Twilight was being a bit stressed out, but took some deep breaths to calm herself. It was coming up on being a week sense her last friendship report, but she didn't want to panic. The day was still young after all, and besides, perhaps she'd witness one of her friends learning about friendship that she could write about.
As soon as that idea popped into her head, she suddenly realized something she could hope to truly show that she's been learning as much as she could about friendship. She's been noticing that Boss has become more and more distant from the other ham hams ever since Bijou dumped him in favor of Hamtaro and tried to stage rescuing Bijou.
Twilight's logic was that perhaps, she could help Boss come to an understanding, and apologize at long last to the other ham hams. It made the absolute most sense.
...She just had to hope she did a good job.
Twilight did some searching and found Boss's makeshift shack. "Um...hello Boss." Twilight announced.
"Oh. It's you Twilight. What do you want?" Boss asked.
"I was hoping to talk with you about Bijou." Twilight said.
"Nothing to talk about. It's clear she doesn't want me around her anymore." Boss said.
"Look, maybe if you did some serious apologizing, that wouldn't have to become the case. You did something wrong, and you should apologize for it." Twilight said.
"Apologize? Aplogize?!" Boss looked angry. "You have no idea what it's like Twilight, falling for someone only for that someone to seem to never return your feelings. I've had a crush on Bijou since I first saw her. But instead of returning that crush, she instead chooses Hamtaro to crush on. And the thing is, now that he knows, he's basically making sure she's happy."
"If you ask me, I think the fact that your unwilling to budge on apologizing shows that perhaps you never stood a chance to begin with." Twilight said.
"Oh yeah? Well what's a unicorn like you know about love huh?" Boss asked. Twilight was pointingly silent. "Yeah that's what I thought."
Twilight sighed as she exited. So much for that idea... She thought to herself, but then she noticed Spike and Sweetie Belle hanging out together. Wait, shouldn't Spike be at Rarity's today?
"Seriously, you keep a plushie of me to snuggle at night?" Spike asked Sweetie Belle.
"I told you it was embarrassing to admit..." Sweetie Belle said.
"Nah, I think it's kind of cute." Spike said. "Oh hey Twilight."
"Spike? Weren't you helping Rarity today?" Twilight asked.
"We got done early so Rarity could have some time with Blueblood while he's visiting." Spike said. "So I decided to spend time with Sweetie Belle." He added.
"Wait, your not upset that Rarity wants somepony else? What about your own crush on her?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah well...after Boss's fiasco, I decided that Rarity's happiness was enough for me. So I decided to start hanging with Sweetie Belle instead. We're going fairly slow, but I think it's time worth spending." Spike said.
Twilight suddenly got another idea. "...Actually, there may be something the two of you could help me with." Twilight said.
"What--Spike? Sweetie Belle?!" Boss was shocked to say the least.
"Your still hung up on Bijou huh?" Spike said.
"Says the dragon who has a crush on Rarity..." Boss said.
"Yeah well, not so much anymore." Spike said. "After the incident that lead to your sort of outcast thing, I decided that, while I do like Rarity, the chances she doesn't like me back are fairly high. So, I came to a bit of a decision: Her happiness was more important to me then anything else." He said. "Which when I decided to start getting to know Sweetie Belle, and wouldn't you know it? We have a lot more shared interests."
"And equally embarrassing things to share." Sweetie Belle said.
"What? But...but your crush on Rarity..." Boss said.
"Look, if there's something I learnt from your interactions with Bijou, it's that sometimes the pony or hamster doesn't return your feelings. And that's okay. If you really like a person in a certain way, perhaps it's better that you focus on their happiness rather then what you yourself want." Spike said. "Because even if your love isn't returned, you should at least show the person you do like that you care."
Boss was silent. He hand't thought of things that way. Not like that at least. And who was he to grill Spike? Clearly the young drake had learnt something from him, and Spike decided to change course. So why couldn't Boss?
Speaking of the hamster couple though, Hamtaro and Bijou were currently heading for the hill not too far from Ponyville Park, when all of a sudden, Boss noticed a ball heading right for Hamtaro, and he was clueless. Something suddenly snapped in Boss, and he decided that, if some hamster should take that blow, it should be him; not Hamtaro. So he went and pushed Hamtaro out of the way, before being hit by that ball.
"Boss!" Twilight yelled out.
Thankfully, it turned out that Boss was going to live, but he was pretty heavily injured. Twilight didn't even get to write her friendship report the day Boss got hospitalized, choosing instead to inform Princess Celestia that Boss had been heavily injured.
So, the ham hams, the main six, and Princess Celestia were there when Boss finally woke up. "Ugh...that was smarts. How long was I out?" Boss asked.
"Three days. Three whole days. What were you thinking?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"I was...thinking of how happy Bijou would be...if her boyfriend was around." Boss said.
"You mean you did that to save me? But what changed?" Hamtaro asked.
"Ask Spike later. He talked a lot of sense into me." Boss said. "Bijou's happiness is more important then my own personal feelings. So...I'm sorry about what I tried to do."
"You don't have to apologize. It's obvious that you are sorry if you went out of your way to save Hamtaro. So, I forgive you." Bijou said.
"I guess I must apologize to Princess Celestia; Boss getting injured stopped me from sending a friendship report on time." Twilight said.
"I never really gave you a deadline, Twilight Sparkle. But perhaps, Boss has learnt what Spike has learnt in regards to friendship." Princess Celestia said.
"Yeah. Yeah I have." Boss said. "What I learnt about friendship, is that sometimes when that friendship blossoms into something more, sometimes those feelings don't get fully returned. And that's okay. What separates a normal friend from a great friend is making sure that friend you have feelings for is happy. Even if that would mean they never like you the way you were liking them."
"That is a great lesson to learn. And while I'm sure that you, Twilight Sparkle, have more to learn on friendship, whose to say your friends won't learn things too? This is just one example of that. So, I hereby grant permission that any time any of your friends learn a friendship lesson, to send them my way." Princess Celestia said. "And yes, this applies to the hamsters as well."
"We are honored, Princess Celestia." Hamtaro said.
"Heh...I think I've already given you such a report today...can...can I wait to learn more for when I get better?" Boss asked. "Seriously, everything hurts."
Every pony and hamster got a good chuckle out of that.