Vinyl had come into the recording studio in a rush, dashing over to Soft Steel before he collapsed and held him in her forelegs. He was crying again for the third time that day that she knew of. He wept in her embrace as Octavia trotted over and placed a hoof on his back.

Soft calmed down quite a bit with the two of them there and Vinyl floated over a box of tissues from another room. Soft took one and blew his nose.

"You okay now?" asked the worried white mare.

"Yeah. I think I'm okay now." he sniffed. "Thanks Vinyl, Octavia."

"No need." spoke the grey Earth Pony, "You needed an outlet for your emotions. All we did was provide it."

"Yeah. Besides, what are friends for if not helping each other." Vinyl agreed.

"Still, thank you. Both of you." he took another tissue and wiped his tears from his face.

"You must have so much sadness bottled up inside. Tell us why." Octavia questioned the mix-breed.

"Well, when your mother dies during childbirth and your father never talks to and abandons you after your 14th birthday, you become subject to torment from others because they need an outlet for their anger and frustration." Octavia gasped and Vinyl clenched her teeth, "Those ponies had more fun with it than they thought they were having, and no matter how hard I fought they always put me down, again and again. In high school, I took to listening to music rather than everyone around me, but I still graduated, and instead of going through the ceremony I just stayed in my lousy apartment that I was barely scraping by in anyway and picked up my diploma the next day. Just to avoid the ponies waiting to say something hurtful." he sniffed again, "Sometimes keeping it in is the only thing you can do."

"That's awful!" Octavia declared, "Tell us you had at least somepony who stuck by you."

Steel thought for a moment, "Well... there was, one pony..." he trailed off and blush slightly.

"Oh, please tell us!"

He stayed silent and turned away, "...I'd rather not talk about it." he said softly, frowning.

Vinyl noticed tears welling up again in his eyes, "Okay, well, let's put the sadness away. Soft?" he looked at her wiping his eyes with another tissue, "Do you have anything else to do today? I can help you out."

"Not right now. But I should be getting home." he said getting up. Though he didn't want to, he had to part with his new friends for now.

"I'll walk with you." Vinyl said instantaneously.

"Thanks Vinyl, but I'll be fine on my own." he smiled sadly.

Vinyl looked worried, "Are you sure? I don't want anything to happen to you, and I certainly don't want you to do something like earlier."

"I promise I won't. I don't have to now that I know someone actually cares."

The trio walked out of the recording studio and back to the entryway. Soft opened the door and looked back to his new friends. A question then popped into his mind. "Are you two going to be at the party later?" Both mares looked at each other and then back to Soft Steel with confirming nods. "Great! I'll see you both there."

He grabbed at his hood and pulled it over his metallic mane, slipped his paws behind the black fabric and closed the door behind him. He felt... better, after what had happened today, and started his way home.

Twilight returned to her castle and trotted into the kitchen to start a pot for the tea she acquired earlier. As she waited for the pot to boil she reflected on what had happened earlier with the new resident of Ponyville.

'He just... fell! Like he didn't have anything more to live for. Thank goodness Vinyl was there to save him.' she sighed. 'I wonder what went through that stallions head while he was up there? How did he get up there? It's almost impossible to get to those spires unless you fly! I supposed he could have climbed up there, but he would have drawn attention at least. How did nopony notice him until he fell. Heck, I didn't see him until I looked up.

"Twilight!" her train of thought was quickly interrupted by Spike calling her name. "Mail's here!" he said as he stepped into the room with her. "Nothing for me, but Princess Cadence sent you a letter. Why she didn't send it through me, I don't know." he handed her the letter and she opened it gently as to reuse the envelope later, and read the letter aloud.

Dear Twilight,

I am sending you this letter to inform you of something you will find very exciting.
I am officially transferring royal guard, Flash Sentry, to your castle!
I know all about the little crush you have on him, so I decided as the Princess of Love to send him to you.

I'm sure as you're reading this you are growing more excited by the minute, but know that a guard transfer takes a few days to finalize, and it will take another few days for him to pack up all of his belongings in order to move into Ponyville. So this may take a week or so.
Aunty Celestia has already made arrangements for Flash's home. He won't be far, but he will not be too close to your castle.

I hope you have a good time while he is stationed at your home.
And please don't freak out when he arrives for his shift during the day.
He should arrive at 11 o' clock and he will leave around 9PM every day. So you should have plenty of time to spend and talk with him.

Hope to hear from you soon.

-Cadence

P.S. Shining Armor says hello.

Twilight's mouth was spread into a wide, beaming smile. She started to giggle and laugh. She was so excited her thoughts from earlier were dashed away and she was bouncing on her hooves. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh!!!" she shouted as she bounded in a circle. She picked up Spike and hugged the life out him, "OH MY GOSH!!!"

"Geez Twilight... you sure seem... happy!" the purple scaled dragon managed to wheeze out in the death-grip his surrogate sister had put him in.

"I HAVE THE BEST SISTER EVER!!!" she shouted into the dragon's ear-fin, almost causing him to go deaf. She heard her teapot begin to scream and gently placed down the baby dragon, and calmly turned off her stove to pick up the pot with her magic.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Pinkie Pie set up the party and ponies started to show up in the town square around 8:30. Her shivering had been sporadic and unpredictable throughout the day, but it didn't hinder her preparations. Soft Steel was sitting in his home going through a box he had yet to unpack in his bedroom. He stared at a doll that his mother made for him before he was born. His dad always told him it looked just like his mother before she passed, as if wanting her last child to have an idea of what she looked like. Soft held it close to his chest and could feel a faint warmth within the doll. It always did that for some reason, one time he thought his mother put a piece of her soul into it, but figured that was just wishful thinking.

Soft placed the doll on his pillow which resided on a sleeping bag he used as a makeshift bed. He looked back to the box and moved a few things around. "Huh, what's this?" he said as he found a small piece of metal attached to a thin, but sturdy piece of black rope. The design was that of a blue shield with a small heart-shaped grass-emerald embedded in the center with twin broadswords in an 'X' on the back. The small blades seemed removable, but Soft didn't wish to find out and somehow break it.

"Mother's cutie mark necklace." he said with a somber tone. He held the small piece of metal in his paws for a short while, then he turned it around and placed around his neck. "Even though I never knew you, I'll always keep you close, mom." the emerald seemed to gleam slightly as he said that. Soft then looked at a clock on the wall above the door, "The party will be starting soon. I should get going."

He dawned his cloak once more that day, but made sure the necklace was noticeable by dangling it outside the clasp that kept the cloak closed.

A few minutes later and he arrived at the party that was being thrown for his moving into Ponyville. He smiled as he saw Vinyl and Octavia.

Author's Note

Decided to stop here. If you want, leave a comment! But know that if you have something inappropriate or harmful to say then keep it to yourself, otherwise I WILL delete your comment on sight.