On a train heading towards Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle sat alone in a car with a small, magically locked blue chest tucked away in her indigo saddle bags, which matched the color of her mane. Usually, the unicorn would be in Canterlot at this time, training with the rest of the Royal Guard. However, Princess Celestia had given her the task of safely delivering the chest she current had, as it was extremely important. She was wearing her golden armor, but had forgone the golden helmet she wore, as it was an attention-grabber.
Golden Oak Library, she said in her head, making sure that she had the right place she was delivering the package to. Deliver to the Element of Harmony who resides there. Name... Twilight couldn't come up with a name immediately, and tried to remember what it was. Actually, I don't think I ever caught her name. Funny, I got the breezie's name: Twirly. The only name I can think of is Diamond, but that was what Nightmare Moon kept calling her.
As the train began to slow, Twilight snapped back to attention. She could just ask the unicorn what her name was; no big deal. She got to her hooves at the train came to a halt, and walked out onto the platform just a few seconds later. It was around noon, and the sun was shining brightly through the few clouds in the sky. She set off into the quaint town, surprised by how much different it looked from the Summer Sun Celebration. A few ponies couldn't help but glance over at her, but she payed them no mind.
The library came into her sights, and she headed straight towards it. Stopping in front of the door, she knocked thrice and waited to hear a reply.
"Come in!" called the unicorn from inside.
Twilight opened the door with her magenta magic, and stepped inside. The unicorn was enraptured in a book with a dark blue cover, but paused from reading when she noticed the guardspony. She bookmarked her page with a nearby scrap of paper, and shut the book with her light blue magic. Twilight couldn't help but glance at the title: Standard Defense Spells.
"Oh, hello, Twilight," said the unicorn with a smile. "Wouldn't have expected to see you around here today."
"I came to deliver a package from Princess Celestia," said Twilight, pulling out the chest in her magic.
The unicorn took it in her magic, and gently set it on the table next to her book. "Is there a key for it?"
"It's a magic lock, so you shouldn't need a key."
"But that would mean that I would of had to have locked it."
She shouldn't have been so surprised at the unicorn's knowledge, considering that she did live in a library, but Twilight was indeed surprised that she knew that. "Princess Celestia said that she locked it using your Element of Harmony, so it's your magic."
She nodded. "Ah, that makes more sense."
Her horn lit up to open the chest, but Twilight interjected it. "I should probably leave before you open it, just in case."
"Well, if you think so."
Twilight nodded, and started slightly towards the door, before she remembered what she had wanted to ask. "By the way, I never caught your name."
"Really?" Her head tilted slightly. "Anyways, my name's Amethyst Star, but some ponies call me Sparkler."
She couldn't help but ask a second question. "Why's that?"
Amethyst gave a small laugh. "Heh, nopony ever asks me that. You see, Amethyst is my cutie mark name, but originally it was Sparkler."
"Why did you change it?"
She shrugged. "I liked being called Amethyst Star better than being called Sparkler Star."
That was a bit odd to Twilight. Ponies rarely changed their cutie mark name, unless it was back to their original name. "Is that all of your names?"
She shook her head. "Nope. My first cutie mark name was Clear Cut." Her smile unexpectedly faded a bit at saying that. "And my old co-worker called me Ink." She paused, and her smile faded again. "Since I know you're going to ask, my original name is Starshine Swirl."
"Starshine?"
"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that," she said it with an air of coldness in her voice.
Twilight scuffed her hoof at the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that it's a touchy subject for you."
"No, it's fine. You were just asking and I didn't say that you couldn't."
Sensing that the conversation was near over, Twilight wrapped up their brief conversation. "Do you have any preference what I call you?"
Her smile came back. "You could call me Unity, like Princess Luna does."
She smiled too. "She really calls you that?"
"Either she doesn't know my name, or has some outdated ways of how titles work."
Twilight couldn't help but give a small laugh. "Well, she is from one thousand years ago. She has quite a bit to catch up on. Anyways, it was nice seeing you again."
"You too. Let's hope the next time we meet, it won't be because of come major disaster going on, right?"
"That would be pretty awful." She turned, and started heading outside. "Bye, Amethyst."
"Bye, Twilight."
Another thought came to Twilight, but she simply called back to Amethyst. "Just so you know, my full name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Really? I would have expected something to do with spears or swords."
Twilight gently closed the door behind her, and headed off to look for somepony else. This wasn't something that Princess Celestia has asked her to do, but something she had decided it would be a good time for.
Starshine Swirl, huh? she thought as she looked around. I wonder why she doesn't like to be called that. Seems like a perfectly fine name to me, but I'm likely missing context. Though, why Starshine? Just Star would work just fine. Less bulky to say, Star Swirl.
She froze completely in her tracks, and had to rethink what she had said in her head. "Star. Swirl," she said slowly out loud. "Star Swirl. Starswirl!" Her eyes widened. "Could that just be a coincidence?"
Spotting the pony she had been looking for napping on a cloud overhead due to her rainbow-colored mane, Twilight quickly pulled out the note she wanted to give her and wedged it underneath her hoof. She headed straight for the train station to board the next train to Canterlot. She had some research to do in a certain wing of the Royal Library.
