//------------------------------// // Part I: First Impressions // Story: Sunset in Ponyville // by Fangren //------------------------------// Dear Diary, My name is Sunset Shimmer, though you should already know that if you've read the inside cover. I've decided to start keeping this diary because my marefriend and her friends started keeping one of their own, and while I don't intend on limiting the scope of these entries to what I learn about friendship I still have a lot of thoughts and feelings that I'd like to write down. Partially just to work through them, but also as a way of chronicling what I've been through for the sake of future generations. Right now, I'm having doubts I'll be able to get into the history books any other way. I've always been a proud pony who sought to be the very best and to stand out among the crowd, so it pains me to say that the most straightforward way to define who I am is not by my own accomplishments but by my relationships with the two ponies I love the most. I am the star co-star pupil of Princess Celestia alongside my maref best friend marefriend Pr Twil Princess Twilight Sparkle. Though I guess she's not really Princess Celestia's student anymore. Yeah. There's a lot I haven't lived up to. A little over a year ago I was confident I had it all: a good life as Princess Celestia's student, a good friend and rival in Twilight, and a sure future ahead of me. I was so confident, so certain that I was on the path to greatness. At worst, I was destined to be the next great unicorn wizard. At best (and more likely, in my mind), I'd be the next alicorn Princess. I was... pretty arrogant. But I'd climbed my way up to that point from nothing, and all I could see was up. Then came the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what happened then – Princess Luna returned, and Twilight Sparkle took the first big step on the path towards her destiny. As for me, that was the day my life came crashing down. For a couple weeks, I even thought it was over entirely – ponies that had once lined up just for a chance to get an in with the Princess' Star Pupil now treated me like a disappointment, a nopony. And even worse – much worse – the only two ponies I ever cared about just didn't have time for me anymore. Princess Celestia was too busy with her little sister, and Twilight had stayed in Ponyville and promptly forgotten about me. All I had left was my research, and while I threw myself into it as much as I could, it just wasn't the same when nopony cared about the results. It was one of the lowest points in my life, so it's no wonder that when Twilight finally came back and apologized I accepted it without hesitation. Not only that, but I agreed to move to Ponyville with her! I honestly think that at that point, if she or Princess Celestia had suggested I do anything I'd have done it in a heartbeat. But my best friend asked me to pack up my life and move in with her so she'd never forget about me again, and I agreed. Little did I know just how big a life change that would end up being for me. But hey, that's why I started keeping this diary: to write down my experiences and sort them all out. And let me tell you, I haven't even spent a year in Ponyville yet and more stuff has happened to me than in all the rest of my life put together. So I'll say it again: My name is Sunset Shimmer. I'm the co-star pupil of Princess Celestia, and the marefriend of Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'm a polymath with a special Talent in magic, and within that field I've been specializing in ancient relics/artifacts and the related enchanting techniques. I also dabble in the magic of friendship (how could I not with Twilight around?) and, more recently, destiny. There's so much I want to say about destiny, by the way: about Twilight's, about my own or lack thereof, and about whether that means I truly matter in the grand scheme of things or not (probably not). But I guess I'll have plenty of time to write about that later. For now, I should probably start at the beginning. Or a beginning, at least. A few days after Twilight Sparkle came back into my life, I found myself on a train to Ponyville... The car was empty save for her, Twilight, and Spike sitting across from each other; something Sunset could only assume was a rarity given the time and day, as she hadn't ridden the train much before. It didn't afford her much to distract herself from Twilight's continued gushing about her new friends and new home and how much Sunset was sure to love them both. The scenery outside the windows was mostly just the inside of the rail tunnels that threaded through the Canterhorn with occasional glimpses of the world beyond it, and the monotonous rattling of the rails themselves were hardly something Sunset could lose herself in. “...and that's when I realized that shy ponies like Fluttershy could have stronger wills than I could ever have imagined!” Twilight said, finishing up a tale about how she and her friends had dealt with a snoring dragon that had been threatening the area a couple weeks ago. “Mm hmm...,” Sunset murmured noncommittally, failing to disguise her boredom but feeling confident that Twilight wouldn't pick up on it. Things like that were all the mare had been able to talk about since they'd gotten the go-ahead from Princess Celestia to move Sunset to Ponyville, and while part of her did genuinely appreciate Twilight's intention of sharing that sort of information with her, she could barely bring herself to care. Sunset was making this move so she could spend more time with Twilight, not so she could spend time with the ponies who had stolen Twilight away from her. Important shared destiny or not. Other ponies would no doubt think less of Sunset for feeling that way, but that too was something she could barely bring herself to care about. She was a mare who knew what she wanted, and what she wanted was her best friend. Sure, she may not have been as ruthless at attaining her desires as she once had been, but that didn't mean she was just going to let other ponies worsen her life. Her ears picked up on Spike making a joke about how if he ever snored like that they should just hit him with a pillow, prompting him and Twilight to laugh. Sunset joined in, though halfheartedly, and to her mild surprise Twilight managed to notice it. “Is something wrong, Sunset?” she asked, worry in her eyes. “You're acting like you don't wanna be here...” Sunset shook her head and offered a small smile. “It's not that,” she said. “It's just that this whole move is a pretty big change for me, and it's all happening so suddenly. I wanna do it,” she clarified at Twilight's still-worried expression, “it's just...” She leaned towards a window and waved her hoof vaguely in the air. “Something I need to get used to. It barely even feels real right now.” Twilight returned the smile, and Sunset couldn't help but feel grateful for having such a cute mare in her life. One who was naïve and over-focused and overall frustrating at times, but still cute. “Well,” Twilight said, “we'll do our best to make sure you feel right at home. Isn't that right, Spike?” she asked the dragonling next to her. “Right!” he echoed with a cheery nod. “I bet everything will feel a hundred percent real before you know it, Sunset!” Sunset stared at him for just a moment before letting herself chuckle at the sheer absurdity of the statement. “Yeah, you're probably right. I just gotta... take things in stride for now.” She turned and looked out the window just as they exited the tunnel to the rolling plains at the base of the mountain. “It'll all turn out okay in the end,” she told her reflection. The remainder of the short train ride passed in a similar fashion, and Sunset couldn't help but wonder how much Ponyville and it's residents would live up to Twilight's view of them. She'd never exactly been a perceptive when it came to other ponies, after all. But on the other hoof, Sunset knew well enough how devoted Twilight could be to learning everything she could about her current subject of interest. It was entirely possible that she'd stumbled into social awareness by one of the most circuitous routes Sunset could imagine. Perhaps Sunset could bring herself to care about those other ponies than she'd expected, if only to test Twilight's perceptions of her new friends. Sunset's first impression of a town she was only seeing up-close for the first time was that it was thoroughly unimpressive. No big buildings or statues or anything else that stood out, just a core of houses and small businesses surrounded by farmland and the Everfree Forest. In short, it was a complete departure from the city where Sunset had grown up. No castle dominating everything in sight, no class of nobles vying with one another for control and prestige, no ever-present display of opulence and wealth. At least, as far as she could see from the train. But what she could see meshed well with what Twilight had told her of the town, as well as her own independent research, and so she felt entirely justified in her assumption. And as the train finally came to a stop, Sunset was able to get a better look at the five ponies – the only five ponies – waiting at the station. Between them matching the physical descriptions Twilight had given her as well as the uncharacteristically excited look on Twilight's muzzle, it was immediately obvious to Sunset who those ponies were. “Look! There they are!” Twilight told her, pointing out the window as Sunset walked over. “Ooooh, I can't wait for you to meet all of them!” “Mmm,” Sunset replied through a bland, closed-lips smile. Once they felt the train come to a stop, they began to gather up their luggage – mostly Sunset's belongings as she was the one moving, but Twilight and Spike had also packed several things they'd left behind in their hurried departure before the Summer Sun Celebration. Sunset allowed herself a few thoughts of longing for the artifacts and research she'd had to leave in Canterlot, the mirror included, until she fulfilled the various requirements to have it all transferred to Ponyville; then she took a breath to steel herself, and followed Twilight off the train. They hadn't even set their bags down when Twilight got accosted by a pink blur. “Twilight! Spike! You're back!” the earth pony said, pulling the two into a hug. “Ohmygosh it's been forever!” Between her color and her energy, Sunset didn't need to guess twice to know who she must be. “Pinkie, it's only been five days,” Twilight answered with a light laugh, the other four mares quickly gathering around her. If anypony else had wanted to get off here, Sunset silently noted, they would've had considerable difficulty just stepping through the door. “I know!” the pink one replied, bugging her eyes out as she broke the hug. “But this was like the longest five days in my life! And believe you me I've had some pretty long five days, like that time I got lost in the caverns under my family's rock farm, or that other time I got lost in the caverns under my family's rock farm, or that time I had to throw five separate birthday parties back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back!” She spoke so quickly nopony else could get a word in edgewise, and finished her verbal run-on gasping for breath. “But this was the longest five days out of any five days ever!” she added with extra emphasis. 'Five days? Try being forgotten for a month and get back to me...' Sunset thought to herself, rolling her eyes while she was still overlooked. A loud whistle shook them out of the flow of conversation, and eight pairs of eyes watched the train pull away with no new passengers to show for its trouble. The lull that followed was quickly filled. “Well, hyperbole aside,” said a white-coated unicorn with a purple mane in an accent that Sunset surprisingly couldn't quite place, “we have missed you, dear. It simply hasn't been the same around Ponyville without you!” “I'll say,” said the pegasus that had been hovering above them for some time now. Her distinctive rainbow mane was all Sunset needed to identify her, though if she was being honest with herself none of Twilight's friends were at all difficult to name. “Nothing has happened this week, like at all,” the pegasus continued. “I'm pretty sure you took all the adventures with you when you went back to Canterlot.” Twilight chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I'm pretty sure that's not how it works, Rainbow Dash.” “Well, it has been awful quiet around here lately,” the other earth pony present drawled in some miscellaneous country accent. “But personally I think that's for the better. We don't need that kind of excitement, not after everythin' else that's happened this summer.” “Oh, definitely...,” said the grounded pegasus in the back, speaking so softly Sunset wasn't entirely certain she'd heard everything. The earth pony in the hat nodded at her, then looked back at Twilight. “Still, all of us did miss ya, sugarcube.” “And I missed all of you,” Twilight told the five. “But I had to go back to Canterlot once I realized what I'd done.” Sunset straightened up and put on a smile when Twilight looked her way again, the others following her gaze shortly after. “And who I forgot. Everypony, I'd like you all to meet Sunset Shimmer.” “Hey,” Sunset greeted with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, waving blandly at the five mares. “It's... nice to meet all of you.” It wasn't, not considering what the five mares represented to her, but Sunset wasn't going to ruin Twilight's mood by being hostile to her new friends right off the train. She did, however, struggle to maintain her composure when she suddenly found herself muzzle-to-muzzle with the pink earth pony. “Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!” she said with cheer to spare. “Normally I'd ask you what your name is, but I guess I don't have to do that because Twilight already told us!” “Uh... yeah, she did,” Sunset replied, trying to maintain her smile while looking around for an out. It didn't look like anypony was going to give her one just yet, which meant she'd have to make one herself. “Sssssooo...” “...I think we're going to be the best of friends?” Pinkie finished for Sunset with an eager grin. Then she giggled. “Thanks! I think so too! I also think you're gonna love your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party,” she continued, becoming thoughtful for a moment as she said “Even though it's not a surprise party like Twilight's was. At least not for you, anyway. How could it be a surprise party if I just told you about it? That'd just be silly. If anything it should be a surprise-d party, since all of us are surprised that you're here!” She giggled to herself again, but resumed talking before Sunset could capitalize on the gap. “By the way, what would you say your top ten party foods are?” she asked, pulling paper and pencil from her curled and poofy mane. “I'm asking for a friend. The same goes for party decorations, party favors, party times, party-” She was, thankfully, interrupted by a sharp yank on her tail that pulled her away from Sunset. “Simmer down there, Pinkie,” said the orange earth pony. “We don't even know how long she's gonna be in town yet.” “Actually, Sunset's moving in with Spike and I,” Twilight answered with a bright smile on her muzzle and not a second of hesitation. Her friends looked at her with surprise, then back at Sunset. “Well I'll be, guess we got ya fer good then huh?” the orange earth pony said. She chuckled to herself, then shook Sunset's hoof adding “How d'ya do there, Sunset? The name's Applejack. A friend 'a Twilight's a friend 'a mine, so gimme a holler if ya need help with anythin' here in Ponyville.” The shake lasted longer than Sunset liked and was considerably more vigorous, but she still managed to smile and say “Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.” Luckily that seemed all that Applejack wanted to say, since the next pony stepped forward without hindrance. “Simply wonderful to meet you, darling,” said the unicorn with the odd accent, and a bit of a hoof-flourish. “I'm Rarity, of course. I do hope Twilight has told you something about us all...?” She looked every bit as hopeful as she said she was. “Pretty much, yeah,” Sunset admitted, sharing a quick but needless look with Twilight. She sensed the question Rarity definitively hadn't asked, and answered it out of habit – after all, all her years in Canterlot had taught her to never let a pony know how much you dislike them when you first met. “All of it good, and all of it true from what I can tell,” she said, looking each of the five mares in the eyes. She made a note of how quickly the quiet pegasus had averted her gaze. “Oh, but of course,” Rarity said with complete self-assurance. She then paused, making a show of mentally searching for the most tactful words, then finally said “I hate to say this, though, but I'm afraid dear Twilight didn't tell us all much about you before rushing off to, I presume, apologize. May I ask how the two of you know each other?” Sunset quickly glanced at Twilight and noticed an appropriate level of embarrassment on her cheeks, then looked back at Rarity. “Oh, well, we just studied together under Princess Celestia,” she said with as much nonchalance as she could muster. “It's no big deal.” She had a hunch about Rarity that she wanted to test. She was rewarded with raised eyebrows and an all-too-familiar gleam in Rarity's eyes, just as expected. “J-j-just studied together under Princess Celestia?” Rarity repeated, stammering in shock. “That's hardly 'no big deal'!” A mischievous smirk formed on her lips, and she shrugged. “Well, I don't wanna brag or anything,” she told Rarity, and even without being able to see him she was certain Spike rolled his eyes. Possibly Twilight too. “It's just... how things are. Sparkle and I have been Princess Celestia's personal students for years. It's a pretty lofty position, but it's normal for us.” She gave a quick glance towards Twilight, noting her friend looking somewhat confused in a thoughtful sort of way. Knowing her, she was mulling over whether or not it really was all normal for her. “Oh, certainly, certainly,” Rarity closed her eyes and nodded. “A pony with talents such as your own would undoubtedly feel right at home in such a life!” “W-well,” Twilight suddenly spoke up, “it's not like being the Princess' students is easy or anything.” She laughed awkwardly. “In fact, I'd say it's pretty stressful at times.” “But we can handle the stress. And you know you wouldn't trade such a major part of our lives for anything,” Sunset pointed out with a somewhat pointed smile. “True...,” Twilight conceded with a tilt of her head. “Well, darling,” Rarity said to Sunset, regaining control of the conversation again, “you simply must tell me about life in Canterlot some time.” That simple statement, and her apparent catching of the faux pas that followed, confirmed quite a lot about Rarity's character to Sunset. “N-not that Twilight and Spike haven't, of course,” she said with an almost anxious smile. “Of course,” Sunset echoed with a patient smile of her own. “It's just that the added perspective is always appreciated,” Rarity finished. “Yeah, I get it,” Sunset told her. “We'll have to find some time to talk after I settle in.” Sunset decided she would hold herself to it; it wasn't likely to be enjoyable, but putting it off would likely lead to something more annoying. “Yeah yeah yeah, you're a bigshot, we get it,” the hovering blue pegasus interrupted, impatient and belligerent. “What I wanna know is, do you know the Wonderbolts?” “Rainbow Dash, I presume?” Sunset asked with a smirk and arched eyebrow. “The one and only!” Dash answered, chest puffed out proudly. If that didn't tell Sunset everything she needed to know about the mare, then her quick and blunt follow-up would. “So do you know 'em or not?” Sunset replied with a coy look. “I may have talked to them once or twice in my career.” She let the implication simmer, and it seemed that Rainbow Dash picked it up. “Hah! Awesome!” she cheered, flying up a little higher in celebration. “Wait, you really know the Wonderbolts, Sunset?” Twilight asked, looking utterly skeptical. “Hey, I keep telling you to go to the formal stuff,” Sunset told her. “You'd be surprised who you meet there.” And then came an unexpected, unwanted, and surprisingly outspoken question from Spike. “Do you actually know them, or did you just talk to them a couple times at parties?” It was enough to throw Sunset off, leaving her with nothing left to do but laugh awkwardly at being caught red-hooved. “You caught me!” Denying it when he knew her so well wouldn't get her very far, after all. “Still,” Rainbow Dash said, back at hovering-level, “you've talked to the Wonderbolts. That's pretty cool.” “Yeah, well,” Sunset said, sliding back into her nonchalance, “like I told Rarity, that sort of thing is pretty normal for me.” Especially since she had always made it a point to know famous ponies to at least some extent; connections were power in Canterlot and Sunset had always wanted to be on the rise. “Hmm...” The murmur from Applejack quickly caught the attention of Sunset. “If all that fancy Canterlot stuff is so normal to ya, then why're ya movin' all the way out here to Ponyville? If ya don't mind my askin', that is.” Sunset cocked her head to the side as she constructed her answer. On one hoof she wanted to make it clear that she was only going through with it so that she wouldn't have to go through life having been forgotten about by her best friend anymore. But on the other hoof, she didn't want to sound desperate – and thus weak – in front of a group of ponies she barely knew and would likely be competing with for time with Twilight. There was also the matter of not making Twilight feel guilty over what she'd done; while Sunset had hardly forgiven it even though she was trying to move on, she didn’t want to keep reminding Twilight about it either. Eventually, she just shrugged. “What can I say? I missed my best friend, and there wasn't really anything tying me down to Canterlot.” “But what about your studies with the Princess?” asked Rarity, looking concerned. Sunset shrugged again. “She's been pretty busy with her sister lately, so I've mostly just been doing independent research and I can move that here pretty easily. And I can stay in touch with her pretty easily too.” “Wow, you're really picking up your entire life to move out here to Ponyville to move in with Twilight?” asked Pinkie, appearing in Sunset's face without warning and making her take a step back out of surprise. “You must be super close to her then!” Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, well, after all the stuff we've been through-” “Like super duper close!” Pinkie interrupted. “Like, most ponies would be fine just going to visit the friends they missed, but you're moving in with her! Which must mean that Twilight is like superly-duper important to you! Like, best friend important!” “Uhh,” Sunset chuckled more nervously in the face of the pink one's bulging eyes, finding it surprisingly hard to avert her own. “Yeah, I guess so...” Then Pinkie let out a sudden and dramatic gasp, startling Sunset even more. “But Twilight didn't say anything about you until she was all-” she repeated her gasp- “and told us she forgot all about you and ran off! Which means you had to spend an entire month thinking you'd been forgotten by your bestest friend in the whole wide world!” Abruptly, she plopped down on her haunches and looked up at Sunset with a trembling lower lip and wide, teary eyes. “And that's just so sad!” “Yeah. It was. Thanks for reminding me.” Sunset regretted the words the moment she spoke them, both for their own harshness and for the bluntness with which she said them. But that regret was tempered by the fact that Pinkie had worn away at her patience with surprising speed. Pinkie, who now looked even sadder, was quickly moved aside by a nervously-laughing Rarity. “Don't mind her, she only means well...” Which led to Sunset sighing and placing a hoof over her eyes. “Yeah, well... Sorry for sounding harsh, but it's an issue that's already been settled.” She lowered her hoof and caught the eye of Twilight, who was moping behind most of her friends – though Spike and the quiet pegasus were silently comforting her. “I'd really rather not talk about it.” No ambiguity, no door left open for future conversation, just like she wanted it. Sunset was pleased to note the five mares made no protest, though all of them looked like they wanted to. But it left an awkward silence in its wake, so Sunset put on a smile and filled it. “Hey, you think we can get moving? This boarding platform is nice and all, but I'd kinda like to see the rest of the town, too.” Twilight looked like she was about to agree, but stopped upon seeing the pegasus on her right out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, but you haven't met everypony yet!” she told Sunset, nudging the pegasus as their other friends stepped aside. The pegasus did not seem to appreciate the sudden attention at all, retreating behind her long pink mane for a moment when Sunset tried to make eye contact. “Oh... don't mind me... I don't want to interrupt anything...” she said in a voice so soft Sunset had to strain to hear it. And even then she wasn't entirely sure she'd heard the mare right. Fortunately, Sunset knew what to do about it. “You're Fluttershy, right?” That got the pegasus to look at her for just a moment. “Oh, umm, yes. I am,” she answered, still softly and without making eye contact. “How did you...?” “Like I said before, Twilight told me a little about all of you before we got here,” Sunset answered immediately, looking around at the others. “Oh! Right... of course... I should've remembered...,” Fluttershy mumbled, shrinking back a little. “Well... umm... it's... umm... nice to meet you,” she added slowly and with a gulp in the middle; from what Sunset could tell she'd needed the time not to deliberate over each word but just to work up the courage to say them. “Thanks,” Sunset replied with a polite smile. Then she let the silence hang in the air for just a split second, took a breath, and looked around. “Well, I guess that's everypony! Let's get going, okay?” Not wanting to leave room for another delay, Sunset picked up as much of her luggage as she could in her magic – mostly the ones containing her most valuable or fragile possessions – and made a show of locating and moving towards the nearest path. “Fine with me!” Twilight chirped, gathering up the rest of the luggage with the assistance of Spike's eager claws and willingness to carry several times his weight. Her friends each offered to carry one or two things each, which Twilight graciously accepted, and the eight were soon headed into Ponyville. “Woo! Moving In Party!” Pinkie jumped and cheered barely two steps down the street, somehow not losing any of the luggage that she'd balanced on her head. Her friends laughed at her enthusiasm, but Sunset? Sunset just quietly pretended to smile. I gotta say, diary, my first impressions of the girls wasn't exactly the best. Sure, Twilight had told me a lot about them on the train ride over – names, talents, professions, that sort of thing – but hearing about a pony and meeting them are two very different experiences. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. Party planner and part-time baker operating out of a local sweets shop. Said to be incredibly energetic, prone to overreaction, and hard to understand at first, but also has a big heart and is super fun once you get to know her. To me, right then, she just came off as foal-like and annoying. More a nuisance than a prospective friend, she was the one I had the least desire to get to know. I honestly couldn't see her being that good a party planner, she just didn't seem professional enough. Applejack, the Element of Honesty. Helps run the apple orchard Sweet Apple Acres with her two siblings and grandmother. Part of the main branch of the Apple family, one of Equestria's largest farming clans and a leading producer of apples and apple products (obviously). They've apparently been a fairly wealthy clan for a couple generations, their growth starting at the founding of Ponyville itself. But with that wealth split over so many orchards and members (and a big chunk of it having financed the founding of Appleloosa less than two years ago), they've never really been able to exert much influence in so-called high society. Though I don't think they would, even if they could. Twilight had told me that Applejack herself was strong, hard-working, and trustworthy, and even then I couldn't see anything to contradict that. She had definitely made the best impression out of all of them when I first met them, but to be honest that wasn't hard nor did it exactly mean I would be jumping at the chance to get to know her better. Rarity, the Element of Generosity. A talented dressmaker and designer, though an unknown in the fashion world at the time. To be honest, when I first met her she struck me as being so much like the Canterlot 'nobility' that I couldn't fathom why she'd been chosen as the Element of Generosity. I wrote her off pretty quickly as the type of power-hungry pony who thinks they're a big fish in a small pond, and dreams of moving somewhere they have more room to swim among their so-called equals and grow. I mean, just look look(?) at her accent! I wasn't able to place it at first, but it's pretty much what happens when somepony from Ponyville tries to imitate the accent of the Canterlot uppercrust without actually having spent time around them. And from what I understand she's been talking like that since she was a filly; even now I don't think she's able to talk any other way without effort. Safe to say, I viewed Rarity as more of a potential resource to be held at leg's length rather than friend material at first. Then we have Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. The head of Ponyville's weather team (though even back then that was mostly in name only), but her talent's in flying. Which even now is like the most stereotypically pegasus thing I can imagine. I mean, a pegasus who's good at flying and weather control? It's like an earth pony that's good at farming, or a unicorn who's good at magic. I could totally see her, Twilight, and Applejack being the main characters of a foal's picture book. Rainbow herself didn't actually leave much of an impression at first, which seems weird in hindsight. She just didn't strike me as particularly interesting, just another Wonderbolts fan. And lastly Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. An animal caretaker, which is pretty unusual for a pegasus? But it suits her, obviously. Not much to say about her, she seemed like a total non-entity when I first met her. A doormat that would be easy to manipulate, if I was still inclined to doing that sort of thing. Despite what Twilight told me about her, it's hard to see the hidden depths of a mare too shy to make eye contact. And yet... here I am now, friends with all of them. Which is a whole bunch more stories I should probably tell. But for now, I guess my main takeaway from this is not to judge a book by it's cover and I'm starting to sound like Twilight because you know, they might surprise you with what's inside. But only sometimes? Some ponies are only covers. But I feel like that might be getting ahead of myself right now? I don't know. I'm just going to move on.