//------------------------------//
// Finding Family 
// Story: Power Up 
// by Sun Aura 
//------------------------------//

Twilight sat on her throne, staring at the Map as her Cutie Mark kept buzzing. She poured another cup of coffee. She had been planning on getting an extra hour of sleep, but Friendship Problems didn’t care that she was up way too late last night. At least it was a semi-decent hour this time. Last week it pulled Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to Vanhoover at three in the morning.
She didn’t jump when the doors crashed open. She had expected it the moment she saw whose Cutie Mark twirled around her own.
“Morning Twilight!” Rainbow Dash greeted, a little too chipper for this time in the morning. “Who’s going where?” 
“Morning Dash,” Twilight mumbled as she settled into her own throne. “At least it’s a short trip.”
She pointed a hoof to the map. Rainbow followed it to see her and Twilight’s Cutie Marks dancing over Ponyville.
“Huh,” she said. “I didn’t see anypony on the way here. Then again I didn’t pay attention.”
“We can always just walk around until we find them.” Twilight shrugged.
She downed her coffee and walked through the hall. Rainbow followed her out the door. 
“So, what do you think it’ll be?” Twilight asked. “Friendly argument? Longstanding feud we had no idea about?”
“Eh, Ponyville has a lot of gossips,” Rainbow replied. “I think we’d have heard about a feud.”
“Fair enough,” she nodded. 
“That said,” she said, “my bits are on romantic drama.”
“Almost sounds like something Rarity would say,” she laughed. 
“Come on, what else could it be this early?” she said. “Think about it, a couple stays up all night having their own personal ‘fun’, and then one asks the other to do something they don’t want. Maybe it was something ridiculous and they laugh in their face! And now you have nopony to ‘cuddle up to’.”
“And there’s the Rainbow Dash we know and love,” she rolled her eyes. 
They walked around town for a while. Everything seemed normal. No pony looked in need of help. No pony had seen anyone in need of help either. They even stopped and asked Rarity and Pinkie Pie, but nothing came up. 
“How can there not be anypony who has a Friendship Problem?” Rainbow exclaimed. “The Map can’t be wrong!”
“Maybe the ponies don’t want help?” Twilight suggested. “Or maybe they’re suppressing their feelings so that they don’t want to acknowledge the problem?”
“I guess,” she huffed. “But we’re literally magically destined to help them? Who’d give up that?”
“I’m sure we’ll run into them soon,” she said.
Of course, since the universe has great comedic timing, Twilight walked straight into somepony. She looked up, squeaked, and disappeared in a burst of magenta. It took Rainbow a moment to realize that she must have teleported.
The pony she’d run into was almost as confused as she was. He was a Pegasus with an orange coat and blue hair, with a small scar above his right eye. He looked a little familiar, but she couldn’t place exactly where she knew him from. The saddlebags were a hint to him being someone out of town.
Another burst of magenta and Twilight was back. Her mane and tail looked a bit better-brushed, and Rainbow swore she could smell some kind of berry perfume. 
“Hi,” Twilight said. “We really should stop meeting like this.”
“It’s not too bad, is it?” the stallion asked.
“Wait, I’m lost,” Rainbow interrupted. “What’s going on?”
The two of them looked to her, both turning red at having forgotten she was there. 
“Oh, uh, right,” Twilight stumbled over her words. “Flash, this is Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, this is Flash Sentry.”
“Oh right, the guy with the interdimensional counterpart,” she said. “I didn’t recognize him outside the armor. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Flash said. “Twilight’s said a lot about you in her letters, so I feel like I already know you a little.”
“Letters, huh?” she said, turning to wiggle her eyebrows at Twilight. 
“I send letters to a lot of ponies!” she defended. “I just got one from Twinkleshine yesterday!”
“Yeah, but you don’t turn the same color as Big Mac when you’re around Twinkleshine,” she laughed. 
Truthfully, Twilight had been only a little red before, but that comment did make her turn a color that would fit into the Apple Family. Flash was a similar color. She snickered as the two of them stammered for a response.
“So, what brings you to Ponyville?” Twilight asked, deciding to ignore Rainbow altogether.
“Did you come just to visit Twilight?” Rainbow suggested.
“Well, seeing you was a bonus,” he said, “but Ponyville being where I needed to go was coincidence. I was planning on stopping by, though it was mostly so you could help me.”
“Really now?” Rainbow asked. “Because we were just looking for somepony in need of help!”
“Not that we wouldn’t help if we hadn’t been looking,” Twilight said. “I’d always help you. I mean, not just because it’s you, but because I like to help. “
“What she means is ‘what do you need help with’?” she asked. 
“I’m looking for someone,” he said. “I know she’s in Ponyville, but I don’t know where. And I don’t think she’d talk to me without somepony to vouch for me and say I’m not some weirdo. Don’t want to scare her or anything.”
“So, you’re looking for someone you never met?” Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side.
“It’s a long story,” he sighed. “But can you help me find her? She’s a Pegasus, a couple years younger than me. Orange coat and a pink mane. Her name was Scootaloo, but it might’ve gotten changed along the way.”
“Scootaloo?” the two mares asked in unison.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess that means you know her.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “She’s practically a sister to me.”
“As in, adopted sister?” he asked.
“Nothing legal,” she said. “Scoots and I are just really close and I’m helping her learn to fly. She’s been having some trouble, but she can get off the ground for a bit. I was actually going to see her this afternoon to help work on her stamina.”
“That’s great,” he said. “Do you think I could talk to her before that? Wouldn’t want to take away from your time.”
“Wait,” she said. “Not that I think you’re creepy or anything, but what’s this about? You’re not, like, here to arrest her or anything right?”
“No, its well, a bit more personal,” he said. “I’m actually using my vacation days for this. It’s… a long story and I’d really only like to tell it once. But if you’re still understandably suspicious it’s okay if you stay with us the whole time.”
“You’re lucky I trust you,” Twilight sighed. “Dash, where would Scootaloo be around now?”
“Probably at the clubhouse,” she shrugged. “Their group usually meets there Saturday mornings. It’s at Sweet Apple Acres so I think flying there would be quickest.”
“Lead the way,” he said. 
Rainbow took off, and the other two followed her towards the orchard. Buildings were soon replaced with apple trees. Soon they were descending on a pink treehouse. 
Rainbow poked her head in the door as Twilight and Flash landed.
“Hey Scoots!” she greeted. 
“Rainbow!” Scootaloo ran forward to hug her. 
“Where’s everypony else?” she asked. “I thought you were hanging with everyone today?”
“We are, later,” she said. “Applebloom has a few more chores to do and Sweetie’s family went out for breakfast because it’s her mom’s birthday. Diamond’s having trouble getting away from her mom and Silver won’t come without her.”
“I hope she’s okay,” Twilight mumbled. “But in other news, we have a friend who wants to talk to you!”
“Why?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well that’s, er,” she stammered. 
Flash walked forward and sat down to Scootaloo’s eye level. 
“Hello, Scootaloo,” he said. “My name is Flash Sentry. I’m a friend of Twilight’s.”
“And you want to talk to me because…?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. 
“It’s a long story,” he said. “Would you like me to start at the beginning?”
“Uh, sure?” she said, glancing up at Rainbow and Twilight.
“It’s alright,” Rainbow said.
Scootaloo nodded at Flash, asking him to go on. He let Rainbow and Twilight sit and get comfortable before he spoke again. 
“It started many years ago,” Flash said. “When I was five, I lost my memory. Eventually I ended up in the Foster Care system. I switched families a couple times, but I was lucky enough to have the foster families on the better side of what I could’ve gotten.”
Scootaloo shifted uncomfortably. While Rainbow didn’t know all the details of Scootaloo’s life, she did know that she had ended up with the worst side of Foster Care. If he was going to bring up what happened to her, she’d stop and ask Scoots if she wanted her and Twilight to hear this.
“Eventually,” Flash continued," I ended up with a couple for a few years and they did end up adopting me. Soon after I was an adult and wanted to be a Guard, so I moved out into the Solar Guard barracks, then got transferred up to the Crystal Guard. It took a while to get settled. After all, the last year and a half have been a bit hectic.”
“It’s been crazy here too,” Scootaloo said, with a pointed look at Rainbow and Twilight.
Flash turned to give them a similar look, and the two mares looked away as if the corners of the clubhouse had suddenly become the most important thing in Equestria. 
“It’s been hectic for everyone,” he admitted. “But since things have been settling, I’ve taken some vacation time, because I was curious about who my family was, and what had happened, since I couldn’t even remember a thing since before I was five. My file was limited. It mostly had stuff on the stuff that happened after, but the identities of my parents weren’t in there.
“The one thing I found out,” he continued, “was that I had a sister. We got separated early on, sent to different families. I didn’t know about it until I found her name in the file. Can you guess what name was on that file?”
“Since you’re talking to me I’m going to take a wild guess that-“ Scootaloo began.
Her brain seemed to click all the pieces of that into place. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. Twilight and Rainbow carried similar expressions. 
“Oh. My. Stars!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “I have a brother. A freaking brother!”
“Are you serious?” Twilight asked. 
“That’s what the files said,” Flash confirmed. 
“This is crazy!” Scootaloo shouted. “I’ve gotta go tell Redheart! Come on!”
Scootaloo practically dragged Flash back to town before any of them could think. Rainbow caught up to them fairly quickly, but Twilight opted for teleporting ahead of them and falling into line. 
“So this is, like, real?” Rainbow asked. 
“Yeah?” Flash laughed. “Trust me, I’m still reeling. By the way, who’s Redheart?”
“Redheart’s my mom,” Scootaloo answered, still dragging him along. “Well, adoptive mom, obviously. You’ll love her!” 
Rainbows mind was spinning. Scootaloo had a brother. A real sibling. And it was somepony that she found fairly trustworthy. That was good, great even. So why did it make her feel weird. 
Eventually they made it to Scootaloo’s house. She slammed open the door and dragged Flash in. Rainbow and Twilight followed close behind.
“Redheart! You’re not going to believe this!” Scootaloo shouted. 
“Scootaloo calm down!” Redheart commanded. “What have I told you about slamming the door? And yelling inside?”
“I’m pretty sure you said ‘don’t’,” she answered. “But this is important! I have a brother!”
Redheart looked between Scootaloo and Flash for a moment. Then she turned to Rainbow and Twilight with the same expression she saved for those patients with particularly stupid injuries. 
“I have copies of the files,” Flash said, pulling some papers out of his saddlebag. 
Rainbow peeked over Redheart’s shoulder at the files. While the parents’ names were blacked out, Scootaloo’s name was on there under ‘sibling(s)’.  A second file was for Scootaloo, with Flash’s name under the same category. 
“This checks out legally, as far as I can tell,” Redheart said. “What do you think, Twilight?”
“It looks fairly official,” she said, taking the files in her magic. “And I know Flash well enough to know he wouldn’t fake this.”
“A friend of yours then?” Redheart asked. 
“Er, yeah, he is,” Twilight answered, avoiding eye contact as Rainbow wiggled her eyebrows again.
“And what are you planning on doing with this?” Redheart asked. 
“I don’t know,” Flash said. “I was wondering about my family, and she’s all I could find. It’d be interesting to find our birth parents, but I don’t think I’ll be able to since the records seem blocked. But I have a sister, and I’d like to get to know her. If she doesn’t want me to-“
“Are you kidding?” Scootaloo exclaimed. “I’d love another sibling! And Twilight trusts you, so I know you’re at least decently cool!”
“Thanks?” he said. He turned to Twilight and Rainbow to add, “And thanks for helping me find her.” 
“Actually, I think I can help a bit more,” Twilight said.
“How?” he asked. 
“Well, this is officially a Friendship Problem!” she said.
“Oh stars,” Redheart sighed. 
“Technically it’d be a ‘family problem’,” Scootaloo said. 
“Family is a type of friendship,” Twilight insisted. “And since we haven’t been sent the usual ‘your job is done’ notice, we still have work to do. And I know just what to do! We can help you find your birth parents!”
“That could take forever” Flash said. “Just getting these records had me jumping through hoops, and it seems like their identities were sealed away. We’d have to go through places manually.”
“Usually yes,” she said. “But I am a Princess. Unless Princess Celestia herself hid your records, I have a higher authority than whoever did, which means I can unseal them.”
“Didn’t take you for the ‘abuse of power for a guy you like’ type,” Rainbow snickered. 
“As I said, Friendship Problem,” Twilight insisted. “I am within right to do whatever necessary to solve a Friendship Problem. And these records say we start in Clousdale.”
“Alright,” Redheart sighed. “My shift starts in an hour, and to be honest, being up in cloudhomes makes me sick, so I’d be useless anyway. I’m going to trust you to figure this out and take care of Scootaloo.”
“She’ll be fine!” Rainbow said. “What’s there to worry about?”



An hour later, they were in front of Cloudsdale’s City Hall. Walking in, there was a pale pink Pegasus sitting behind a desk. She looked up as they came near.
“Hello, how may I-“ she gasped when she recognized Twilight. “Oh my! Princess Twilight! How may I help you today?”
“Er, just ‘Twilight’ is fine,” Twilight answered. “But we’re here because we need some records. I need full records for these two Pegasai, along with the records of their parents.”
She used her magic to levitate the two smaller files. The Pegasus skimmed through the files for a moment before looking back up at them. She glanced at Scootaloo and Flash, comparing them to their file photos.
“I can get you the files on the kids,” she said. “But their parents’ records are sealed. I can’t get you much more on their parents than what’s already here. Which isn’t much.”
“I’d like to unseal the records,” she said. “I can sign the paperwork now.”
“Of course!” she said.
The mare led them to a small conference room to use, gave Twilight a few papers to sign, and left to get the files. Flash and Scootaloo sat on one side, talking about each other. Scootaloo was telling Flash about being a Cutie Mark Crusader. Flash suggested buying her some cool gadgets for her scooter, since he’d missed so many birthdays.
Rainbow sat alone. Something felt upsetting. She tried to focus on the files. When she first learned that Scootaloo was adopted, she thought that maybe her parents had died, or couldn’t care for a child and chose to put her up for adoption. But two kids being put into the system with their records sealed, one being a five-year-old with amnesia. She was sure there wouldn’t be any good answers, and the two of them were a bit too optimistic for it. 
Scootaloo laughed at a lame joke Flash made, and the pit of malcontent churned within her. Scootaloo’s happy. That’s all that matters, right? Who cares if she’s ignoring Rainbow for a new brother.
Oh. Rainbow slouched deeper into the chair. That’s what the problem is, isn't it? Scootaloo has a new brother and Rainbow’s no longer in the spotlight. She knew it was stupid, but Flash could do everything she could. 
He could help her fly. Sure, he wasn’t a Wonderbolt, but Spitfire had said that standard Pegasus Guard training involved a lot of similar stuff to the Wonderbolts’, since they were originally a part of the Guard. Plus Guards knew weapons, which were kinda cool in their own right. Scootaloo didn’t need her adoptive sister anymore. She had had a real brother. 
She knew it was dumb to feel like that. Curse her need for attention. Curse that part of her that says ‘back off, this one is mine!’.  
The door opened, and the pale pink Pegasus handed over a few files to Twilight. As soon as she left, the three of them hovered over her shoulders, all trying to read the files. The mare was a Unicorn, her coat a pale yellow and her mane pink and blue. The stallion was an orange Pegasus with a purple mane.
“Here we are!” Twilight said. “Night Watch and Vermilion!”
“Look!” Scootaloo pointed to Night Watch’s file. “She’s a Lunar Guard! And a Unicorn! She’s probably using a cloudwalking spell all the time if she lives up here!”
“And Vermilion works at the Rainbow Factory!” Rainbow pointed. After a look from Flash she added “The actual one, not the campfire horror story from Flight Camp. I know his boss!”
“This is great!” Flash laughed. “Okay, showing up out of the blue is kinda weird, but I think it wouldn’t be too bad right?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo agreed. “If Rainbow knows Vermi-uh Dad’s? wow that sounds weird. If Rainbow knows his boss, then she can get us to talk to him!”
“R-right,” Rainbow was waiting for the other shoe to drop. 
“Uh, guys?” Twilight said, her voice wavering. “You need to see this.”
In her magic were three items. Two papers and a smaller file. On the file’s cover, was a shield with a star inside it. 
Rainbow looked at the papers first. It was a hospital report. Night Watch had been eight months pregnant when a carriage flipped. They saved the baby, but they couldn’t save her. The page after was a Death Certificate. 
“Guys, I-I’m sorry,” she said.
Scootaloo’s energy plummeted. Flash looked pretty similar. The two of them went back to their seats, trying to comfort one another. Flash looked closer at the second folder, which Twilight was now reading.
“That’s a Guard report,” he said. “What happened.”
“I-It’s an incident report,” Twilight answered. “The charges were dropped, probably by bribing Guards considering the- I-I’ll just read it.”
Twilight was shaking. She looked like she was about to be sick. Rainbow put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder before glancing at Scootaloo and Flash. Twilight was the mare who was ready to go into Everfree alone to fight Nightmare Moon, the one who beat Discord, who saw through Queen Chrysalis, outsmarted King Sombra’s traps like it was a school assignment, who kicked Tirek’s flank back to Tartarus, the one that faced a demon and berserk Sirens and had a time-battle with Starlight. Yet she still looked like another Flight Camper at the firepit on ghost story night. If Twilight couldn’t handle what was in that file, Rainbow wasn’t sure any of them could.
“‘Ten thirty three am: we arrived at Cloudsdale’s hospital’” Twilight read.  “’We had been sent to get the accident report and death report of Night Watch, a fellow Guard. The nurses had us arrest a stallion by the name of Vermilion. According to several witnesses, he and his five year old son, Flash Sentry, got into an argument over the death of Vermilion’s wife, and his subsequent announcement to put both Flash Sentry and a newborn daughter up for adoption. In frustration, Vermilion sh-shoved his son to the floor. The colt hit his head on a waiting room table, and was taken into another room to be looked over by doctors. 
“’Physically, Flash Sentry had a concussion and several stitches’,” she continued, tears forming now. “He seems to have some amnesia. The doctors are unsure of if it will last or not, but are keeping him for observation the next few days. It might be better if he doesn’t remember. We have taken Vermilion into custody under an assault charge, but plan to further investigate at least a Child Endangerment charge.”
She put the file down, still shaking. Flash was absentmindedly rubbing that scar above his eye. Scootaloo looked about to throw up. Even Rainbow Dash, who prided herself on being able to handle anything, felt ready to scream. 
This stallion had abandoned them. Right after their mother freaking died. He hurt Flash.  He was the one pony in the world that should be there for them, and he failed. He was their family, and he just- Rainbow had to hold herself together before she flew off to deliver a Sonic Rainboom right to Vermilion’s face. 
He might not have stood by them, but she sure will. Upset or not, Rainbow wasn’t going to leave Scootaloo or Flash to face this alone. 
“I-I still want to talk to him,” Flash stated once he had recovered enough. 
“Flash, I don’t think-“ Twilight tried to say.
“I’m not getting my hopes up,” he said. “I don’t think everything’s going to magically be okay. I don’t expect us to show up and have him decide ‘hey! Being a dad is a great idea now!’. Honestly, I didn’t expect this. I-I’d thought maybe my parents had died, or that they gave me up because they couldn’t  support a kid. I never thought-I have to finish this.”
“And we’ll be with you,” Rainbow said. 



Another half hour and they were at the Rainbow Factory. Rainbow had already stopped to talk to Daybreak, a lovely mare who runs the red, orange, and yellow sections of rainbow-making. It took a bit longer than Rainbow wanted, but she managed to dodge out by promising that she’d come up for dinner with her and Golden Heart the next time Fluttershy went home for a visit. 
“Vermilion is the head of Orange,” Rainbow said, leading them down the halls. 
“Did you tell her why we want to see him?” Flash asked. 
“Didn’t know if you wanted it told,” she said. 
Through another door, they found the place they needed. Liquid orange poured from various places, sent to join the other colors below. Rainbow saw him. Orange coat and purple hair that was starting to gray. She still wanted to hit him, but she kept it together. Twilight approached him instead.
“Excuse me, Mr. Vermilion?” Twilight called. 
“What is it?” The stallion turned, his face lighting up as he saw her. “Why! Princess Twilight! What can I do for you today? Would you like a tour of the factory? “
“No,” she frowned. “I’m here because a few friends of mine wanted to learn about their parents, and it led us to you.”
His face darkened as the rest of the quartet came up behind her. He practically snarled when he looked at Flash.
“I had those records sealed,” he said.
“I unsealed them,” Twilight replied. 
“Then you can leave with them,” he snapped.
“Hey, I just want to talk,” Flash said. “I’m-“
“I know exactly who you are!” he snapped. “You’re the brat that ruined me!”
“E-excuse me?” he asked. 
“Since you went to the trouble, I’ll regale you with the full story,” he said. “Your mother was just a side girl. I had a fiancé, love of my life, and then your mother comes up to us and tells me she’s pregnant and I’m the father. My fiancé left me, and your mother forced me to marry her. I think she did it on purpose just to trap me. I put up with being miserable for a few years, then I tried to divorce her.”
“And you had a second kid with her,” Flash whispered. 
“I had a fair share of other mares, but she was there,” he scoffed. “Love the one you’re with. You’re a grown stallion now, you get it.”
Flash didn’t answer, but he did step back. Vermilion’s gaze focused on Scootaloo.
“Let me guess, the second coming?” Vermilion sneered. “The bitch tricked me again. When she croaked, I was almost free. I dropped you two into the system and had the file sealed. Then I tried to pick up the six years I lost.”
“You just-you-“ Flash stammered. 
He couldn’t think of a response. Scootaloo was practically hiding under Twilight by now. Even Twilight couldn’t think of something to say.
“Happy now that you’ve dragged this back into my life?” Vermillion asked. “Now, if you would get out of my hair, I need to-“
“SHUT UP!” Rainbow roared, jumping in front of them. “Just shut up!”
“How dare you-“ he tried to defend himself, but she wouldn’t let him.
“No! How dare you!” she screamed. “You cheat on your fiancé, and then blame the ‘side girl’ and her kid for getting your sorry ass dumped? You slept with her again and blamed her when another kid popped up? How in the world can you even try to justify that?”
“And then,” she continued, “you’re happy she dies! I bet you had a freaking party after hearing the news! Then you chuck out the kids like they’re last week’s trash! You’re they’re father! You’re supposed to stick with them no matter what! And you have the balls to act like that’s okay? You’re one of the worst ponies I’ve ever met! One of the most evil! You can go share a cell with Tirek in Tartarus for all I care!
“Do you think I’m going to stand here and take this?” he demanded. “Who do you think you are?”
Her anger reached its boiling point. Yet it felt different. Still fiery and full of energy, but more than that. It was like being miles above the clouds, like when she fought Tirek, or battled with the Changelings. But somehow, it felt like sitting down for dinner with Daybreak and Golden Heart and Fluttershy. She didn’t care. Taking down the guy who hurt her family is more important.
“I am Rainbow Fucking Dash!” she shouted. “I’m the Element of Loyalty, something you severely lack! You may have given up your kids, but they have me! Family isn’t just blood! It’s bonds we choose to have! I chose Scootaloo as my sister! And if she wants Flash to be her brother, then he’s my brother now too! You might have helped create them, but you’re never going to be a part of their family. They deserve better than you!”
She reigned in the temptation to kick him, and herded her friends back out into the hall. She didn’t stop until they were back in the lobby. 
“That was amazing!” Scootaloo shouted. “The way you shut him down like that! And you started glowing! Oh my stars! You’re still glowing!”
“Glowing?” she asked, turning to Twilight.
Twilight had already conjured a mirror for her. She took in her reflection, not sure what to say. Glowing lines raced across her like lightning. Around her was an aura of red magic. The most annoying thing was two small pieces of hair that curled around her ears had turned a light pink. Just another color added to her hair. 
“Sweet!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Hey Twi, you said something the other day about magic samples?”
Twilight had already summoned two jars and two rubies. As she began to work her magic, Rainbow looked over to Scootaloo and Flash. They were still staring. 
“Hey, guys, I meant what I said,” Rainbow stated. “Scoots is my sister, and I’d be glad to have Flash as a brother too.”
“That’s good with me,” Flash laughed. “You’re a lot better than him.”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo agreed. 
“Great!” Rainbow laughed. “On that note, if you’re my siblings now, that means my parents are yours too. We should stop by and introduce you! On the bright side, I’ll be able to pawn off dad’s ‘how’s your love life’? questions to you!”
A faint buzzing came from her side. She looked to her flank to see her Cutie Mark flashing. Twilight’s was doing the same. 
“Another Friendship Problem solved!”