Silver Coin was walking down the sidewalk with his usual confident smile until he came across Minuette, who’s looking rather annoyed. She also looked very sad and furious at the same time.
“Minuette,” the stallion asked, “what’s up?”
Minuette sighed and started speaking in a fierce tone.
“Hey Silver, it’s Lemon Hearts,” she muttered, “she’s still mad at me because she thought that we raised our prices on our services. Is that something she would really say?”
“Hard to say. I’m not sure who said it, but it did sound like a mare. So, it could’ve been her.” Minuette felt angrier as Silver smiled to himself. “Hey, I’m still here for you.” This made Minuette feel a little better. Soon, they heard some footsteps approaching them.
“Thanks,” she said.
Around the corner, Bookworm walked over to them.
“Minuette,” she gasped, “I didn’t know I’d see you here. I thought that wouldn’t happen around here.”
“Bookworm? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I was just wandering around when I ran into my friends. We moved here a while ago and I heard from my friend, named Snow Top, that these ponies Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts seem kind of upset. Do you know anything about that?”
“Ugh. Someone at Lemon Hearts’s job said that ponies at my job raise our prices when we’re not so busy. Why would we do that? Do they raise the prices when they don’t sell that many pastries?”
“I doubt that. Who says that Lemon Hearts says that? Plus, what if one of your co-workers said that they changed the recipe at the bakery to make sure that your teeth were easier to clean. Therefore, they wouldn't have to go to the dentist's office so often.”
Minuette paused to think about what she said. “...When you put it like that, it does sound petty. Maybe I should talk to her when I have the chance.”
Minuette then looked at Silver.
“Sorry Silver, but I’ve gotta go.”
She then walked away as Silver Coin looked at Bookworm.
“Who do you think you are?” he asked.
“Just somepony passing by, sir,” Bookworm stated.
“Well, stay out of my business and stop stealing my love.”
He walked off in a huff as Bookworm grinned. Though, she didn’t like the sound of stealing love.
She walked a few blocks away before she hid behind a corner and changed back into herself again. Yona and Moon Dancer, who were hiding under some cardboard boxes, came out of hiding.
“Is it working?” Moondancer asked.
“It seems like it,” Ocellus replied.
“So, what friends do now?” Yona asked.
Ocellus then quickly changed into Sunny Skies.
“I’m going to see how Lemon Hearts is doing,” she said.
She promptly flew off to find the said pony, while Yona and Moon Dancer followed her behind.
Later, Lemon Hearts was minding her own business until Minuette walked up to her until some customers got in her way. Minuette tried to get through, but by the time the crowd dissipated, Lemon Hearts was gone. The mare let out a frustrated sigh until she heard a voice.
“Would you like some help?” Minuette looked up to see Sunny Skies flying above her.
“Who are you?” Minuette asked.
“My name is Sunny Skies. My friend told me about you.”
“I see. Can you tell me what’s up with Canterlot today?” the unicorn asked.
“Unclear, but I can give you a lift.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
Sunny picked Minuette up and took off to catch up with Lemon Hearts. They could see the said mare not too far away and they lowered down to talk to her.
“Lemon Hearts!” Minuette cried. They landed beside her despite several ponies trying to stop them.
“What do you want?” Lemon Hearts asked, still a little annoyed.
“I actually want to talk about what’s going on.”
“I’m going to leave this to you,” Sunny Skies said before flying away.
As she flew away from the two mares, she saw Silver Coin in front of her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Fix...”
“Fixing what I’ve done?” Sunny paused as she landed.
“You’ve been toying with these ponies. They’re friends. Why have you been doing this?”
“My dad owns many businesses here. I’m not letting some bug that was made of burnt Swiss cheese ruin my day.”
“...No changeling looks like that anymore.”
“So, Chrysalis isn’t a changeling?” Sunny Skies didn’t say anything as she was now lost in thought. “She’s your mother isn’t she?” Again, Sunny said nothing. “That’s what I thought. No matter what you say, I’ll always remember you as a love sucking leach.” He then walked away as some tears started forming in the mare’s eyes.
Yona and Moon Dancer were making their way through the city. A couple of ponies were giving them trouble, but they just ignored them.
“How much gross pony pay ponies?” Yona asked.
“Maybe somewhere in the triple digits,” Moon Dancer guessed.
“Yona wonder how Ocellus doing?”
“She’s got to be around here somewhere.”
The pony and yak kept walking until they heard sobbing. Yona walked closer to where it was coming from and found Ocellus. The changeling had tears pouring down her face. Yona and Moon Dancer walked over to her to see what the matter was.
“Why Ocellus crying?”
“It’s just... Something that he just said,” the changeling wept. She tried to wipe the tears away, but they kept coming.
“What gross pony say?”
“He reminded me of the times before King Thorax took the throne. I just... I can’t believe...” Ocellus could get her words out due to her sobbing.
Moon Dancer was about to talk but Yona gestured that she had this. “Ocellus shouldn’t listen to gross pony. Why would Ocellus listen?”
“It’s just... I was just different back then. I didn’t know better and... I actually idolized Chrysalis.” Yona was a bit shocked by this.
“What friend talking about?”
“Changelings didn’t really have much to make them different. The young ones, including me, didn’t know any better. We’d do our best to go hunting. Most of us didn’t go hunting, but still...it’s……it’s not something I like to think about.” Ocellus held her hooves to her face as Yona felt sympathetic to her.
“Ocellus not know better back then,” Yona stated. “Old Ocellus in past. New Ocellus is Ocellus. Don’t listen to gross pony anymore.”
“I know that.”
“I guess his silver tongue got you,” Moon Dancer said, “Didn’t he?” The changeling nodded. “Alright, let’s make sure that he doesn’t do it again. Let’s go.”
The yak and changeling agreed and raced off. Many more ponies got in their way, Yona managed to bash right through them. After seeing this, many others stayed out of their way.
Eventually, they came across Twinkleshine. She didn’t see them as they found a hiding spot. Ocellus transformed into a blue jay and flew over to the white unicorn, landing on her horn.
“Oh, hello there,” Twinkleshine said.
The bird tweeted before she could see Silver Coin walk up to them.
“Twinkle,” he said, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Silver.”
The blue jay wasn’t so happy to see the stallion. She gave a couple of angry tweets and even started screeching.
“What’s wrong little guy?”
“I don’t think birds really like me,” Silver guessed.
The bird landed on his muzzle and looked him dead in the eye. Twinkleshine tried using her magic to move the bird away. Though, every time she did, the blue jay would always fly back to Silver.
“What’s with this bird?”
“I’m not sure.”
As they chatted, Yona and Moon Dancer could see Minuette and Lemon Hearts. They were both having trouble getting through a mess of crates that had fallen off a cart. Yona walked over to the crates that had fallen and lifted one of them up.
“Hey, kid,” the stallion who was pulling the cart.
“...Why crates light?” Yona asked.
“What do you mean?” Lemon Hearts asked, “He said they were fully loaded.”
The yak and mares looked at the stallion who realized he was caught. He ran off as Yona and Moon Dancer helped move the boxes out of the way. Once that was done, they walked over to Twinkleshine and Silver.
“Girls, good to...”
“Don’t you try to play games on us,” Minuette interrupted. “What have you been playing at for the past few months?”
Silver was tempted to run off, but Yona quickly got in his way.
“Girl’s what’s going on?” Twinkleshine asked.
“It’s Silver Coin, he has been playing with all of us,” Lemon Hearts explained. The stallion was now starting to get worried.
“What?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Moon Dancer said, “But this disgusting piece of flank has been using his money and silver tongue to get the better of you.”
With that, the blue jay changed its form to show it was Ocellus.
“Moon Dancer isn’t wrong,” the changeling said.
The three mares that Silver had been dating and fooling slowly walked towards him with their angry expressions. “Uh...girls,” he stuttered. “I can explain.”
“Please do,” Minuette requested.
Silver couldn’t think of a good reason to explain. He tried to run off but Yona blocked him again.
“Gross pony not going anywhere,” she said.
“No kidding,” Lemon Hearts said.
“What were you going to gain by dating three mares like us, huh?” Twinkleshine asked.
Again, Silver couldn’t think of an answer. The three mares he’d been each gave him a slap with their tails before leaving him behind.
“Girls, come on...”
“Don’t talk to us,” Moondancer ordered.
Like her friends, she whipped Silver in the face with her tail. Yona and Ocellus followed the mares, leaving Silver by himself, and ran away.
“Glad that guy’s finally stopped,” Ocellus sighed with relief.
“I can’t believe we actually like that guy,” Lemon Hearts admitted. “Sorry if we said anything bad to you Moondancer.”
“It’s fine,” Moondancer replied.
“Sorry Minuette, for saying that your co-workers raised the price for your services, I know that’s not true.”
“So do I Lemon Hearts. Forgive me what I’ve said to you.”
“I do.”
She and her friends were taken by surprise by a sudden glow. This was coming from Yona’s horns and Ocellus’s wings.
“We did it,” Ocellus happily exclaimed.
“What does that mean?” Twinkleshine asked.
“It means friends’ work done,” Yona declared.
“We should probably get back to Ponyville,” Ocellus stated. “Just wonder where Professor Pinkie is at?”
“Right here,” the pony declared.
This surprised the mares and students.
“Pinkie Pie, where’ve you been?” Moondancer asked.
“I was just wandering around town. I didn’t want to get involved in the problem considering the map chose you to solve it. I feel like if I helped out I’d be cheating. So, are you ready to go home?” Yona and Ocellus nodded. “Alright. It was great to see you four again.”
“Have a safe trip home,” Moondancer said.
The pony, yak, and changeling all walked back to the train station as they waved goodbye to the mares before getting their trip home.
The sun finally sets on the horizon with the nice orange and yellow skies of Canterlot, they arrive at the train station, and the train arrives on time. They went inside and found their seats. Ocellus sat beside Yona who’s looking outside the glass window, and Pinkie Pie sat at the other side of the aisle.
As the train starts its engine and moves along the rails, Yona’s feeling bad about what happened before the map called them. She just judged Sandbar too quickly. She knew that she’ll apologize to him for the mistake she made when she arrived at the School of Friendship. Ocellus saw her and then tried to comfort her.
“Are you okay, Yona?” Ocellus asked her.
“Yeah, Yona’s fine,” she replied.
“C’mon Yona, you can at least tell me what’s bothering you.”
Yona sighed and started speaking.
“It’s just that Yona being judgemental to Sandbar a while ago,” she said, “Yona shouldn’t have judged quickly.”
“I know that, Yona. You should think twice before you speak or judge. Professor Applejack taught us that before, remember?”
Yona nodded.
“Don’t worry, when we come back, you should apologize to him.”
“Okay.”
It was already nighttime, the train finally arrived at the Ponyville Station, and they started preparing their supplies. The train hits the breaks, the whistle blows, and the doors are open for the passengers to leave.
The moon was surrounded by hundreds of stars in the sky as Yona and Ocellus returned to the school. The yak and changeling looked around when a familiar hippogriff came flying up to them.
“You’re back!” Silverstream cheered. “So how’s the mission going?”
Ocellus could see the rest of their friends walk up to them.
“Friendship mission success,” Yona said happily.
“It involves Twilight’s old friends,” she explained. “Moondancer, Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts.”
“I have no idea who they are,” Gallus admitted.
“I didn’t know Minuette was one of Princess Twilight’s old friends!” Sandbar said in shock.
“Well, there was this stallion that was dating three of them.”
“Seriously?!” Smolder questioned. “How did he pull that off?”
“Paying a lot of ponies and using his silver tongue.…”
As Ocellus explained their outing, Yona got Sandbar’s attention.
“Sandbar,” the yak said, “Yona want to say sorry for judging colt friend earlier.”
“I understand,” the colt replied. “I could only imagine that stallion being way worse.”
They two chuckled at this. It had been an interesting day, but the six students were glad things were calming down. Another friendship mission completed.