Pinkie Pie knew Canterlot High like the back of her hand. Though she had always thought that saying was a little weird, since she didn’t spend a lot of time looking at the back of her hand. Who did that, anyway? It would be silly to be constantly walking around staring at the back of your hand. You’d run into things!
Hand or no hand, Pinkie had spent a lot of time at Canterlot High. In fact, she’d spent so much time here, it was practically like a second home. After all, being the best party planner in the school required an excellent knowledge of your party environment.
Still, that didn’t help much when you were looking for a girl who’d never been here before and had just run away crying. And that thought reminded her that this was no game of hide-and-seek. She needed to find Skystar. After all, she had vowed to make sure Skystar was as happy as possible at all times! Even though she hadn’t told a single person about that promise, she had to keep it!
It was the principle of the matter.
Pinkie forced herself to stop in the main lobby and carefully thought about her options. Skystar probably wouldn’t go running back to her mom or back to the limo. That didn’t seem likely. The music room didn’t seem like a good choice. Where would she—
Pinkie blinked and pulled out Shelly from her pocket. Those smart googly eyes seemed to consider her. Pinkie could almost see Shelly’s raised eyebrow, telling her that Pinkie knew exactly where Skystar was. She nodded at the clam, put Shelly back in her pocket and scampered to the north side of the second story of CHS.
It had been strange that Mister Catfish had suddenly transformed one of the Canterlot High science labs into a super high-quality oceanography laboratory a month ago. In fact, now that she thought about it, during the tour, Principal Celestia had taken a really long time in the lab, making sure that both Skystar and her mom saw every single station and display.
Skystar had been really hard to read in there, though. Pinkie hadn’t been sure what was going through her head during that part of the tour! Sometimes she seemed happy, sometimes sad, sometimes thoughtful and sometimes she just got out Sheldon and stared at him. It had been a little weird, but Pinkie hadn’t minded.
Still, now that she thought about it, the reason why Celestia had taken so long seemed so obvious. It even made sense why there had been such a rush to get the new lab set up!
If I was a principal and I knew an important ambassador was coming here from a bunch of islands, I’d probably make sure the school had an awesome lab all about the ocean to show off… and then really show it off!
Principal Celestia could be pretty sneaky when she wanted to be.
Pinkie scampered down the north hallway and skidded to a stop when she spied a single open door.
Sure enough, it was the oceanography lab. Pinkie strode up to the door… and paused. She had intended to just march straight through, but now she had to suddenly swallow super hard. Her heart was doing a kinda sick-feeling flip-flop thing now. It wasn’t anything like the flip-flops this morning or the ones she’d had when she’s seen Skystar come out of the limo.
Pinkie Pie was scared.
Now, to be honest, a lot of things scared Pinkie. What would happen when they all graduated really scared her. How distant Fluttershy could sometimes get scared her. Even some of the stunts Rainbow did—or the crazy stuff Sunset did on her motorcycle—those scared her, too. She’d had to face up to the fact that there were some fears you couldn’t giggle away.
She thought that fact was really stupid, though. If that fact had a face, she’d draw a silly little mustache, giant eyebrows, an eyepatch and a drunk parrot on its shoulder! And she’d do it all in black permanent marker, too. That would show that fact who’s boss!
This kind of scared was different from all of those. Well, it was a little bit like the scared she got about Fluttershy, but not really. Because what really scared Pinkie, right here and now, was just how much she didn’t want Skystar to have to leave.
Then again, Skystar had already sorta left. She’d ran away. But Pinkie had made a vow to bring back Skystar’s smile. And if there was one thing Pinkie had plenty of, it was smiles.
Pinkie took a breath, then slowly pushed opened the door.
It was dark in the lab. A few of the tanks were full of all sorts of seashells, fish, clams and other sea-things. A lot of them were lit with soft blue lights. One or two were even using blacklights, making everything all neon and glowy.
The biggest—and coolest—part of the lab was the main touch-tank, a large boxy thing that ran along the center of the room. It held all sorts of clams, starfish and even some coral. Mister Catfish had said all the things inside were specially chosen to be studied without causing harm to the animals. That had made Fluttershy really happy. In fact, Mister Catfish had even consulted Fluttershy on the design—but that had been a secret.
The lights over the touch-tank were usually on all the time, but someone had turned them off.
That someone sat on stool, staring into the salt-water touch-tank. All Pinkie could see was a little bit of her blue hair.
“Skystar?” Pinkie called softly.
The shadow sniffled and rubbed her nose.
“Hi, Pinkie,” she said in a very quiet voice.
Pinkie stepped inside, her T-straps clacking on the hard white floor of the lab, then she closed the door behind her.
“You know, it’s a lot prettier if the touch-tanks lights are on.”
“I’ve seen it all before,” Skystar said. She sniffled again. “It’s not like there’s anything new.”
Pinkie slowly walked forward until she stood directly opposite Skystar. She looked down. She could make out all the strange creatures who lived in the water… and she could make out the vague shape of Skystar’s face. Something fell from Skystar’s eye and mixed with the salt water, sending little ripples out until they touched the very edges of the tank.
Pinkie thumbed the light switch. It took a moment, but the soft lights hanging above the tank buzzed to life.
Then Pinkie smiled at Skystar’s reflection.
“How about now?” Pinkie asked.
Skystar’s eyes were red and puffy, but a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. Just a tiny flitter of one, but it was enough. Skystar looked up. So did Pinkie.
“I’m sorry,” Skystar said. She swallowed hard and rubbed at her eyes with her right hand. Her left clutched Sheldon.
“It’s okay,” Pinkie assured her. It wasn’t okay, because Skystar wasn’t okay, but she knew her friends wouldn’t be upset at her for running away. But when you were dealing with something like this, you had to say it was okay, even if it wasn’t. “But… I don’t know why. And I want to understand.”
“Why?” Skystar frowned. The frown looked really wrong on Skystar’s pretty face. “Why do you care?”
She thought about what each of her friends might say right now. Rainbow Dash would probably say something about being awesome—or act like it was no big deal. Fluttershy would probably be crying with Skystar and bonding with her like that. Twilight would try to get all psychological and overanalyze her. Rarity would probably try to do something crazy romantic—and then calm down and try to find out what was really going on. Applejack would be totally honest with Skystar. And Sunset… well, Sunset would probably already know why Skystar was sad. Not because of her geode, but because she understood people now in a way that Pinkie thought was pretty amazing.
Why did Pinkie care? Well, she didn’t really have to think that long about it.
“Because I do,” Pinkie said. “I want you to be happy. And to be happy, I have to understand what makes you not happy.”
“It’s stupid,” Skystar muttered. She stared at Sheldon a bit.
“No, it’s not,” Pinkie insisted. “I want to know! I want to help!”
“Why?” Skystar snapped. Her eyes went all narrow and now they were the color of a stormy sea instead of gentle ocean waves.
“Because someone as cute and pretty as you shouldn’t be all frowny!” Pinkie answered before she could stop herself.
Skystar went so scarlet it looked like she might burst into flames. She rocked back hard and almost fell off her stool. “You… you think I’m cute? You think I’m pretty?”
It was Pinkie’s turn to turn red. There was no going back now!
Pinkie nodded and bit her lip. “Yeah. And I’ll fight anyone who says differently!”
Skystar sniffled again, but this time, she wore a wide grin too. “You don’t stop, do you?”
“Stop what?”
“Trying to make other people happy, huh?”
Pinkie shook her head extra hard. “Nope!”
Skystar’s eyes softened and went really big. “That’s… wow, that’s really special.”
Pinkie played with a super-springy lock of her hair and finally went back to staring at the touch-tank. She poked the water with a finger and watched the ripples. Before the ripples could reach Skystar’s side of the tank, Skystar poked the water, making the ripples run into each other, until it was totally impossible to tell whose ripples were whose.
“I ran away because I really like your friends,” Skystar whispered. “I like them a lot.”
Pinkie blinked and looked up at her. “But why would that make you run away?”
Skystar looked sad again. “Because I didn’t want to make more friends and have to say goodbye again.”
Pinkie finally got it. “Ohhh…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t understand!”
Skystar shook her head. “It’s okay, I’ve gotten used to it.”
“No, you haven’t!” Pinkie declared. “And I don’t think your mom gets just how much this hurts you!”
Skystar hunched her shoulders and shook her head again. “She’s got an important job. Being an ambassador is something passed down from generation to generation on the Aris Islands. It’s something our country needs! My mom had to move all the time when she was my age, too.”
“It’s still a dumb thing!” Pinkie growled. “And I don’t mind telling her exactly that!”
Skystar’s eyes went wide again, though Pinkie couldn’t be sure if it was because she was amazed or worried. “You would, huh?”
“Of course I would!” Pinkie said, punching her fist into her palm. “I would totally march up to your mom and tell her that it didn’t matter how important her job is, it’s not worth making you say goodbye to your friends every single day!”
Skystar went pale. “And… and you’d do that? Just for me?”
“Absolutely!” Pinkie said. “If she were here right now, I’d say—”
“You’d say what, young lady?”
Pinkie whirled and her heart did a triple-flip while buzzing like an alarm clock on way too much expresso.
Ambassador Novo loomed in the doorway. Stratus was right behind her and Pinkie could see both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna behind him.
For just a moment, Pinkie thought about backing down. After all, this was somebody really important. A foreign diplomat! Like, Twilight could tell her all about the sort of international incidents that could happen if she was rude to an ambassador, large or small! Even Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were making signs for Pinkie to be quiet.
But Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be Pinkie Pie if she didn’t try to make her friend smile.
“You’re being totally mean to your daughter!” Pinkie shouted, hands on her hips.
Stratus let out a growl. Novo’s eyes glittered darkly. She put one hand on one hip—as if she only needed one as opposed to two. Luna groaned. Celestia sighed.
“Is that right?” Novo asked in a strangely calm voice.
“People need friends!” Pinkie said, marching up to the really tall woman. “Especially girls as fun and bright and cheerful as Skystar!”
“You’ve known her for a few hours at most?” Novo cocked an eyebrow. “Who are you to say how I should treat my daughter?”
“I’m her friend! And I really like her!” Pinkie snapped back.
“Oh? And just how much do you like her?”
“Enough to stand up to someone as tall and scary as you!”
Novo calmly stared at Pinkie, like she was a questionable cupcake.
Pinkie’s heart was trying to get out of her chest now, so it could run around the room a few times in a blind panic. Or something like that. She ignored it.
“You’re quite the spunky one, aren’t you?” Novo said slowly. She almost smiled, but it didn’t seem like a nice smile. In fact, it reminded Pinkie of one of the old Sunset’s smiles. Those were not good smiles.
“I stand up for my friends,” Pinkie said with a stomp of her foot. It made a super loud clack. Even Pinkie winced at the sound, but she didn’t back down. “Especially when their moms are making them all frowny. Skystar’s way too pretty to be all frowny!”
Novo’s eyes totally gleamed in the light coming from above the touch tank.
“And there’s the truth,” Novo hummed.
Pinkie Pie blinked and she ran what she’d just said through her head.
Oh fiddlesticks! She probably thinks I—
“Skystar?” Novo said suddenly.
Something crashed behind them and Pinkie whirled to see Skystar standing on her tiptoes. The stool she’d been on lay halfway across the room.
“Yes?” Skystar asked sheepishly.
“Principal Celestia was just talking about Miss Pie’s band here—the Rainbooms, I believe—and how they were playing at a small venue along the beachside. I believe they are playing… what was it?”
“Swing music,” Celestia supplied helpfully—though even she looked a little lost.
“Yes, swing music.” Novo nodded. “Would that interest you?”
“Uh… can I go with Pinkie?” Skystar asked quietly.
Novo’s eyes landed on Pinkie. Pinkie swallowed, fought down her blush and looked Novo right in the eye. She wasn’t about to let this meanie get away with this anymore!
“Is that what you want to do?” Novo asked, not looking at Skystar.
“Yes,” Skystar answered, though she sounded a little funny saying it. “I… um… I really do.”
Novo stared Pinkie down, but Pinkie had won staring contests with Gummy. And no one could stare like her favorite cuddly pet alligator—even if he was technically her only pet alligator. She wasn’t about to be beaten by some fancy pants ambassador!
Still, Novo was almost as good as Gummy. She lasted for a really long time before she smiled.
“Then it’s a date,” Novo said. “Stratus, accompany Miss Pie and my daughter for the rest of the day at a discrete distance. Make sure Skystar is properly attired for an evening of dancing.”
“Wha?” Pinkie said.
“Huh?” Skystar said.
“Ma’am?” Stratus said.
“There’s an old saying among our people,” Novo said with a smile at Pinkie. “‘One small thing can lead to another.’ Well, today I’ve seen a lot of small things in Miss Pie’s eyes and a few big things in my daughter’s. Let’s see where they lead.”
“Uh… thanks, Mom?” Skystar sounded really confused.
“Oh, and don’t have too much fun,” Novo replied. “I’ll be in the audience tonight. I happen to enjoy any variety of jazz.”
“Uh… okay!” Pinkie replied.
“Though, Skystar, I do expect for both Shelly and Sheldon to be reunited by the end of the night.”
Pinkie tried to ask how Novo knew they were apart, but she didn’t get a chance to. Skystar’s mom swept out of the oceanography lab. Celestia and Luna both glanced at Pinkie—both of their expressions as confused as Pinkie felt—then they followed the ambassador. Stratus stayed outside—though he didn’t seem to like that one bit.
Then Pinkie turned… only to have Skystar throw herself into Pinkie’s arms! Pinkie squealed and pinwheeled for a second before catching her balance. Skystar clutched her like she was a life preserver!
“You… you actually…” Skystar pulled away. Her eyes shone like twin suns. They’d never looked so bright before. Pinkie’s heart just about flopped over from exhaustion. “You actually stood up to my mom! No one’s ever done that for me! You… you were totally amazing!”
“Aw.” Pinkie blushed. “I just… I wanna make you smile.”
Skystar was definitely smiling now and that smile made Pinkie’s mouth suddenly feel really dry. Pinkie swallowed really hard when she realized Skystar still had her arms wrapped around Pinkie and Pinkie still had her arms wrapped around Skystar.
“So… uh…” Pinkie licked her lips. “We should probably make sure you have a dress for tonight! I mean, I totally love your dress, but it’s going to be hard to go swing dancing in it!”
“You’re… you’re okay with teaching me, right?”
“Oh yeah!” Pinkie nodded emphatically. “I’m always happy to teach other people how to dance! But trying to do a two-step in that dress will end up with you flat on the floor!”
Pinkie giggled nervously, but then Skystar joined in, making her feel a lot better.
“I don’t suppose you know any good dressmakers?” Skystar asked hopefully. “Especially ones that can work on super short notice?”
Pinkie beamed at her. “I might know someone who can help out!”