High in the skies above Equestria, a golden chariot flew as it was pulled by two white pegasus ponies dressed in golden armor. In the car stood three figures: Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike. Shining Armor stood by near the middle, looking out at the sky ahead. His horn gave off a pale purple glow as he held onto Twilight who was looking over the edge at the passing ground below. Standing near the other side was Spike with a scroll in his claws.
"My Dear Shining," Spike read, "there is more to a young pony's life than studying and family. So I'm sending you to supervise preparations for The Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends."
"Make some friends?" Shining Armor repeated. "Helping supervise with preparations I can understand. It's a great opportunity to show her how responsible I can be and prove that I can handle responsibility. But making friends? What does that prove? Where would I even start trying to do such a thing?"
"Shiny," Twilight whined as she pushed away from the edge and turned to look at him. "What about Nightmare Moon? We need to stop her from returning and bringing eternal night."
"I know, I know." Shining rubbed his forehead just below his horn. If he were honest, he did not really believe the myth at this point. At the same time, Twilight seemed so certain and something was still bothering him about it that he could not forget about the idea completely.
"Would you two relax?" Spike said. "Supervising the set up should be pretty easy. Plus, the princess arranged it so we are all staying at the library."
"That's right!" Twilight squealed, almost bouncing in place (all of those on board were grateful that she did not as having the chariot rock so far above the ground would have been unnerving). "We can go over preparations as fast as we can. Then we can find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return."
"But then when would he make friends like the princess said?" Spike asked.
"We can do that after we know that Equestria is safe," Shining replied. "Besides, it's kind of hard to see the point of making friends here if we are just staying for the celebration. I doubt the fate of Equestria rests on it anyways. Everypony brace yourselves."
The chariot quickly descended into Ponyville. The three riders watched as the small town came closer, watching the passing of wooden buildings with straw roofs. Soon the chariot reached the street, the wheels hitting the road as they landed safely. The pair of pegasus ponies pulling the chariot reared up as they absorbed the energy of the landing.
"Alright," Shining said, "everypony off." He watched as Spike and Twilight stepped down from the car before doing so himself. "Thanks, guys," he called to the pair. The two gave a nod of acknowledgement before flying off again
After watching them go, Shining turned to find himself face to face with a pink pony with puffy pink mane and big blue eyes. The sight caught him off guard. He had not noticed the mare approaching and here she was right in front of him.
"Hello?" he said nervously. The pink pony leaped into the air, letting out a gasp of surprise. Before he could say or do anything else, she was gone.
"What was that?" Twilight asked, looking in the direction that the mare had run off in.
"I don't know," Shining responded. "Not something I've ever had happen to me before." He gave a shrug. "Oh well. We have work to do. That will probably be the most interesting thing to happen in this whole town today anyways. I doubt much happens around here." With that, he started walking. Twilight and Spike quickly fell in step behind him.