Chapter 4: When Stars Fall

Since coming back to Ponyville after the wedding and party, Star kept in contact with Luna as much as possible. The two had formed a very special bond. It almost felt like they were sisters. There was so much the two had in common. And when Luna found out what Star had been hiding, she had become even more excited to know more about the mare.

They sent letters about their days and talked about all sorts of things. Luna had felt like she had really gained a true friend, and although Star had made plenty of friends in Ponyville, and formed a bond with Pinkie, she felt even closer to Luna then to anypony else.

In their letters to each other, Star revealed more about herself and her life, about the parents who hated her and the ponies who abused her. It angered Luna, but she knew those close minded ponies would never change no matter what they were told.

Star re-read the most recent letter from Luna and mulled over what she said in it. She stood and left the bakery, heading to the library to talk to Twilight. She knocked gently before opening the door, to find Twilight packing up some things for later that night. "Um, hey Twilight, is this a bad time?"

She stopped and looked at her. "Oh hello there Starstrike, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could do some research here and use some of your books."

"Oh of course Star, you don't have to ask silly. You're more than welcomed to the books." She smiled. "We're going up to the hill later to watch the star shower, are you coming with?"

Star shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Just... something's been on my mind and I need to find answers."

"What about?" Twilight went to her and motioned for her to sit down.

She sat on one of the pillows and sighed softly, "It's just... well I've been corresponding with Luna and she mentioned something that has me thinking."

Twilight leaned closer. "About what Star?"

Star's ears fell flat. "If... my parents really are... my parents."

"What makes you think they aren't?"

"Twilight... they're both earth ponies."

"Well earth ponies can have either earth, pegasus, or unicorn foals, so what makes you think they might not be your parents?"

Star didn't want to get into her horrible childhood with her, but she sighed softly. "Twilight, they're the reason I left for here. I was nothing more than a maid for them. I wasn't living a life in that town."

Twilight gave her a grim look. "That village is full of fools, I can only imagine how you were treated. But if researching into it will make you feel better then, by all means, my library is your library too." She smiled at her then and leaned towards her, nuzzling her. "Remember, we're not just your friends, we're your family too."

Star gave her a soft smile. "Thank you Twilight, that means so much more to me then you could ever possibly imagine." She nuzzled her in return.

While the others watched the stars on the hill, picnicking and chattering away, a midnight colored alicorn mare sat alone, watching from a window in the library. A part of her wished she had gone with them, but her research at the moment was more important. Luna had hinted that maybe her parents weren't who she thought they were. It had made sense, they were earth ponies, the chances of two earth ponies having an alicorn child were slim and practically unheard of. All the books she read said the same. Alicorns came from alicorn families, or families that had branched off from an alicorn family and the gene randomly showing up in one generation.

It explained why they hated her so much. She sighed, a switched at birth scenario seemed too likely and too good to be true. She pushed the books off the table in frustration before she reprimanded herself. Her horn glowed and the books lifted themselves up and back onto the library shelves. The books only served to prove what she had felt as a filly, that she didn't belong to them or that village, that she had been raised by strangers.

Maybe she should take a break and join her friends in watching the stars. She stood and made her way out of Twilight's library. Opening her wings, she flew up into the air and headed into the direction of the hill top, only to find them already gone. She sighed softly, they probably went down the other side of the hill by the time she had gotten air born. She landed and sat on the grass before spreading herself out a bit and resting her head on her outstretched hooves, her eyes trained on the stars. She took comfort in her stargazing solace as she emptied her mind of everything that had been bothering her as of late. In time, she fell asleep under the stars.

As she slept, a blue box flew overhead, chased by a shooting star. It landed behind her, unaware that she was there in the first place. The box made a dome around the hill when the shooting star got closer in order to confine the aftermath of impact. When the smoke cleared, the door opened and a familiar brown earth pony emerged. "Well then, crisis averted. Wonderful. You are welcome Ponyville. Now to reverse the effects of impact and-" a hiss interrupted him mid sentence, "make... it look like it never happened?" a feeling of dread washed over him as he slowly inched to the edge of the crater. "Oh. Oh this isn't good." He saw a mass of black in the middle of the crater, writing in pain. "I can fix this. I can. Just um," he started pacing, "just hold on there." He ran back into the strange blue box.

The body in the crater slowly tried to move, the fact that she survived impact was nothing short of a miracle.

He came back out to see her trying to stand. "Oi! I said stay, not get up!" He jumped down, a rolled up blanket and rope strapped to him. He quickly set the blanket down and made her lay on it. He caught a glimpse of the burned up cutie mark on her flank and his hearts sank deeper. He leaned over her. "Miss Star?" He grimaced as she looked at him in acknowledgment. His jaw locked as he gently wrapped her in the blanket. "I'll make this better, I promise." He whispered to her, "just hold on." He took the rope and gently wrapped it around her before hoisting her up onto his back. He tied it securely before making the climb back up to the top. He struggled a little but he endured it for her sake. He made it back to the Tardis and quickly went to the console where he softly laid her down, the door of the Tardis shutting once they were in safely. He reached for his sonic and pointed it at her, waving it around her quivering form, he pointed it then at the console and stared at the screen. "Well, that's certainly interesting." He glanced down at her. "You really are something else Miss Star." He ran the sequence to reverse the effects of the damage done to the hill. He let the field down before turning his attention back to her. He pushed some buttons on he console and pulled the lever, sending them off into space. Once in orbit and the shaking had stopped, he gently lifted her onto his back and carried her off to one of the many bedrooms where he laid her down. "I'll nurse you back to health. Wait no that's not right. I'll doctor you back to health? That isn't right either. Oh well, I'll make you better, trust me I'm a doctor." He chuckled and gave a goofy smile, but the groan he received said she wasn't amused. "Sorry." He pouted a bit before trotting off to set up a medical ward in the bedroom.

It felt like an eternity of excruciating pain, her body felt like it had a dozen needles poking at her simultaneously. She was afraid to really look at herself, she slowly sat up and looked at her hooves, the fur had burned down to the bare skin, she reached to her mane to find most of it was gone as well. Her tears burned her face as she turned her head to look at her wings. Most of the feathers had burned off, while others seemed to melt together.

He watched from the threshold and sighed softly. "You know, it may look bad now and seem utterly hopeless, but it will get better, I promise. You're very special to have been able to survive such an impact. Any other pony would have disintegrated. In fact, it would have if I didn't contain it. But if I knew you were there I wouldn't have guided it to that hill top. As this is my fault Miss Star, I will take responsibility and help you recover." he went to her and gently laid her down. He gave her a smile. "It's amazing how you were able to absorb all that energy from that blast. I'm curious to see what effects it will have on you."

She turned to him, her mouth dry and her eyes teary. "It hurts." She said softly.

"I know, I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry..." he patted her arm softly. "I would take you to the hospital but this would be hard to explain and I'm not sure what effect the nuclear energy from that falling star would have on you, let alone anypony who may get near you."

"Are you-saying I might be dangerous?"

He nodded. "Yes, the readings I got from you are through the roof. There's no telling what could happen. But no worries, I'll be here with you. It is my fault after all... and I will fix this... as best I can." He sat beside her. Of all things to happen, he was already beating himself over what happened with Twilight loosing all her memories of their adventures together, now this. He started to think he may never get things right again. He could go back and stop her from going up to the hill, but he would be crossing his own time stream and that was a big no no by time pony standards.

"Aren't I a danger to you as well?"

He shook his head. "Well no, no not really. I'm not like everypony else." He gave her a cheeky grin.

"I see. I think..."

"Now enough talking, you need your rest. In fact I'm not even sure how you have the energy to talk in the state you're in. Right strong one you are."

She mustered up a bit of a smile at that before shutting her eyes and laying back in the bed. But sleep didn't come. "Hey..." She turned her head to look towards him, noting that he was still sitting by her.

"Mm? What is it?"

"Twilight... you were with her right?"

He stiffened a little.

"She doesn't talk about you. Did something happen?"

He rubbed the back of his head, mussing his magnificent brown mane. He sighed, no use hiding it from her. "Yeah well... you could say that..."

"Wasn't she your mare?" She asked softly.

"What no! Ugh no of course not, we were just friends."

"Then what happened, it's like you don't even exist to her any more."

"Well... something happened... some time ago and... well... to save her I had to..." He went quiet, it still hurt to talk about it.

She placed a hoof over his. "It's... okay you don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry I asked. It's just- when I asked Spike he said it was a good thing and brushed it off."

"Hah he did did he? Suppose he's right in thinking that way. 'm nothing but trouble anyway." He gave her a grin, but his eyes didn't match it.

"Sorry I brought it up."

"'skay. Seems you're just as curious as I am." He laughed a bit. "I'll make some tea, might help you get to sleep." He got up and trotted out of the room, hiding the hurt in the mask of a cheerful smile.

She sighed and winced at the pain. "Ugh... I kinda wish it did kill me."

The Doctor returned after some time with a cup of nice hot tea and found her struggling with her wings. She was obviously uncomfortable and he wasn't sure how he could help. "Need help?" He asked softly as he placed the tray down on the side table by the bed.

"It hurts to move them, and laying on my back hurts."

He nodded. "After you drink this how about I help you move to your stomach?"

She nodded.

"Alright then." He served her tea and waited for her to drink, the soft blue glow from her horn helped her direct the cup to her mouth.

"This is delicious."

"I figured you'd like something fruity."

She nodded in thanks and winced at the energy it took for such a small movement.

He took the cup and leaned over her to help her roll onto her stomach. He looked her back over. It was badly burned up, but it seemed to be drying up rather quickly, sparking his curiosity on how she could be recovering like this. He turned his head to look at her and noticed she had finally fallen to sleep, the sedative he added to the tea certainly made quick work. "Sorry for that, but I needed you to fall asleep." He walked off, only to return moments later with a bag in his mouth. He set it down and started to gather samples to examine. By his preliminary examination of her, she had taken most of the hit from her back, hence why her wings were so damaged. There was a lot of rough patches along her body from being burned nearly to death and he wondered how the hell she survived it. Alicorn or no, she shouldn't be alive, not that he wasn't glad that she was of course. He took the samples back to the Tardis console and ran the tests on them. It would take some time to get the results back so he returned to her only to find her still fast asleep. And she would be for some time if he put in the right amount of sedatives in the tea. He sat by her and watched over her, consumed by his thoughts on their almost encounter months back when she first arrived in Ponyville, how strongly he had felt about staying away from her then. Then his official encounter with her in Canterlot during the changeling's attempted siege came to mind. There was something about her that he just couldn't shake off. A sorta aura that surrounded her and almost begged him to find out more about her. He sighed to himself as he rested his head against the edge of the bed and watched her before allowing his own eyes to creep close. He drifted off to sleep not too long after.