Twilight Sparkle, librarian of Ponyville, scholar of Canterlot, protege to Celestia, matron of sir Spike, bearer of the element of Magic, unicorn of destiny, twice savior of Equestria, and lord empress of all things scheduled had just had her day interrupted by a particular pink blur who may or may not have been entirely of the same world she called home. Said particular pink blur had handed her an invite to a party, explaining that somehow beyond all rationality she knew the unicorn would have spare time to attend, and then bounded out the window.
Even after quite some time living in Ponyville, the young mage could not comprehend exactly how Pinkie Pie worked.
“A welcome to Ponyville party for Bell Tracks and... Pick Pocket?” The lavender unicorn raised an eyebrow. Who in their right minds would name their filly Pick Pocket? She checked the time listed, pulling out her schedule book; yet again, Pinkie Pie had somehow predicted a perfect period of time to party. She sighed, putting her books away and filing her notes as she stood. “Spike? You down there?”
“Yep!” The dragon was busy assembling the usual study itinerary for his matron. “Almost done getting the equipment set up!”
“Cancel that, Spike. We’re going to go to Sugarcube Corner.”
Spike rolled his eyes with annoyance. “Figures. You want me to put all this away then?” He was already disassembling the chemistry set.
“Oh, right! You do that! Thanks!” Twilight was walking out the door, gauging the preparation of everypony. The party didn’t start for another thirty minutes, but that was no reason not to look around town and make sure everything was in tip top shape. Was she a little bit OCD? Yes. But she had therapy for that. Self-administered therapy. The best kind. Nopony ever knew you had a problem.
Her eyes fell on a grey unicorn walking down the road and apparently talking with a disheveled Apple Bloom. A moment later, she reevaluated her hypothesis; Apple Bloom was not a pegasus, and the foal had just fluttered a bit. Glancing down at the card, then looking up at the newcomers, the incredible intelligence of Twilight Sparkle came to a most reasonable conclusion: These were the newcomers that Pinkie had decided to throw a party for.
And the grey unicorn had just seen her staring at her.
Well, okay then. Twilight shook herself and approached them with a friendly smile. “Hello there! I just got this invite to a party for two new ponies. Would you, possibly, be said ponies?”
The unicorn blinked. “Wait, so you’re saying that pink pony took all of three minutes to start sending out invites?”
“Yeah,” the lavender mare replied, “Pinkie’s like that. Craziest mare I ever met. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and I’m guessing you’re... Pick Pocket?”
“I’m Pick Pocket.” The pegasus foal snorted. “She’s Bell Tracks. No imagination with that name, let me tell ya.”
Such an incongruous statement confused Twilight to the point of disbelief. “What?”
“See, I chose Pick Pocket because it sounded cool. Defined me.”
“Wait, how could you name yourself?”
There was an awkward moment where Bell Tracks, Pick Pocket, and Twilight Sparkle all teetered over a cultural misstep. Each and every one of them was trying to comprehend the situation, and if she’d been allowed a chance to formulaically pick apart the conversation the mistress of magic might have altered the outcome of the encounter.
However, Bell Tracks shattered her thought pattern with a mild laugh. “Yeah, see... Pick Pocket was living on the streets before the orphanage picked her up, and that’s what she told the ponies that ran the place her name was! I don’t know if she knows her real name or not, but we just call her Pick Pocket.”
The pegasus nodded with a satisfied grin. Clearly the situation had been resolved.
Twilight frowned. “That’s a very... unusual name you’ve chosen for yourself.”
“I like stealing. Stealing is wrong. Ergo I am a bad filly.” Pick Pocket nodded firmly, idly fiddling with a bit that she hadn’t had two minutes ago.
Bell Tracks sighed. “Pick Pocket, give miss Sparkle back her money.”
The lavender unicorn eyes shot wide. What? She looked in her moneybags, her powerful mind calculating and yes, one of her coins was missing! How in the world--? Twilight turned back, accepting the offered coin with a shocked expression. “I.... how?”
“I... AM THE WORLD’S GREATEST PICKPOCKET!”
The entire crowd turned to stare at the filly’s proclamation.
“No, it fell out of her bags.” Bell Tacks rolled her eyes. “Stop selling yourself like that.”
“But I totally am!”
“If you were,” Twilight intervened, “you would have gotten your cutie mark for it already, right?”
This little bit of logic had the unexpected result of causing sheer confusion. “My...? Oh. I have that. It’s hidden.”
The crowd was beginning to gather. Bell Tracks glanced around nervously, obviously distressed at Pick Pocket’s innocence in the ways of the world.
Twilight smiled, gently. “That’s not how it works, you know.”
“...Yes it is.”
“No, you get your cutie mark when you discover your special talent.”
Bell Tracks managed an extremely frightened smile. “Ahaha, Pocket, you silly pony. Everybody knows that! Heh.”
The pegasus filly glared at her, sticking out her tongue. “You never told me.”
“Oh, I, uh, thought... thought mom taught you!” Bell Tracks was moving closer to Pick Pocket, casing the closing crowd with a nervous eye.
Twilight glanced around, her own social inadequacy magnified by the pressing ponies. “Um... Hey! Let me take you to Sugarcube Corner, that’s where your party’s going to be!”
That did it. The crowd’s eyes widened, they gave each other significant looks, and without warning there was a stampede toward the bakery. Twilight gave a relieved sigh, relaxing now that she was no longer part of an impromptu street performance.
Bell Tracks managed to relax as well. “Thanks. Ponies here like to party, I take it?”
“Well, if it’s a Pinkie Pie party. She’s the pony with balloons on her flank,” Twilight added helpfully, remembering how Pinkie had forgotten to introduce herself to the unicorn after their initial meeting.
“Yeah, I was wondering about that. Why does she have balloons on her flank?”
The lavender unicorn blinked at the other unicorn’s question. “Her special talent is... basically organizing parties. I thought that would have been obvious.”
Bell Tracks had an expression of confusion for but a moment. Then her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh! Yeah, um, that makes sense!” She quickly glanced at her own flank, as if to see if her mark was acceptable. “I, I, yes. Okay!”
Twilight giggled. “Don’t worry, we don’t judge ponies by their marks here. My brother has a shield for a mark, but I know he’s so much more than a defender of ponies.”
“Oh. Yeah, I was hoping... you know, swords and shield, scary...” She coughed.
Pick Pocket rolled her eyes. “She’s really embarrassed about the way the registry handled it.”
“The... registry?” Confusion filled Twilight’s eyes as she glanced at the pegasus. “What are you talking about?”
“The cutie mark registry.” Pick Pocket looked up at Twilight with a deadpan expression. “Or don’t tell me you’ve never heard of that one either.”
“Well, Princess Celestia never mentioned it to me, and I am her personal student.”
“Pull the other one, it has bells on.”
Twilight blinked. “I’m... sorry?”
“I’m calling you a liar, missy.”
Bell Tracks facehooved. “That’s enough, Pick Pocket. Sorry about that, miss Sparkle, Pick Pocket has... issues.” She sighed. “Maybe being around other ponies her age might help.”
"It won't," Pick Pocket chirped brightly.
"I can dream, can't I?"
Twilight shook her head. "We really should head to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie pours her heart and soul into her parties--it would be quite rude of us to be late."
"It's only been a few minutes," Bell Tracks pointed out. "She can't possibly be ready already."
"You don't know Pinkie Pie. She has a party cannon."
Bell Tracks blinked, then groaned. "Oh, she's one of THOSE, is she?"
Pick Pocket patted her foreleg sympathetically. "Hey, at least we get free food out of it."
"Yeah, yeah. Might also be a good chance to figure out what we should look for around here." The unicorn turned back to Twilight, gesturing with a hoof. "Lead on, then?"
"Sure." Twilight gave her a look. "So how'd you get your cutie mark anyway?"
"...rather not talk about it."
"O...oh. Okay." Twilight frowned. "I... guess it must have been very--"
"Twilight." Bell Tracks gave her a look. "I really would rather not talk about it."
"...It's just, my brother's in the royal guard, so I kind of--"
"Wow, geeze," Pick Pocket deadpanned, "didn't your princess ever teach you manners?"
Twilight winced. "You're right. I apologize. I'm... naturally curious, I suppose."
Bell Tracks nodded. "Well, that can be good, it can be bad. Your brother's a guard, you said?"
"Yes--captain, even! Well, he was. He just got married a few weeks back to Princess Cadence, which sort of complicates matters..."