*oof* it’s been a minute… HOLIDAYS AM I RIGHT!? ;w; So first off, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS, and second, how was y’alls holidays?? How have y’all been?! :3  
 
 
 
Anyways! Back to my crusty-rusty-dusty next-gen! TwT. I just wanted to do things a bit simpler, and nothing TOO crazy with this post XP.  
 
In previous post regarding these four, Valentine, Lightning, Estella, and Rocky Road:  
 
☆https://www.deviantart.com/theartfox2468/art/Star-AU-MEET-ESTELLA-897727778  
 
☆https://www.deviantart.com/theartfox2468/art/Star-AU-MEET-LIGHTNING-BOLT-899024468  
 
☆https://www.deviantart.com/theartfox2468/art/Star-AU-MEET-VALENTINE-899794808  
 
☆https://www.deviantart.com/theartfox2468/art/Star-AU-MEET-ROCKY-ROAD-901508578  
 
I keep mentioning back when they were in middle school or so, in Twilight’s school of Friendship, that they once were close due to Estella’s socially awkward behavior that magically bonded them together XP. And I thought that it would be fun to draw them, and describe how they once were before, and how they connected.  
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Though relieved to be out of that stressful Magic School and leaving behind those imprudent bullies (namely Brightmoon Bliss) behind, poor little Estella was still nervous and hoped that everyone didn’t perceive her a certain way, because she’s an alicorn and the daughter of the recent Queen, Twilight. Sure, the students were in awe, but since Friendship School is a diverse school, an alicorn isn’t the strangest thing that these kids are gonna witness. However, I lied when I said that “nopony saw her as a royal pony of status”, because realistically, they did (what was I thinking TwT). Since she is a princess and all, yeah…the students did “respect” her. Not only that, most students tried to spoil her with their lunch money, or just even their own lunch, aid in school work and following her around, asking if she needed anything. At first, Estella was a bit flattered by this, but immediately got too overwhelmed and annoyed. She had become a popular filly in her school, something that she didn’t want happening. She was grateful that the students were being nice to her for once, but also didn’t know who her true friends were. There have been many times where Estella didn’t meet up to her followers expectations and just down right abandoned her (exs: like not inviting them to her castle or something). Her followers are just there because she’s a princess, and frankly, she doesn’t like that fact. She wanted friends that are just going to accept her for the quirky, airheaded, and loveable filly she is.  
So, for a while, she tried distancing herself from her “followers” and denying any requests, invites and offers. And from that, it was only a matter of time before all of those followers left her and she was finally able to obtained her first friend, Lightning Bolt.  
 
Lightning, the jock and gamer geek that finally won the attention of Estella. They knew about Estey, but were very put off by the large crowd she had gathered. Admittedly, Lightning was jealous of her fame as we may know that Light is an attention-seeker. At first, Lightning’s attention grab was that they are the child of the amazing flyer of Cloudsdale and one of main Saviors of Equestria. However after a certain incident that was caused by Rainbow, Lightning didn’t feel the need to talk about their mom anymore (Context: https://www.deviantart.com/theartfox2468/art/Star-AU-But-Mom-899318982). So Lightning pondered many other ways to grab the ponies’ attention in school, and we all know what they became… A CLASS CLOWN 🤡! They got into so much trouble, but they did gain a small audience of rowdy and rude colts and fillies. However, like any crowd, they were just there for the entertainment and expectations. Light’s little group wasn’t the best, and too treated them like trash sometimes, some ‘friends’ they are. And poor Light didn’t understand what true friendship was, and thought that anypony that noticed them was their friend. So the on and off treatment that Light was getting was the only thing they understood was right.  
After Estella’s downfall in popularity, Light knew it was their “chance to shine” (not really XP). They had started rubbing it in Estella’s face that they had more friends than her. As rude as they were, Light couldn’t help but also feel bad for her though. Light thought of how lonely they can be most times and sort of didn’t want Estella to feel that way either. However, having people give you more attention than others can sometimes be cruelly satisfying. Lightning did keep bothering Estey from time to time, mainly to keep pestering her about having no friends, but also at the same time, giving her company. Many moons later, Light started to take a liking to her, while Estella was downright annoyed by them. But now, it was time for Lightning’s karma to come. Lightning had suddenly lost their trash friends, because if we’re being honest, Lightning wasn’t the greatest pony either. And since Light’s status was static anyways, Light’s “friends” didn’t feel the need to stay with them. Thus, Light was lonely too… Now, Light felt inclined to bother Estella once again, but this time be a lot more apologetic. At first, Estey was dubious of accepting Light’s apologies, because she knows they’re mischievous. But Estey eventually gave in and accepted Light’s apology.  
Though Light was still kinda mean towards Estella, like teasing her and calling her names, it was of no offense and just how Light conveyed flirting at the time. Estella was a bit ticked off at Light’s razzing trait, but quickly understood that that’s how Light operates. So Estey soon learned to tolerate Light’s ignorance XD.  
 
Soon after Estella befriended Lightning, she would then stumble upon a pony that “saved her life”. One day, during lunch, an albino boa was spotted squirming around the cafeteria. After Estella had grabbed her lunch and was headed to her table, the snake slithered it’s way towards Estella. Estey was in shock and terrified, as she cried, hoping that it wouldn’t bite her. But before the snake could come any closer, a brave pony came to the rescue and guided the snake onto her arm. The pony apologized before she bashfully ran away with the snake. Confuzzled, Estella didn’t know what to do, however she did really want to thank the filly that saved her. (And guys, that albino boa was Ginger btw, lol XP.)  
Remembering how the pony looked: a tall, earth pony filly, with a pink coat, red hair and green eyes, Estey was on a search to find her. Alone, it took Estella a while to find this pony, but WHO KNEW SHE WAS IN THE SAME FIRST PERIOD CLASS AS HERS AND SITTING AT THE FRONT! Estella felt stupid as she was looking so hard for this pony and was right in front of her this whole time, quite literally… So before class started, Estella wanted to introduce herself to this heroic pony and devote herself to this “hero” for saving her life. The pony was quiet and shy as she muttered the name, “Strawberry” when Estella offered her name. Estey was pleased to meet her, thanked her immensely, and was eager to become her friend, but Strawberry, hmmm, not so much, though very charmed.  
At first Strawberry wasn’t too keen on having friends, as she, A.) Smuggled pets into school and she didn’t want anypony to know, B.) Pony’s thought that she was a weird sharp toothed redheaded filly with braces, thus staying away from her, and C.) She’s just likes her space and independence anyways. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that Strawberry didn’t give Estella a chance (as Estella would NOT leave her alone about being her friend). Hence these two got together, and became good friends. Eventually, Strawberry told Estella many secrets, like how she has animals in her backpack, her real name (and now allows Estella to call her Valentine), and that she’s secretly a vampire. Estella may have been unsettled by a couple of her secrets, but ultimately found her very intriguing.  
Lightning didn’t like Estey befriending Valentine at first because Lightning is a bit greedy and jealous, and tried to bully Val away for a while. But Estella wasn’t having that and almost kicked Lightning off of her friend list. So, Lightning stopped their rude behavior for the sake of their friendship. It took some getting used to but in the end Lightning and Val were good pals. Frankly, Light did like the cool things that Val did, and thought that it was rad to have an albino boa, let alone a SNAKE as a pet and be part vampire.  
 
And last but not least, we can’t forget our little anxious Marshmallow, Rocky Road. Later that year I say on Hearts and Hooves Day, Rocky, another pony that Estella didn’t know existed in one of her classes but was well in her peripheral vision, was bashfully her secret somepony. For the whole school year up till this point, Rocky was an admirer of Estella, and wanted to be a true friend of hers unlike her crazy followers. Multiple times, he tried his hardest to be noticed by her, however he still was too sheepish to ever say anything to her personally. So being a secret somepony was his best bet, and surprisingly, it worked out accordingly.  
Estella being the sappy pony that she is had dreamt of who it could’ve been from one of her classes. Was it, the strong earth pony who was in hoofball, or maybe the smart unicorn in both the math and science classes, or even that one tall dragon in buckball, OR, no- Just good ole Rocky Road :3. But Estella didn’t know though. So, she had to do a WHOLE entire investigation to find out who it was. Starting off with the macarons that were also gifted with the card. Estella, along with her partners in crime, Light and Val had concluded that there’s only one good bakery in Ponyville that can make macarons as such. And plus, to justify, on the goody bag, in very small text it said “Sugarcube Corner”. So yeah, there you go. I mean, the macarons coming from Sugarcube Corner weren’t going to be their only assumption, because everypony gets treats from there. However, nopony knew that Estella’s favorite dessert were macarons, only the closet pony’s to her know, like her mom, her friends and “her moms friends’’ (ahem, the mane six, ahem Pinkie Pie. We all know she makes Estella the greatest macarons for her birthday >w<).  
So, Estella went from there, and started by asking her mom if her friends had any kids that went to her Friendship School, (I mean well obviously, Val and Lightning), most specifically, if Pinkie Pie’s children did. Twilight said yes, and gave Estella another BIG clue, his name, Rocky Road. However, she was drawing a blank as she had never heard of a Rocky Road in her class, let alone school. So she was skeptical. She knew it would be hard to pinpoint this colt down in a big school like that, so she went straight to Sugarcube Corner. Upon meeting Pinkie, Estey kindly asked for her son, Rocky, and she happily obliged. Little Rocky came from his room not expecting to meet the childhood love of his life. Estella was shocked as he was not at all what she expected, however she wasn’t mad or judgmental either. Of course being typical Estella, she mkre than likely expected to see some athlete or mathematician, but Rocky was far from that. He was a chubby and anxious little lad and Estella thought that he was just the cutest thing in all of Equestria. She happily hugged him, thanked him and innocently pecked him on the cheek. And oh boy, Rocky was so lovestruck to where he was frozen in place. Estella was so glad to meet her secret admirer! ^w Rocky, in the most pubescent and stammering way, told her that he always wanted to be her friend, cause he saw something that the others couldn’t see, a filly with personality that makes her beautiful from the inside out (cheesy, but he’s not Cheese’s son for a reason, yeah? ;w;)  
Well, after that sappy little meetup, the two became friends and stayed that way because they didn’t understand how boyfriend and girlfriend stuff worked, though from time to time, one or the other would claim that they are dating XP. But after a month or so, the dating gig faded into 100% friendship, however, we all know that Rocky was still devoted to Estella and spoiled her with many treats and gifts when he could (Rocky is a simp y’all). He was nervous to meet Estey’s other friends, and of course Lightning gave him a hard time, but eventually Light complied. Val thought that he and Estella were adorable together, and teased the two about their “relationship”. In the end, they all considered themselves to be good friends.^^  
 
So yeah, there you have it! You got, the air headed and clumsy princess who doesn’t want to be popular, the gamer jock who thinks they’re cool but just like everypony else, the weird girl with braces and bugs in her hair, and the pubescent hormonal boy that is anxious with a speech impediment. The total tween in middle school package. And my God, don’t they have to deal with the ever changing world around them, along with their ever changing body’s XP.  
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Well, this was just another fun little thing I did, just to kinda see how the four were back then. So, after this, I have four other main characters, and THEN I can finally start the stinking Q&A XD. Anyways, I HOPE Y’ALL HAD FANTASTIC HOLIDAYS AND WINTER BREAK (though here in southeastern North America, IT’S LIKE SUMMER!! TwT) I LOVE Y’ALL, AND THANK Y’ALL FOR THE CONSTANT SUPPORT!!💖💖💖 Let me know if you have anything to say in the comments down below!! And, goodbye for now!! ÓwÒ