AN: There will be small mentions of the events during the season 6 finale, so read with caution.
This was a strange mission from the cutie map. Twilight can admit that, though the princess thought it could be just nothing wrong with it at the same time. It was the first time the map did the mission like this.
On the map, all of their cutie marks appeared, which haven't happened ever since their very first mission. Though this time, their cutie marks are in three different locations in Equestria. Rarity's and Fluttershy's are floating over at Canterlot, Rainbow and Applejack are going to Manehattan, and Twilight and Pinkie will be staying at Ponyville. It was truly strange for the map to do this, but Twilight decided to still follow its instructions for the sake of somepony's friendship and how it will probably influence others.
I wonder what are the results of something like this. Will it work out separately or will it go all together in the end? Twilight wondered in her head, waving her friends goodbye as the train travel to their destinations.
"So, Twilight, should we just walk around until a friendship problem kur-blam us between the eyes?" Pinkie ask.
"Oh. Yeah, of course." Twilight said with a small shake of her head.
A smile appears on the alicorn's face as she said, "I'm sure this friendship problem will be easy."
Then again, they rarely are. Twilight admitted to herself, as she and Pinkie head back to Ponyville, hoping her worries aren't true.
Manehattan was oddly familiar and yet unfamiliar to Rainbow Dash, though that's mostly because she haven't seen every single thing of the place, like she was pretty sure Rarity seen more or Manehattan than her.
"Hey, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said, as she fly close to the ground, feeling a bit weighted down by the saddle bags Twilight made them wear to be prepared. "When you were living here with your relatives, were you able to see at least most of the attractions?"
"Not exactly." Applejack said with a small frown. "Uncle and Aunt Orange were mostly trying to teach me how to be a true 'Manehattanite', though we still saw a few sites, but I'm pretty sure they might have changed since I was a filly."
Rainbow Dash let out a small hum, wondering when they're going to find this friendship problem. It might be one of the hardest thing to do in a city like this. Then again, if Applejack and Rarity have solved a friendship problem before, then Rainbow is sure that they'll be able to find one here easily. All she have to do is make sure her eyes are peeled for any kind of commotion that's happening around them.
When she felt some pony bump into her, Dash quickly turn towards the pony and was about to complain about it, but she was cut off once she saw a red pegasus getting her tail pulled down by a blue earth pony.
"Spice, give her back her stuff." The blue pony said, glaring at her red friend.
"Fine..." The red pegasus sighed, showing the book in her hoof, then gave it a toss to Rainbow Dash.
As Dash caught the book, Applejack ask, "Why would you steal a book from us?"
"Especially... 'The Tales of Pocket Mirror'?" Rainbow said, reading the title of the book. "Why would Twilight give us this?"
"I thought I could get some bits out of it," 'Spice' said.
The blue earth pony pulled on the red pony's tail once more and said, "And you do realize that you would get into big trouble. Again."
"Ow! Ow. I know, but I thought that she wouldn't notice." 'Spice' said, pulling her tail out of her grip.
"Yeah... Bumping into me wouldn't get me suspicious when there's tons of space out in the air." Rainbow said, sarcastically.
"I've done this before!"
"I told you time after time, and you don't listen to me!" The blue earth pony said to the red pegasus.
As the two argue between each other, Applejack whisper to Rainbow, "I think we've found our friendship problem."
"Maybe... Are you sure?" Rainbow ask.
"Definitely." The orange pony said, quite confident in this.
Rainbow Dash look at the two. She did realize that there's a pattern where that whenever they meet some ponies, they usually have a problem of some sort. These two must have at least one problem for them to solve.
"Hey. Hey. Hey." Rainbow Dash said, getting the attention of the blue and red ponies. "You two need to cool down, and got to tell us what's your problem."
The blue earth pony and the red pegasus raises an eyebrow in confusion. Looking at the blue pegasus, 'Spice' said, "We don't really have a problem. I mean... yeah, we argue a couple of times, but we always make it through."
"Are you sure?" Rainbow ask.
"Besides some annoyance, we're okay." The blue earth pony said with a small shrug. "We have a home, food, entertainment, and I got a job."
"And not Spice over here?" Applejack said, looking at the red pegasus.
"Apple Spices." The red pegasus corrected her.
The orange earth pony stayed silent for a moment, but soon said, "Still, it's unfair that... " Applejack look at the blue earth pony and ask, "What's your name?"
"Music Drop." The blue earth pony said.
"Right. It's unfair that Music Drop here have to do all the work." Applejack said. "Shouldn't Apple Spices here have a job too?"
"You think I haven't tried that before?" Apple Spices ask with a frown on her face.
"Well... You must have tried."
"Exactly, but the jobs here aren't... something I would like."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack look at each other for a moment, hoping they would think of something until Spice said, "Well, maybe it's not between me and Music here. Maybe it's between Music and... him."
A nervous, almost sickening look appear over Music Drop's face when Spices mentions 'him'. This have to a clue.
"Who's 'him'?" Rainbow Dash ask, crossing her front hooves in front of her chest. "You got to give us the details if you want us to solve this friendship problem."
"Spice, they're not involved in this." Music almost hissed at the red pegasus, glaring at her.
"But they are here to solve a 'friendship' problem. Although I'm not sure if you can call this a 'friendship' problem." Spices said, as the blue earth pony glared at her.
It clicked in their mind that there's something between Music Drop and this male pony.
"We don't want to involve ourselves if it's a little too personal for you." Applejack said, hoping this wouldn't go bad quickly.
Music Drop continue on looking at Spices with a glare as the red pegasus seems to be thinking, looking at the ground. Soon, Spices look at the two elements of harmony with a smile and said, "How about we all go to our house so we can privately talk? How about that?"
Their gaze shift to the blue earth pony, who's stop glaring at the red one. She looks hesitant about this, but Music Drop still said, "Sure."
Applejack and Rainbow Dash let out the breathe they didn't realize they were holding. As they follow the other earth-pegasus duo, Applejack didn't know why, but she felt a little sick.
Aw... The wonderful city of Canterlot. Rarity still love the sight of it even though she had plenty of 'negative' ponies and experiences that some pony would say that Canterlot isn't all that great, but the unicorn still made it through with those experiences and had a great time here.
Rarity look at Fluttershy as the two walk through the streets of the city, wondering who will they meet for the friendship problem. The white unicorn softly cough into her hoof to gain the yellow pegasus and said, "Is there anywhere you would like to go to, Fluttershy?"
"I'm not really sure." Fluttershy said. "You know Canterlot more than I do, so maybe you should pick the place."
The unicorn softly sigh with her blue eyes wondering around the stores for something interesting. There were plenty of clothing stores and cafes in the area they're in, but one caught her eye. She wasn't too sure why that cafe does, but maybe it's the fact that it's rather old-fashion cafe among the more modern-looking stores that made her want to go there.
It was simple and white with a white sign surrounded by a brown border above the door and the large window that says, White Jasmine's Teas and Sweets. In the window display, it simple displays it's colorful candy in glass jars, desserts, and little tea packets in several different packaging.
"How about this little shop, Fluttershy?" Rarity said, which the yellow pegasus replied with a small nod.
The shop's inside was a bit more cramped than they would expected, but there was a somewhat homey feeling about it. Working at the cash register was a yellow unicorn mare with a pair of golden yellow eyes and blond hair in two curled pigtails with flower clips. They couldn't really see what her cutie mark is since the yellow mare was working behind the register.
"Hello, welcome to White Jasmine's Teas and Sweets." The mare said with a small bow. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Fluttershy softly smiled and said, "Well, we were wondering if there's any trouble going around here, like maybe some friends arguing?"
The mare shook her head and said, "Not that I've heard of."
The yellow pegasus let out a sad sigh, but said to her, "Thank you for your help."
"Wait." Rarity suddenly said, taking a step closer to the yellow unicorn. "Do you have any issues?"
"Rarity!" Fluttershy said in a loud whisper. "That's not really nice to say."
Yet, the yellow unicorn shook her head once more, and said, "I don't really mind."
There was a surprised look on the pink-maned mare's face, but the yellow unicorn said, "Truth be told, I don't really have many friends and I do live alone, but I don't notice any issues between any of my friends."
Rarity and Fluttershy look at each other for a moment, then at the yellow mare. It seems that the mare is already knowing the process going their heads when she said, "I really don't have any issues. I have experienced similar situations before, so you two don't need to worry."
"Rarity, I don't think we should interfere any farther into her life. I'm pretty sure she isn't the one." Fluttershy told her friend.
"Alright, we'll look somewhere else." Rarity said. "I'm sorry if we were troubling you, Miss..."
"Tea Cake," The yellow unicorn said. "And it wasn't really any trouble at all."
Upon leaving the little store, Rarity said, "I thought it might be her."
"Don't worry, Rarity. I think we'll still be able to find a friendship problem here." Fluttershy said, hoping to reassure her friend about this situation.
"We shouldn't give up, Twilight." Pinkie said as the two went back to the castle.
"We're not giving up, Pinkie." The purple alicorn said. "Taking a small break, then go back to looking for the friendship problem."
I still can't believe that we still haven't found one, but at least it's nice to see the ponies are still happy with their friends. Twilight thought with a small smile.
"Twilight!" Twilight stopped when she notice Spike running towards her, though it might be a good sign that he didn't look frantic.
"Spike, what's wrong?" The purple alicorn ask.
"Technically, nothing's wrong." Spike said, earning a confused look on Twilight's face. "It's more on the lines of... hiring someone."
The purple dragon show her a letter that the princess recognizes as Princess Celestia's. Lifting it up to her face, she was able to read it:
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
While I believe that you and your friends could handle yourselves, especially with your actions in the past, it's the best that you could start a royal guard of your own. I've already send one guard in hopes that you would get comfortable with guards of your own and slowly grow your army as time past by. This guard is actually became one not too long ago, but she's quite skilled according to her mentors. Hopefully, you two could learn from each other.
From Princess Celestia.
Twilight stayed silent for a moment. Princess Celestia is right about having guards around the castle, and while the event with the Changelings lead to a great discovery and gave Starlight confidence in being a leader, there was a possibility that everything could had go wrong and Queen Chrysalis would had won. Maybe having some guards around could keep things safe here, though Twilight know some guards in the past aren't as reliable as most ponies would think. Still, the purple princess decided that maybe having a few guards around won't be that bad.
"Oooo... A new pony!" Pinkie Pie cheered, looking over Twilight's shoulder to read the letter. "We must get a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party ready for her. Let's meet her right now!"
Twilight just nodded as Spike lead the way to the throne room, and there she is. The guard that was suppose to be Twilight's.
The guard is a purple unicorn with a long, silky, black mane and a pair of purple eyes. On her flank was a cutie mark of what looked like a black archery bow and arrows with a bright red ribbon tying them together. What stood out the most to Twilight about this pony was the red ribbon hairband against all of those purple and black, though a nice contrast.
"Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle." The pony said, bowing towards her, causing the alicorn to become a bit nervous. "My name is Time Guard, and it's great to be meet you."
"N-No!" Twilight said. "I mean, you don't have to do that. Please, just call me Twilight."
"Twilight..." The unicorn tested the name out on its own as she straighten up. "Alright, Twilight."
Good. You know each others' names, and you were able to get on normal name terms with your guard instead of titles. Twilight thought to herself, feeling a bit proud while at the same time, feeling like she should make a list of achievements on how close they could be.
"My name is Pinkie Pie!" The pink earth pony said, hopping towards the new guard.
"One of Twilight's friends." Time simply stated, recognizing her. Twilight can't help, but to notice how... somewhat emotionless her new guard is.
"Yup!"
The purple unicorn turn her head towards the princess, and ask, "May I see my room?"
"O-Oh, yeah." The alicorn said. "Pinkie Pie, you can plan the party now."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, hopping her way to the kitchen.
"Sorry that you have to take one of the guest rooms. This whole guard idea just came out of nowhere, so I wasn't really able to plan anything." Twilight said with a small, nervous smile on her face.
"It's okay." Time said.
Twilight watches as the unicorn put away her items, like a few notebooks in a practically empty bookshelf and a framed picture on the shelf high above the bed. The picture did caught the princess's eye.
It was a picture of four ponies. One of the ponies was a older earth pony mare with a white coat, a short, dull dark pink-purple mane, eyes of the same color, and her cutie mark was covered by the dark purple business suit. One pony is a older earth pony stallion with a dark blue coat, a short, brown mane, brown eyes, and a cutie mark of some gardening tools. There was an earth pony colt with a short, dull pink mane, brown eyes, and no cutie mark. Finally, there was Time Guard herself, though looking a bit younger with her mane in two braids and wearing glasses. She looks a little more expressive than how she is now because of the shy smiling look on the picture Time's face. It was actually surprising for Twilight that she was even able to recognize Time Guard like this since this purple unicorn didn't have a cutie mark yet.
"That was took a few years ago before I ever had any training." The purple unicorn said, noticing the princess was still staring at it.
"Oh, It's just that I notice that those ponies are-" Twilight was cut off when Time Guard said, "They're my family. Just in case you're wondering, I'm adopted."
Twilight stayed silent for a moment with how open her new guard suddenly is until Time ask, "What time would you like to discuss about the guard system around the castle?"
"I believe after dinner is finish, so after 7 o'clock. If that's okay." Twilight said, which Time Guard replied with a simple nod.
As Twilight slowly walk out of the new guard's room, Twilight thought, What just happened? I mean, I know what happened. I suddenly got a new guard when I have to solve a friendship problem today. The fact that happened today... Is it just some big coincidence? Or do I have to learn more about my new guard to find out?
"It wouldn't be that bad." Twilight said, walking back to the throne room.
AN: I hope everyone enjoys this new story that I've been thinking and I've finally got enough time to publish it. Please tell me what you think about it.