Ch 29
New Friends
"I'm so sorry!", both ponies said together. Silence. "Um... I'm Princess Lucky Fire of Ponyville, you probably have heard of me." The older alicorn smiled. "Of course I have, I am Queen Stella. I live in Mareami (A/N: ponyfied version of Miami). I am coming here to visit my two younger sisters, Celestia and Luna. My daughter, Cadence is the Queen of the Crystal Kingdom with her husband, King Shining Armor. My son Prince Blue Blood lives in the Canterlot Castle as well as my sisters." Lucky looked at her in awe. "This is awesome, I got to meet Queen Stella." Stella smiled, "Just call me Stella, we're both royalty aren't we? So just call me by my name." Lucky smiled and nodded.
"So Stella, making a pit stop here in my quaint little town of Ponyville?" Stella looked at Lucky in amazement. "'Quaint'? You know such big words for such a small filly, how old are you?" Lucky grinned, "8." Stella shook her head, "Jeez, foals these days. Well, mind showing me around? I've never been to Ponyville before, I'm interested." Lucky beamed, "Well of course Stella! Follow me." Lucky took Stella to Sugar Cube Corner first. "This is our local bakery/cafe. Sugar Cube Corner. Aunt Pinkie works here with the Cakes and sometimes foalsits the Cakes' twins." She leads her inside. Pinkie came bouncing up to them.
"Hi Princess!" Pinkie gasped, " And a new pony! Hi my name's Pinkie Pie and welcome to Ponyville! Here, let me get the welcome thingy!" Pinkie zips out of sight, then comes back with her welcome to Ponyville thingy. Pinkie gives her famous welcome and surprisingly cake comes out of the oven,and confetti came out of the confetti shooter. "Yay! It didn't mess up! So, how did you like your welcome?" Stella grinned, "I loved it Pinkie! Thank you." She reached out a hoof to shake Pinkie's, and Pinkie shook it.
Stella smiled happily. "Well, I'm really gonna like this place I think. Well, I should let Lucky show me more of this town. I'll be seeing you again Pinkie, again, it's nice to meet you." Pinkie beamed and waved. Lucky took Stella out of the bakery/cafe. "Well, that's my Aunt Pinkie." Stella smiled, "She's a funny pony." Lucky raised an eyebrow, "She's random. Funny too I guess. She really loves to make ponies smile and make ponies happy. She also throws the best parties." Stella nodded appreciatively. "I'll have to remember that." Lucky just smiled, then brought Stella to Twilight's library. "Aunt Twilight, are you here?" Lucky heard hoofsteps and in came Twilight.
"Hi Lucky, what's up?" Then she facehoofed as soon as she finished asking. Lucky smirked, "The sky." Stella laughed, "Smart aleck" Lucky giggled, then Twilight giggled a little, then asked, "So, who's your new alicorn friend?" Lucky stopped giggling and said, "This is Stella. She's on her way to Canterlot, but wanted to see Ponyville. I'm being a good Princess and citizen and showing her around. She likes Ponyville so far." Twilight smiled at Stella, "I'm glad to hear it. We have a very capable Princess running it." Lucky grinned sheepishly. Stella messed Lucky's mane playfully, "I'll say. This town looks beautiful and its inhabitants so far, are very nice."
"You'll definitely like this town Stella, it's full of nice ponies. Cloudsdale is above this town, Lucky can take you there too, but Rainbow or Fluttershy will have to show you around. Lucky I don't think knows how to navigate through Cloudsdale." Lucky shook her head. "Not yet. I'll go with you though Stella, so I can get the real tour too. I only stayed in Cloudsdale for like, only a week I think, maybe a little less than a week when I lived with mama, but still, not long enough to really get to know my way around the place. Oh, and Stella, not all foals have a big vocabulary like me. I'm the only one I know of who's my age and has a big vocabulary. My big vocab though is because of Aunt Twilight teaching me and school as well. I can show you the schoolhouse too if you want." Stella nodded, then they bid Twilight good bye and went to the school. "Well, this is where I go to school. My teacher is a mare named Cheerilee. She's very nice."
"I'm glad to hear that." eventually they make it to Lucky's house after Lucky gave the tour of Ponyville. "I'm home!" Rainbow came out of the kitchen. "Welcome home Lucky and... another alicorn?" Stella chuckled, "My name is Queen Stella, but... well, I guess everypony can call me Stella. It doesn't have to be just between royalty, so yeah. Just call me Stella. I'm Celestia's and Luna's older sister, and first born of the three Princess sisters. My son is Prince Blue Blood and my daughter is Queen Cadence." Rainbow's jaw dropped and so didn't Applejack's. Applejack had come into the living room when Stella said they could just call her Stella.
Lucky grinned, Applejack and Rainbow quickly closed their mouths, knowing full well what Lucky was thinking about saying. Lucky giggled. Stella looked between the three in confusion. "Trust me when ah say, Lucky is a total smart aleck." Stella laughed "I found that out when she showed me the library." Rainbow laughed too, "Twilight said 'what's up' didn't she?" Lucky grinned and nodded. Rainbow laughed harder. Applejack even laughed. "Why is it so funny?" Applejack answered, "Well, when Lucky was 5, and not a long time after ah found her at the edge of the Everfree Forest and Ponyville, Rainbow said 'what's up' one day and Lucky so smartly said, 'the sky'. Ah think it was outside the school house actually." Lucky slowly nodded, "I think so too." Stella giggled. "Wow, you're an interesting pony Lucky Fire."
Lucky grinned and nodded. "Yup, and I'm doing the same my mamas and Aunts did three years ago, learning about friendship and writing to Princess Celestia what I've learned. It first started out as Aunt Twilight doing that, but then the others started too when they all learned an important lesson." Stella nodded once, "That sounds like my sister. She did the same with Star Swirl too." Lucky looked amazed. "Star Swirl? Aunt Twilight is a fan of Star Swirl. I wonder if she knows he was Princess Celestia's student too? Probably." Applejack nodded, "Yeah, she knows." Lucky nodded. "Well, thank you very much for the tour little one, I should get going. I need to make the constellations.", Stella said then looked out the window to see it is twilight outside, so very close to nighttime and her making the constellations.
"Ok Stella, and you're welcome. It was very nice meeting you and I hope we see you again." Stella smiled, "Of course you will. I'll be back when I go home." The three nodded, then Stella left. "Stella's real nice. It definitely surprised me ta find out she's the Princesses' sister.", Applejack said. "Yeah, really. It was also really cool to know that and to meet her. She's awesome.", Rainbow said. Lucky nodded. "So, what's for dinner?"
~next morning at school, just starting up~
"Class, we have two new foals. Spring Flower and Pink Heart. Pink Heart, how about you come up here and tell us about yourself?" (A/N: Pink Heart is not related to Nurse Red Heart in any way) "Why not Flower too?", Sweetie asked. "Well, Flower has something called Autism. She is very shy and she's not good with crowds of ponies. She also doesn't like ponies getting too close to her. Look in the back of the room, and you'll see a desk separated from all the other desks. Seems the poor filly's shrunk at her desk. It's alright Flower, you don't have to come up here." Flower peeks out above her desk, then sits up. She waves a tiny awkward wave. "Oh yes, and she does not like loud noises, as it really hurt her ears. An Autistic foals' senses are very sensitive so with her you have to be very careful."
"Ok Miss Cheerilee.", the class chorused. Then Pink Heart went up to the front. "I'm Pink Heart and my favorite holiday is Hearts and Hooves Day. I love seeing pony couples happy together and I know if they are perfect for each other or not. That's what my cutie mark represents. I am 10 years old and my favorite color is pink and my favorite shape a heart. I like to sing. um... I think that's it. Oh, and I'm always energetic." Pink Heart is an Earth Pony. Spring Flower is a Pegasus. "Flower is 10 as well, in case you're curious. Thank you Pink, you may take your seat now. Ok, now, attendance then we'll get started." So, time passes and it's recess. Lucky, Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all went over to Pink Heart.
"Hi!", Pink said. The four said hi back, then they introduced themselves. "I'm Lucky Fire, the Princess of Ponyville." Pinkie grinned. "I know! You're famous all over Equestria now. The Princess meeting was awesome. I liked your speech. You know a lot of big words." Lucky smiled, "Thanks. Aunt Twilight taught me those words, and being in school helps too." Pink nodded. "Ah'm Apple Bloom. Lucky's real Aunt, but Ah'm only 5 years older than her, so it feels weird havin' her call me Aunt, so she just calls me Apple Bloom." Pink Heart giggled, "Twilight isn't your real Aunt?" Lucky shook her head. "Nope, neither is Aunt Pinkie, Aunt Fluttershy. or Aunt Rarity, or Sweeite Belle, because Aunt Rarity is her sister, so... yeah."
"Wow." Sweetie Belle went next. "I'm Sweetie Belle." Then Scooter, "I'm Scootaloo." Lucky looked around to see if she could spot Flower, eventually she did, through the window of the schoolhouse, she's inside? "Hey guys, I wanna meet Flower." She goes inside. She slowly approaches Flower, but stops a couple feet away. Says softly and gently, "Hi Flower. My name's Lucky Fire. Welcome to Ponyville. How are you liking Ponyville so far? When did you move here?" Flower looked up, got a shy look. "Um... Th-thanks... um... I-I guess I like Ponyville... I-I moved here yesterday.", she said extremely shyly and quietly, but Lucky heard her, just barely though. She smiled gently, "I'm glad. You know I'm the Princess of this town, right?"
Flower nodded. "I s-saw the Princess m-meeting on tv. N-Nice speech." Lucky smiles happily, "Thank you. I worked hard on it. Doing that while also doing my Princess duties was kind of hard, but I did it." Flower only nodded. "Why aren't you outside with the rest of the foals?" Flower's ears flattened, "Well, I don't like the loudness of the foals' voices outside and I don't like too many ponies in my space at once. Not even one pony by them self." Lucky tilted her head, very confused. "Not even just one pony? That's kind of..." Lucky didn't want to go on, not wanting to say the wrong thing. Flower however knew what she meant. "Weird? Well... it's just a part of my disability... I can't help it. Though... I think slowly, just one pony could come close to me... but you'd have to work with me."
Lucky nodded, "Of course, I could work with you Flower, so that one pony can come closer. M-May I come closer?" Flower debated a bit, then slowly nodded. Lucky inched closer, but at 5 tiny steps Flower shook her head, Lucky stopped. Miss Cheerilee comes in to check on Flower, and to her surprise, but also not really, Lucky, who is actually surprisingly pretty close to Flower. "Hello you two." Lucky and Flower looked over to their teacher. "Hi Miss Cheerilee. Flower is my new friend. She let me come closer to her a bit. She said I could work with her on just one pony coming a good ways close to her." Miss Cheerilee smiled, "Oh good. That's very brave of you Flower. Very good."
Flower nodded and said, "Yeah..." Lucky asks, "Wanna come to the farm with my mamas and I? You can see where my one mama works and used to live until she met Rainbow and I... do you know my story? About me being found on the edge of the Everfree and Ponyville?" By the expression on Flower's face, she has not. Lucky tells her everything. When Lucky finishes, all Flower can say is, "Wow." Lucky nodded, "My mamas will hopefully get married sometime. I can't wait for that day." Flower says, "That might be fun... for you and whoever goes... maybe you can be the flower filly." Lucky tilts her head confused. Flower explains. Then they get talking about weddings and the like, what the positions are in a wedding. Ring bearer, flower fillies, best mares, groomscolts, all that kind of thing.
By the time they know it, it's time for lunch. They keep talking as they eat. Lucky's friends are shocked. So wasn't Pink Heart, who grew up with Flower. She couldn't get close to Flower, which Pink doesn't mind. When lunch was over, they had three more subjects, then school was out for the day. Skipping to the end of the school day, The foals all go out of the school house. Lucky walks a few feet away from Flower, but is parallel to her. They walk out Lucky going first, then Flower, but Lucky stopped so Flower could catch up to her. "Wow Lucky, you're lucky. Flower never did that with me, I was either in front or behind her walking out of school in our hometown.", Pink said. Lucky giggled, "Of course I'm lucky... my name's Lucky." Pink rolled her eyes a bit, but she was grinning.
Flower kind of grinned and a tiny tiny giggle was heard from her. Pink stopped in her tracks. "She never did that before." Lucky looked incredulously at Flower. "Really?" Flower blushed and nodded. "I'm a late bloomer in that department." Lucky slowly nodded, she'd have to look up more about Flower's disability. Lucky looked up and saw her mamas. She smiled and trotted to them and nuzzled them. "Howdy pardner, how was school?", Applejack asked. "It was good. I met two new friends today. Pink Heart and Spring Flower who has Autism." Applejack and Rainbow looked confused, "Autism?", they asked. Pink explained as best as she could. "I'm thinking about seeing Aunt Twilight and seeing if she has a book about Autism. Maybe that will clear things up a little more, if not totally." Rainbow nodded, "That's a really good idea Lucky. Well, you need to go to the office remember? You have your Princess duties." Lucky groaned in disappointment.
"Sorry Flower, I forgot completely about that... sometimes being Princess is a burden. I can't hang out with friends." Flower shook her head, "It's ok Lucky. You're the Princess. You need to do what Princesses do. I understand. I'll see you in school tomorrow." Lucky nodded slowly, still disappointed. Flower went to find her parents, then they went to where they live, and same with Pink. Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Scooter left already, knowing Lucky had Princess duties. Lucky headed to the office with her mamas.
A/N: ok, what now? I dunno if I should time skip to when she's 16, or keep going and have her work with Spring Flower and Spring Flower coming out of her shell. What do you guys think? I'm happy to take suggestions.