Princess Celestia was going through paperwork in her office, when Shining Armor entered the room. "Princess Celestia!" he said. "I request permission to speak!"
"What is it?" Celestia asked, looking up from her desk.
"I have retrieved the files that you requested, Your Highness!" Shining said, saluting mightily.
Princess Celestia sighed. "Shining Armor, I've had dinner at your family's house three times," she said. "You don't have to be so formal with me."
Shining Armor visibly relaxed. "Sorry, Princess," he said. He used his magic to float the folder labeled Prince Blueblood over to Celestia's desk. "Why'd you ask for that scumbag's file, anyway?"
"Let's say...personal reasons," Princess Celestia said. "I want to see if he's broken any laws recently."
"He broke my little sister's heart," Shining Armor muttered angrily. "Isn't that enough?"
There was bad blood between Shining Armor and Prince Blueblood; two years previously, they had a rather public confrontation over what he did to Twilight. After Blueblood made a few nasty comments about Twilight Sparkle's kissing abilities, Shining Armor completely lost his head and tried to assault the prince. Blueblood's personal guards intercepted the attack and beat Shining Armor to a pulp before tossing him in jail.
Celestia skimmed through the folder, which contained all of the Royal Guard's files on the blonde unicorn prince. Unfortunately for Celestia, no major crimes were detailed, except, of course, Blueblood's failed attempt to blackmail one of his teachers at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
"Hmmm..." Princess Celestia said, flipping through the pages. "It looks like he's been staying out of trouble."
"No, he's been getting into trouble," Shining Armor said. "He just hasn't been caught."
Celestia moved the folder aside, slightly disappointed that she hadn't found anything interesting. "Well, let's forget Blueblood for the moment," she said. "I asked you to come here, because I have a new assignment that I think would be perfect for you."
"A new assign—what is it?" Shining asked.
"It's a guard mission, in Ponyville," Princess Celestia said. "I need you to help protect a team of five ponies, who will be travelling through the Everfree Forest."
"Ponyville..." Shining Armor's eyes gleamed. "Isn't that where Twilight is?"
"It is," Princess Celestia said. "You will be working side-by-side with your sister for this mission. I am confident that you two will do a wonderful job together."
"We will, Your Highness!" Shining Armor said, saluting. "What's the purpose of this mission?"
"Hmmm..." Celestia said, not entirely sure where to begin. "Tell me, Shining Armor. What do you know about Princess Luna?"
"Princess...Luna?" Shining Armor asked. The confusion on his face quickly turned to fear. "Oh no. Please don't tell me that Blueblood has a fiancée."
Celestia grimaced. "Thankfully not," she said. "Princess Luna is my sister. The purpose of the mission to help save her life."
When Twilight picked Spike up from school that day, she chatted a bit with Cheerilee. The schoolteacher was as nice as ever, making it impossible for Twilight to eliminate her as a possible candidate for the Element of Kindness. Twilight loudly complained about this on the way home, much to Spike's confusion.
"I don't understand," Spike said. "Why does one pony have to be kinder than the other? Can't they be equally nice?"
"That's the problem!" Twilight said. "Cheerilee and Fluttershy are both so nice and kind! I don't know how to pick between them!"
"I still don't get why you need a kind pony here," Spike said. "You really think you can kill Nightmare Moon with kindness?"
"We're not going to kill Nightmare Moon," Twilight said. "We're going to strip away the evil so Princess Luna is safe again."
"Either way, I think I'll stay at home for this mission," Spike said. "I've seen pictures of Nightmare Moon. She gives me the creeps."
"She is kind of scary, but—" Twilight started, then stopped suddenly. "That's it! Nightmare Moon is scary!"
"Um, what?"
"Fluttershy might be kind, but she's too much of a scaredy pony to fight Nightmare Moon," Twilight said. "That makes Cheerilee the Element of Kindness by default!"
"Are you sure?" Spike asked. "I'm not sure it works like that."
"Of course I'm sure!" Twilight said. "Only the Element of Kindness would be kind enough to volunteer for this mission, after all! That means we're almost done! Yesss!"
After Spike sent Twilight's various letters—he complained that she was treating him like her personal mail service—she helped him with his homework. Eventually, they got a response from Princess Celestia, which pointed out the fact that even if Scootaloo didn't have parents, she had an official guardian.
That was how Twilight found herself at the Ponyville Orphanage, trying to convince the director to let Scootaloo join the mission.
"I'm not sure I can allow Scootaloo to go into the Everfree Forest alone," the director said.
"But she won't be alone, sir," Twilight said. "She'll be going with six adults, one of whom is a member of the Royal Guard. You can't be much safer than that."
"Hmmm..." the director said. "And why do you want to bring her along on this expedition again?"
"We're getting artifacts, belonging to Nightmare Moon," Twilight said. "We can't do it without Scootaloo's help."
"You didn't answer my question," the director said. "Why is she so important to an archaeological expedition? She's just a filly!"
Twilight sighed. She was hoping to avoid this, but...
"Nightmare Moon had a daughter named Swift Darkness," Twilight lied, adapting a plotline from Daring Do and the Temple of Doom. "Most ponies don't know about her, because she died at the age of six. Legend says she was an orange pegasus filly, just like Scootaloo."
"I see," the director said.
"The doors of the castle are locked with strong alicorn magic," Twilight said. "Even Princess Celestia can't break the enchantment. The only thing we have to go on is the writing on the doors, which says only Nightmare Moon or Swift Darkness can open them."
"And you think you can trick the doors into thinking Scootaloo is really Swift Darkness?" the director asked, leaning forward in interest.
"That's the plan," Twilight said. "We'll bring her to the doors, and she'll tell them to open. If it works, it'll be the find of the century. If it doesn't work, we'll bring her right back here."
"I see..." the director said. "Well...this all sounds rather out there to me, but I have to admit you've captured my interest. Plus, it seems that there is very little chance of Scootaloo being hurt."
"We only need her to help open the doors," Twilight said. "That's all. There's no danger whatsoever."
"Very well," the director said. "I will allow it."
"Thank you!" Twilight said. "You won't regret it!"
When leaving the orphanage, Twilight couldn't help but bounce around a little bit. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" Twilight said to herself.
"Twilight?" a small voice asked. Twilight turned to see Scootaloo, peeking out through one of the doors.
No! Twilight thought. She immediately came to a halt. "Oh, um...hi, Scootaloo..."
"What are you doing here?" Scootaloo asked.
"I, um...I had to see...uh..." Twilight stammered.
Scootaloo lowered her head. "You know the truth," she said sadly. "I'm an orphan."
"Yeah," Twilight said.
A heavy pause followed. Twilight tried to think of something nice and comforting to say, but all she could think about was how awkward the situation was. It wasn't as awkward as the time Princess Celestia had talked to Twilight about the birds and the bees, but it was definitely a close second.
Scootaloo looked up at Twilight. Her pupils were enlarged, and her eyes seemed to waver. "I know what that means," she said. "You can't give me flying lessons anymore."
Twilight was taken aback. That was not the reaction she was expecting. "What?" Twilight asked. "Why would you—?"
"I'm sorry I tricked you," Scootaloo said. "I just wanted to learn how to fly so badly..."
Twilight knelt down, to get closer to Scootaloo. "What are you talking about?" Twilight asked. "I'm not cancelling our flying lessons. Why would you think that?"
"'Cause it's against the rules," Scootaloo said. She sniffed loudly.
"What rules?" Twilight asked. "There's no rule that says I can't teach you."
"But there is!" Scootaloo insisted. "Today at school, Diamond Tiara told me that orphans can't— "
"Diamond Tiara, that mean filly?" Twilight asked. "I don't care what she says. You're the one I care about."
"You—you mean that?" Scootaloo asked, unbelievingly. "I mean, you don't just feel sorry for me?"
Twilight bit her lip, as her brain was suddenly flooded with memories of a conversation from fourteen years ago, when a different pegasus child had been plagued with loneliness.
"...I don't have any friends, besides my brother," Twilight said sadly. "And I was just thinking...maybe if I was a unicorn, I could have friends."
"I see," Princess Celestia said. She thought for a moment. "Well, I can't make you a unicorn, Twilight, but I can be your friend. Would you like that?"
"Yeah!" Twilight said, jumping up happily. "You can be my BPF! Big Princess Friend!"
"Scootaloo..." Twilight said seriously. "Listen to me. No matter what anypony says, you are a very special little girl. We haven't known each other very long, but I'm proud to be your teacher...and your friend."
Scootaloo jumped up and gave Twilight a hug. "I love you, too, Twilight!" she said.
I didn't go that far! Twilight thought, but she returned the hug anyway. When they broke apart, Twilight couldn't help but smile at the huge grin on Scootaloo's face.
"Now, no more worrying that I won't be your teacher anymore, okay?" Twilight said. "In fact, why don't we have our next flying lesson after school tomorrow? We can work more on proper swooping techniques."
"Okay!" Scootaloo said.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I cleared things up with the director of the Ponyville Orphanage. He agreed to let Scootaloo help as the Element of Honesty.
Scootaloo is a...very interesting girl. I'm not sure how to feel about her. Yesterday, I thought she was your average, hyper filly. But today at the orphanage, I saw another side of her. She was sad and lonely, and scared that I would abandon her.
Seeing her like that was a startling experience. It reminded me of...well, me. When I first met you, I was a lonely pegasus child who didn't quite fit in at her unicorn school. But you didn't care about that. You became my friend anyway.
I want to say thank you. It meant a lot to me. I hope I can be as good of a friend to Scootaloo as you were to me.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
The next day, six ponies came to visit Ponyville. One of them wasn't a pony at all, actually. She was a griffon friend of Rainbow Dash who was, quite frankly, not very polite. Gilda's quick temper soon made her the enemy of quite a few ponies in town.
One pony who didn't get a chance to meet Gilda was Rarity. Rarity was preoccupied with her work that day, as she was finishing with an order from Reignston. The five dresses were all packed and ready to go, and Rarity was loading them onto the luggage compartment of the train which just arrived.
She was getting a luggage slip from the train conductor, when the speaker in the train station came to life.
"Will the white unicorn please come to the ticket office?" a voice said. "White unicorn, report to the ticket office."
"Odd," Rarity said. "I didn't think anypony knew I'm here."
She wrapped up her business with the package containing the dresses, then trotted over to the ticket office. She stopped short, when she saw the stallion waiting for her at the ticket office. He was the muscular type, with adorable big blue eyes.
"Oh, my," Rarity said to herself. It wasn't every day a handsome stallion requested to speak with her. She spent a few seconds taking him in, then stepped forward. "Excuse me? Sir?" she asked. "Did you call for me?"
"Huh?" the stallion asked, seeming surprised. "What do you mean?"
Rarity's smile fell slightly. "The ticket counter just called for me. The white unicorn?"
"Oh," the stallion said. He smiled and chuckled slightly. "No, that was me. I'm the white unicorn they wanted to see."
Rarity flushed with embarrassment. Stupid! Stupid! "Oh," she said. "I...I'm sorry for bothering you, then."
"Don't worry about it," the stallion said. "I'm Shining Armor. What's your name?"
"Rarity," Rarity said. She shook Shining Armor's hoof, then fluttered her long eyelashes at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too," Shining Armor said. He pushed back his blue hair, in an effort to look more professional. "Do you know where I could get a map of Ponyville? I was hoping I could get one here at the ticket counter, but they're all out."
"Is this your first time in Ponyville?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, I just came in from Canterlot," Shining Armor said.
"Canterlot! One of my best friends is from there!" Rarity said. She smiled, then gasped in delight. "Idea! I can give you a tour of Ponyville!"
"A tour?" Shining asked.
"I've lived here all my life, Mr. Armor," Rarity said. "I can show you all the best places in town. We could make a morning of it!"
"Please, call me Shining," Shining Armor said. "And that sounds like a great idea! I'd love to spend the morning with you."
Rarity smiled.
Twilight hummed a little song to herself, as she left Bale's Burger Barn. That was a good lunch, she decided. Time to go back home.
...Home?
Twilight's tendency to overanalyze everything kicked in. She just thought of Ponyville as home. Why? Wasn't her home in Canterlot?
Well...as the saying goes, home is where the heart is, and Ponyville was full of heart. Everypony here was so open and nice...Twilight had made more friends here, in six days, than she had made in the past six years in Canterlot.
Ponyville is a home to me! Twilight realized. I hope Princess Celestia will let me stay here once the Summer Sun Celebration is over. I don't want to move back to Unicorn City!
Twilight smiled widely and starting humming louder. She was thinking about sending a message to her parents, when a crying yellow blur ran through the street past her.
Was that Fluttershy? Twilight wondered. What's wrong with her?
Twilight flew up in the air a few feet, and she followed after Fluttershy for a block or two. Suddenly, Twilight saw something even more startling than a crying friend. She saw Rarity and her brother, eating at a table outside one of the town's restaurants.
"Shining Armor?" Twilight gasped.
Twilight immediately dove and came to a halt at their table. Not caring about manners, Twilight screeched, "What are you doing here?"
"Hi, Twilight," Shining Armor said. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, slamming a hoof on the table. "Why are you two having lunch together?"
Rarity's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Shining, dear, how does Twilight know you?" she asked in a dangerous voice.
"Well, I came here to Ponyville so I could see her," Shining Armor admitted.
Rarity used her magic to throw her drink into Shining's face. "You cad!" she shouted. "How dare you use me to cheat on your marefriend?!"
"But I—!" Shining said.
"Twilight is my friend!" Rarity said. She got up and put an arm defensively around Twilight. "She is far too good for the likes of you, you two-timing snake!"
Twilight started laughing at the situation.
"Twiley, it's not funny!" Shining Armor said, trying to use a napkin to clean off the water which was dripping all over his face.
"Ha ha ha—yes it is!" she said. "Rarity, Shining Armor is my—ha ha—my brother!"
Rarity's pupils shrank to pinpricks. "He's...your brother?"
Twilight nodded.
Rarity practically jumped on Shining Armor, in her haste to apologize. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Rarity said. "I thought that you were—I didn't mean to splash water—are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Shining Armor said. "It's not your fault. I probably would have done the same thing."
"I guess I overreacted, too..." Twilight said, somewhat reluctantly. "But my question still stands. What are you doing here?"
"Didn't you get the message from Princess Celestia?" Shining Armor asked. "I'm here to help with the mission in the Everfree Forest."
"Yes, but I didn't expect you here today," Twilight said. "I mean, we haven't even scheduled a day or a time for the mission yet!"
"What mission is this?" Rarity asked.
"Official royal business," Shining Armor said importantly. "Princess Celestia sent us here to take care of it."
"An important mission from the princess?" Rarity said. "Shining Armor, you are just the most fascinating stallion I've ever met!"
Twilight's jaw dropped in confusion. "What are you—?"
"And you're a gentlecolt," Rarity said. She placed a quick peck on Shining Armor's cheek. "Thank you for not being angry with me."
"Ew!" Twilight said. "Gross, Rarity! He's my brother!"