His mane and tail were an icy silver with dark blue highlights and seemed to generate an icy like mist at will. He was wearing a dark grey boot with black pants and a navy-blue t-shirt underneath a dark-blue jacket.

For the colt it was another day same as any other one, he had started wandering around the land after the loss of his parents and his godfather who later took him. He does not remember much of what happened the night his home was attacked due to the fact of a spell being used on him that erased many of the happier times in his earlier years.

Fragments remained from the incident, but he had trouble putting names to faces from the earlier years in life. He was only able to recognize his parents was thanks to a photograph given to him by his late godfather.

After his godfather passed away, he started wondering about the lands, he had made numerous friends on his journey and seem countless wonders as well. One thing that remained the same was no matter what place he visited; he would still feel the urge to keep moving for some strange reason.

He came to Equestria after hearing numerous stories about the country and the ponies that reside in it, he also heard the stories and legends of the Solar Princess Celestia. He can only imagine what it would be like to meet her.

The colt shook his head in order to rid himself of the distracting thoughts, right now he wanted to figure out what was drawing him here to this city. Since he arrived in Equestria he had a strong feeling to come to this city and now he wanted to know why.

Besides finding answers he also had to restock on supplies what he had was running low so he would stop by the marketplace. Before he entered the city, he cast an illusion on himself to disguise himself as a regular stallion to avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself.

It took an hour to get everything on his list, the colt made sure to avoid any nobles while walking around the city, he had dealt with plenty of stuck-up snobs in the past and did not to do anything that will draw their attention to himself.

As he was walking down a random street, the colt passed by an entrance to an alleyway from he began to hear strange noises from further onward in the alley. The colt moved in to investigate the noises, from what he could tell a group of stallions was giving a mare a hard time.

As he entered the alleyway the noises grew louder and louder, as he peeked around a corner, he could see that a group of stallions was trying to force a mare to come with them for bad reasons.

From what the colt could see they looked like a bunch of wannabe gangsters causing trouble for any reason to cause trouble. They dressed in torn-up t-shirts and pants while the mare they were causing problems for was a mare with a grey fur tome and purple with grey highlights mane.

"Come on miss, we just want to show you a fun time," one of the stallions said while reaching out for the mare.

The mare slapped away the hand, "I am happily married, and I want nothing to do with you or your friends. I suggest you leave me alone or face the consequences."

This statement only made the stallions smile in a sickly manner, what the mare just said. The colt had a bad feeling this situation may turn ugly.

From a single glance, the colt could see that the situation was getting uglier by the second and would have to step in if the mare in question did not beat him to the punch.

He readied himself for the fight that was to come, while he could tell the mare could take care of herself, he did not want to leave things to chance if possible. He would use the element of surprise to get an advantage on the stallions and pull the woman from danger.

"I like them feisty, don't worry we are going to show you a good time," the leader said while reaching out to her.

Before the stallion could touch her, a large object slammed into his back and at the same time, two small bags hit the other two.

The two stallions cried out in pain as their eyes started to burn in agony, "It burns, what was in those bags?"

Twilight Velvet tried to figure out what was going on but was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed she was being pulled away from the group by another stallion.

"Who are you?" Velvet asked.

"Not important right now, let's get away from this group, and then I will answer your questions afterward," the colt in disguise replied.

He could hear the group getting towards their feet and the leader was shouting orders at the other two, he was not happy about the surprise attack and wanted both the mare and the stallion brought before him.

Before they could get out of the alley the stallion was knocked on to the ground when a magic blast hit him from behind. The attack broke his transformation spell revealing his real appearance, much to the shock of those around him.

"So, we have a colt trying to play hero, well I guess we will have to teach you what happens to foolish little colts like that," the leader said in an angry tone.

The colt got to his feet while grabbing three pieces of paper with unknown writing and symbols on them, while the stallions could not see them Velvet making her curious about them.

"What do think you are planning on doing with a few scraps of paper?" the leader asked.

The colt just smirked at the trio of stallions, "You will find out soon enough."

The colt channeled his magic into the paper before throwing them at the stallions, the tags transformed in mid-air becoming chains that wrapped around two of the stallions while the leader managed to dodge the chains.

"Ha, you missed me little colt," the stallion taunted.

The colt merely smirked before throwing out another paper this one taking on the form of a knight golem, the golem brought its fists up to defend its master.

The knight had an average knight's helmet and long cylinder arms and legs, the color of the armor was a metallic chrome that shined in the light.

"How cute, you think your little toy will protect yourself and the mare from me," the stallion said in an arrogant tone.

The stallion launched a spell at the golem only for it to bounce off and the golem to charge him, the stallion lashed out with a right hook at the golem. The sound of flesh hitting metal rang out through the alley, the stallion fell to his knees in pain as the golem slowly approached him.

The stallion looked up only to see the golem raise its foot and slam it into the stallion knocking him out, with its job done the knight disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind a paper that burned to ashes in an instant.

"Well, that takes care of those idiots," the colt said.

Velvet approached the colt that had protected her from the three thugs, she wanted to make sure that he was okay. She was also curious to find out more about him, from what she could see he was a few years older than her son.

"I am taking you to the hospital, the blast you were hit with could have done severe damages to your back," Velvet said in a firm tone.

Before either of them could move a muscle, they were interrupted by a squad of the royal guards, they were no doubt called in to investigate what happens in the alley.

One of the guards stepped forward, he examined the scene before him, "My name is Steel Feather, what happened here?"

"This stallion trio pulled me into this alleyway and to force themselves to come with them when this colt came to my rescue," Velvet explained.

The guard looked down at the colt who was sitting down on the ground, the guard noticed the blast mark on the back of the colt's jacket. From what he could tell the colt would need to be brought to the hospital to make sure he was okay while the stallions were brought to jail.

"Spear Point and Swift blade bring these stallions to the dungeons while Silver blossom escorts these two to the hospital," Steel Feather said.

A little while later Velvet was waiting for the doctor to come out with the colt that had protected her, the doctor told her that he would be fine. The damage from the spell was minimal due to the jacket the colt was wearing taking most of the damage.

The jacket had a layer of armor in between the fabric that shielded the colt from harm leaving only light bruises from the spell impact. Everypony was curious about where the colt got the jacket from because of how well it protected the colt.

Velvet was glad the colt was okay and did not suffer any major wounds in protecting her from those stallions, however, she had a long list of questions for the colt. She wanted to know why he was out alone and where his family was.

Speaking of family, Velvet was pulled from her own thoughts when two cries of mom followed by twin impacts against her legs signaled the arrival of her family. Steel said he would send a guard to her home to let her family know what had happened.

Velvet looked down to her children hugging her legs, she looked down and saw Twilight and Shining hugging her legs. Twilight was a unicorn filly with a mulberry mane with a streak in it and was wearing a lavender sundress. Shining had a two-toned mane and white fur; he was wearing a light blue t-shirt and black pants.

They were followed by an older stallion wearing a light green sweater vest over a dark forest green shirt and dark brown pants, her husband Nightlight.

In his arms was a small dragon with green spikes, this was the newest addition to the sparkle family Spike the dragon, was dressed in a light green shirt and purple overalls.

Velvet reached down to hug her children, and soothe them of any worries they may have, "Everything is okay, mommy is just fine."

Shining spoke up first, "we were so worried after a member of the guard came to our and told us you were in the hospital."

Nightlight walked up to Velvet and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Are you ok, the guard said you were uninjured but that a colt was injured when he protected you."

Nightlight was glad his wife was okay and unharmed, he also wanted to thank the colt for protecting his wife from the thugs. He also questions he wanted to ask the colt; Nightlight felt there was something different about this colt.

Velvet sensing her husband's worries patted him on the arm to get his attention, "I know you have questions, but give him a chance to speak for himself."

Nightlight sighed and turned to his wife and smiled, "you can always read me so easily."

"That is because of how long we have been together," while she intertwined her hand with her husband.

They exchanged a kiss, while their kids looked on in disgust, the parents smiled at one other as they remembered how they acted the same way at their age.

A sudden cough drew the family's attention, it was a nurse holding a clipboard no doubt to inform them of the colt's condition. She was wearing the standard nurse uniform, she had olive green fur and light red mane and tail.

"Hello, my name is Olive Petal, the colt that you brought in is doing fine. The jacket he wore protected him from the spell with him only suffering minor scrapes and bruises from the impact against the wall.

Velvet was relieved to hear that the colt would be okay, "That is good to hear, my family wants to meet him if possible and thank him for protecting me."

In a hospital room, the colt was putting his shirt back on after taking it off to have his wounds examined, there was only light scrapes and bruises, but the doctor wanted to make sure anyways.

"Thank you for the check-up doc, it has been a while since I had one," the colt said to the doctor.

"It seemed like an opportune time, since like you said it has been a while since your last one," the doctor replied.

"How is the mare doing, I imagine she is a little shaken up from what happened," the colt asked.

"She is doing fine; she and her family are in the waiting room right now. They probably want to thank you for what you did and ask questions about yourself," the doctor replied.

The colt nodded his head, "That is understandable, especially considering I haven't even told them my name yet."

Nurse Olive entered the room to escort the colt to the waiting room and where the Sparkle family was waiting to talk to him. The colt was a little nervous but did not show it on his face, this was not the first time he has been in this situation before.

As he entered the waiting room and looked at the family, he took a breath to relax and stepped forward ready to answer their questions.

"Hi, I know you have questions but let me start with my name, my name is Stardust Shadow. You can call me Stardust for short," Stardust said.

Shining was amazed at the colt who looked close to his age was able to take down three grown-up stallions with little difficulty, this seems like something you would read in a book.

Twilight was curious about the magic he used, none of the books she had read talked about the magic he had used and that made her want to find more about it. Spike merely looked on observing the entire situation.

Night Light was the first one to step forward, "First thank you for protecting my wife from those stallions. My name is Night Light, my wife Twilight Velvet and our children Shining Armor, Twilight sparkle, and our adopted son Spike.

Stardust waved off their thanks, "Think nothing of it, I heard some pony in trouble and chose to act in the best way possible."

Night and Velvet were surprised at how humble the colt was being, most would be bragging about their accomplishments.

Velvet chose to ask one of the big questions that were on her mind, "Stardust if you do not mind me asking, is there any pony traveling with you?"

Stardust expression immediately saddened, "I have been traveling by myself for a few years now, ever since my godfather passed away after raising me after my parent's death."

Night and Velvet were shocked at what they heard; Velvet was nearly brought to tears to hear that the colt had been on his own for so long.

"What happened to your parents if you don't mind me asking?" Nightlight asked.

"My parents were killed when a dragon attacked my village, I do not remember much of the attack other than the fact the village was destroyed and the casualties were extremely high. My godfather heard what happened and raised me as best he could until he passed away in his sleep," Stardust replied.

As soon as Stardust finished talking Velvet scooped him up in a hug, she was horrified at what she learned the colt had been through. She did not want to imagine anypony going through such an ordeal.

Night walked up to his wife and Stardust and placed his hand on the colt's shoulder, "I am sorry you had to go through such an ordeal."

After Velvet released him from the hug Stardust shrugged his shoulders, "It was a long time ago and I have had time to morn and move on from that night."

Velvet suddenly gained a look of determination on her face; her mind was putting together an idea but needed to talk with her husband privately first.

Stardust shrugged his shoulders and walked over to where Shining and Twilight were standing, he did not know what they wanted to discuss in private with one other, but he had a feeling that it involved him in some way.

"Hi, my name is Stardust shadow if you didn't hear already. Are there any questions I can answer while your parents are talking?" Stardust asked.

Shining was the first to step forward, "I have one, mom described you throwing papers with strange writing that transformed during the fight. Do you mind explaining what they are and how they work?"

"The papers are a form of spell art known as a talisman; the art has many different branches that do various things based on the branch you would want to study. The talismans are easy to create, the only requirement is skilled brushwork, a talisman will not work if the marking on the tags is sloppy or messy, so you need legible writing skills while using a brush to make a talisman," Stardust explained to the kids.

"Once they are created, a talisman just needs to be charged with magic to activate, this can be done two different ways. One a unicorn could charge the tag themselves or through additional work, the talisman could absorb the natural magic around us and self-activate," Stardust finished explaining to the kids.

Shining and Twilight looked on in wonder as they listened to Stardust's explanation on the talisman while Spike had fallen asleep in a chair.

"So can any pony learn how to make and use talismans?" Shining asked.

Stardust nodded his head, "Yes, anypony can. It is just a matter of learning and practicing calligraphy."

Twilight surged forward asking one question after another, Shining stood right behind her trying to figure out how to rescue their new friend from his little sister's endless questions. Unbeknownst to the kids' Nightlight and Twilight were observing them, they wanted to see how Stardust would interact with their children.

Both were happy to see Stardust getting along with their children, it made what they were discussing easier for them, but it came to whether Stardust agreed to their offer.

"I hope he accepts our offer, Shining, Twilight, and Spike all seem to enjoy his company and he is showing to be a good influence on them," Velvet said.

Night nodded his head in agreement with his wife, he could see Stardust becoming a positive influence on their children.

Night and Velvet looked over to where Stardust and their children were talking amongst themselves, they could see Twilight asking Stardust one question after another while Shining did his best to help Stardust keep afloat under the endless barrage of questions.

The couple walked up to the group trying their best to hide who nervous they were, they took a deep breath to prep themselves and tapped Stardust on the shoulder.

"Stardust if you do not mind us asking what do you plan on doing next? You said you came here for supplies and because something was guiding you here," Velvet said.

Stardust brought his hand to his chin in thought, "Like you said I came to resupply and figure what was drawing me to the city. After that I am not sure, the plan has always been to stay motion."

"Night and I were discussing an idea, but before you say anything please hear us out first. We know you have been traveling on your own for a while but how would you feel about staying with us. We have seen how much of a positive influence on our children. So, will you accept our offer?"

Stardust's mind went blank when he heard what Velvet had asked of him, he can honestly say he was not expecting that. He was unsure of what to say, he did enjoy speaking with Shining and the others and maybe it was time to settle down for good.

"I have been on my own for several years it will take time for me to adjust to being apart of a family again," Stardust said as he rubbed his arm to calm his nerves.

Velvet walked forward and pulled Stardust into a hug, "Everything will be okay, no pony will force you to do anything you are not ready for or cannot handle."

Nightlight joined in on the hug, "we will be with you every step of the way, whenever you feel uncertain of your choice, we will back you with our support."

Stardust said nothing at first, his mind was racing with thoughts of the past. Memories of happier days spent with his family and friends he had met during his travels. The memories soon faded as Stardust returned to the real world.

"Okay; we will take it one day at a time, Shining and Twilight should be happy about me staying. Both had plenty of questions to ask me, no doubt they will ask me to teach them some of the things I know," Stardust replied.

Night and Velvet were happy that he was bonding with Shining and Twilight so easily, no doubt Spike would do the same as soon as he was done napping in the chair. They were hoping their children could do the same for Stardust.

They could tell that Stardust tended to keep himself guarded around others, they noticed it when he was talking with their children that he would avoid or steer away from certain questions. Night and Velvet hoped with time Stardust would fully open to the family.

The group hug was interrupted by Shining, Twilight, and an awoken Spike coming over to see what was happening, "Umm, what is going, why are you three hugging?"

Night and Velvet turned towards their children, "We were asking Stardust to stay with us, the hug was away to reassure him that everything would be okay."

Shining immediately gained an excited look on his face, "Stardust is going to be staying with us, this is Awesome. I can't wait to hear more stories about his adventures in different countries."

"This is great I can learn more about the various types of magic that he knows," Twilight exclaimed while bouncing with joy.

Spike just seemed to be happy because the rest of the group was happy.

Night and Velvet were happy that to that Stardust was already bonding with their children so easily, to them this was a sign that they had made the right choice.