I Knew I'd Forgotten Something
This was not how Twilight had hoped the evening before her departure would have been spent. As part of her new duties as princess, she was in charge of foreign affairs, which meant she had to travel frequently. This particular trip was to the east, where she was to deliver needed supplies to the Gryphon rebels who were currently engaged in a civil war. While she was looking forward to talking to the journey, there was an almost unmanageable amount of work left for her to do before she could depart.
She was to travel by water, in a large cargo ship that had been re-fit for personal travel while still retaining most of its carrying capacity. But if that ship was to leave the shore tomorrow, she needed to make sure everything was accounted for, each box of supplies, all the sailing equipment, fuel, and on top of it all, each pony who was to accompany her on the trip.
With a sigh, she pulled out yet another list and briefly scanned over the contents. On it was the list of pony's in charge of security. As she went down the list, she compared it to the roster of pony's who had already checked in with her. If nothing else, at least this motley crew were punctual. All except one. The empty checkbox on her list stared at her like an unblinking eye as she glared at it. With a moan she slammed the list down onto the oaken table, followed closely by her head.
"Why is it so hard? What kind of lazy hooligan chose to not check in until the last possible minute?" she said to herself, exasperated.
And with that, the door to her office slowly creaked open, and the head of a stallion poked through the crack.
"Is this... Is this where I check in for the Gryphon expedi..." his voice slowly faded off as his eyes fell upon the enraged, slightly insane looking pony behind the desk.
With a gulp, he timidly stepped into the room fully. His fur was a hue somewhere between grey and white, his mane was short, yet messy. Flecks of silver hair were dashed into the unruly mess apon his head. He seemed out of breath and extremely nervous. While there were many descriptions of what he looked like in that moment, disheveled managed to cover all bases.
"Ah..." started Twilight, still maintaining fierce eye contact with the pony in front of her. "You must be the pony who decided that it would be best to wait until the night before the expedition to check in. If we're to get off on a good hoof for this trip, there is one thing you must never do: upset my lists."
"I'm terribly sorry miss, I was about to board the ship, but when I got kicked off for not having and ID with me, I just knew that I'd forgotten something."
Twilight sighed. This was going to be a long trip.