Shining Armor waved good-bye to his little sister as the train sped away. He then sat down... right on somepony's foreleg.
"Ow!" The pegasus mare had light cobalt fur, pretty purple-blue eyes and a light green updo with dark green stripes in it. She wore black boots with buckles and straps on her forelegs and black cuffs on her back legs.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Shining responded, his face turning red. He jumped off the seat. The mare pulled her hoof to her side, wincing. "I can be so clumsy sometimes."
"It's fine." She gave him a reassuring smile and patted the train seat next to her. "I don't see any other empty seats, so you might as well sit back down. I'm Minted Drop. What's your name?"
"Shining Armor. I'm going to be a soldier in the Royal Guard! What are you here for?"
Minted beamed. "I'm visiting my grandfather. He's still a captain there, and he loves getting visits from his grandfoals." She shuffled her hooves a bit and mumbled something under her breath.
"What was that?" Shining hopped onto the seat next to her. "I didn't quite catch that."
"Oh! Nothing, nothing! Do you have any relatives in royalty- er, in the Guard?"
"Nah. I'm going to be the first. But my little sister is Princess Celestia's personal student." He puffed out his chest, clearly proud of himself.
Minted seems really unhappy at first, but perked up after a couple of seconds. "I bet she loves it," she said dreamily.
"Yeah! She's always telling me about how much fun she has learning, and how cool Princess Celestia is... are you okay?"
Minted looked really displeased as he spoke, but she just smiled again. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry to worry you. I... I just..." She sighed and looked at the ground, a tear swelling in one eye. "I've had some bad encounters with... um.. royalty. Sorry."
"Oh. Do you want me to not talk about it?"
"Oh, no! If yo you want to talk about it, you can. I don't mind. I'll try to control myself more form now on, I promise." Minted looked him straight in the eyes and smiled sadly. Shinign noticed that one of her eyes was cloudy.
"Hey, what happened to your eye?" He tilted his head as he spoke, curious.
"Oh, I'm blind in one eye. I was born like that. I have really bad depth perception, but I don't mind too much."
"Huh." Shining yawned and picked at a stray thread. "Man, how long does this ride take?"
"I think about two or three hours. It's gonna be a while."
As Shining watched the elegant way everything about Minted moved, he realized he probably wasn't going to mind being stuck next to her for a couple hours.
"Hello, Shining," Minted said brightly. "How have you been?"
"I've been great! We learned new evasive maneuvers in training today. Say, do you want to go get some milkshakes?" Shining pulled out a drawstring bag that was bulging with coins. "I won a bet with one of my friends over who could bench-press the most weight!"
"A bet?" Minted rolled her eyes, a slight smile on he face. C'mon, Shiny, you know bets are for lazy ponies who can't get money any other way."
Shining's smile was wiped off his face. "You know my part-time job at the Carrot Shack doesn't pay much! Look, do you want milkshakes or not? 'Cause I'm totally cool with drinking two shakes by myself."
Minted rolled her eyes again and nuzzled him. "A free milkshake's a free milkshake. Let's go!"
Shining watched her sip it up as quickly as she could. She had chosen her favorite flavor, strawberry, and was drinking it like a lady. Normally, he disliked mares like that, but she was so nice to him an she was really close to his age. She never called hi "uncouth" if he started wresting with his friends in front of her; she'd simply stand back and watch, then resume their conversation afterwards as if nothing had happened. Her one wrong eye was no reason to like her nay less. In fact, he couldn't see any reason for anypony to dislike Minted. She was absolutely perfect in everything she did: the way she walked, talked, gave to others, moved, spoke like how a nightingale might if it were a pony, her voice was beautiful... there was, however, something really strange about her.
She didn't have her cutie mark.
Every now and then, Shining would ask why, and Minted would immediately drop the subject. She refused to tell him anything about it, except one time where she had come to visit him and Twilight and she was kind of tired. She mentioned something about the sun, but it really didn't make any sense to Shining. That was okay, though, because she didn't need a cutie mark. To him, she was perfect and special when it came to everything.
As she spoke, she was simply giving him another example of how intelligent she was. Everything she said sounded like it had been crafted carefully and given a lot of thought when she was trying to make conversation. Unfortunately, by now Shining was so deeply infatuated with her that he rarely ever focus on what she said and gave a coherent response.
What was really strange, though, was that she never seemed to catch on to the fact that he loved her. He dropped hints, which mares were supposedly able to detect better than stallions, yet she never seemed to notice or make mention of it. heck, he had even asked her t dance with him at the Gala, and yet she still didn't seem to get it.
They finished their shakes and walked to the park to feed the ducks at the pond. They walked for a while, but then got lost in Canterlot's streets. minted, however, was able to pick Shining up and fly him over the city so they could get a decent view. They managed to land in the park, but just as Minted had let go of Shining and was about to come down herself, somepony shot an arrow at her wing. Blood trickled down her feathers as she crashed to the ground, crying out in pain. Panicked, Shining had to take her to the hospital. Her wing was a bloody mess, and Shining was ready to destroy whoever had shot it. Minted claimed ignorance as to any potential enemies, but on her last day in the hospital, Shining found a letter in his room from Minted Drop.
Amethyst Rose likes arrows and hates me.
Please, Shining Armor, you can't tell anypony about it, as it'll just get worse...
but she's my sister. I've tried so hard to love her, but she always pushes me away because we have different fathers. I know she did this. You have to bring her to me and leave! I must talk to her!
Shining knocked on the door once, then twice, then thrice. He was positively infuriated that somepony would dare harm poor Minted.
The mare that opened the door was a meek-looking unicorn with a dusky mauve coat, dark green eyes and a dark grey-purple mane with bright cyan headband. "Yes?"
"Minted Drop is in the hospital. I'm sure you know why. She'd like to talk to you."
The mare froze for a moment, then glared at him. "What do you care?"
"A lot, actually. Minted is my... friend." How he wished he could say something more impressive, but he had to get straight to the point. For Minted.
"And what, exactly, has she done this time?"
"She got shot with an arrow in the wing."
"Is she dying?"
"What answer would make you get to the hospital faster?"
The mare rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll go, but only to listen to her crackhead theories about the royal guards shooting her and have a good laugh. I swear, if she wasn't so darn serious and uppity all the time, I might like her a bit better."
"What do you mean, UPPITY? Minted is perfect!"
The mare snorted. "Oh, please. She thinks she's better than Canterlot Royalty!"
"That's not true! Since when has she ever said anything like that?"
"You don't know her well enough. She thinks all royalty is evil and she's their poor, defenseless victim. It's ridiculous. Did you know Celestia offered to help her with her studies so she could find her cutie mark, and when Minted was the last pony in her class left without a cutie mark, she blamed it on Celestia? The girl's a wacko! My name's Amethyst Rose, by the way."
"I know," Shining spat. "It's an ugly name. Look, Minted knows you're the one who shot her!"
"Prove it." Amethyst slammed the door in Shining's face, her eyes cold.
Minted sighed. "That's okay, then. I suppose once I get out of here, I can talk to her."
"She said you think Celestia took away your ability to get your cutie mark. She's lying, right?"
Minted's eyes widened, then she shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You see... I used to be Celestia's student."
"How? You don't have a horn or anything like that!"
"Actually..." She bit her lip. Her eyes darted around the room. "Swear you won't tell?"
"I swear."
She pushed her up-do back a bit to reveal a tiny horn, no bigger than a foal's. Tears welling in her eyes, she whispered, "I'm an alicorn. But when I refused to get rid of a pesky noble for Celestia, she stunted my magic growth. I can't use my magic, nor can I ever experience the magic of having a super-special talent."
Shining's jaw dropped. Minted was even more special than he had thought!
