Twilight Sparkle, as usual, was wrapped up in her books and royal duties. Using magic to flick through her books, she dropped it all of a sudden as confetti exploded behind her. She wasn't thrilled, but if Pinkie couldn't remember where she had hidden the cannons, how was she going to find them?
Her head lifted slightly as she heard a rap on the door, and she leapt off of the sofa to answer, smiling. Somebody in need of help with friendship, perhaps?
As the door opened, it revealed a young mare, barely out of fillyhood if she was correct in guessing. The coat seemed to shimmer like some of Rarity's finest velvet beneath a silvery white dress, a navy blue that looked a level darker than Luna's. Surrounding her horn was a streaked navy and periwinkle mane, with a matching long tail.
But her cutie mark was what caught Twilight's attention. It was a completely black circle surrounded by a faded deep blue border, deeper than her coat.
"Oh, hello. Can I help you?" Twilight asked the mare, offering her a kind smile which she was thrilled to have returned.
"Uh... if you wouldn't mind... you must be Princess Twilight Sparkle, if I've heard correctly?" the mare replied, her tone slightly filly-esque. "I'm Shadow Night, I recently moved here from Canterlot and I don't know anypony..."
The name faintly rung a bell to Twilight. "Are you one of Celestia's newest students?"
That caused the mare to lower her head, clearly modest. "Yes... I am... I didn't realise she'd talked about me to the other princesses..."
A wide grin spread across the princess's face as she nodded. "I haven't heard her speak so fondly of a student since I heard her talking about me. I'll be happy to show you around, let me just get Spike!" Without a moments hesitation, she darted back inside to fetch the baby dragon, unaware of the smirk creeping across Shadow's face or a low down mist working its way behind her.
"SPIKE!" she called to the empty hall, hearing the call echo within the walls. Looking around as she awaited a response, she spotted something dark moving across the floor, wrapping itself around her feet as her eyelids began to droop. No... she couldn't be feeling tired now... she had to help the newcomer to Ponyville! She started to turn back towards the door, deciding to leave Spike to whatever he was busy doing that was clearly more important than helping her out, but her movements were sluggish as she felt drowsier. Within a minute she found herself laying down on the ground, closing her eyes as sleep carried her away.