Picture a planet identical to Earth, but with rings.
It has a satellite similar to the moon, except smaller; I'm not sure how big it needs to be but distance from the planet is more important so assume that it is whatever size it needs to be to have the same effect on the planet as the moon does for earth at whatever distance it lands at.
The key attribute of this satellite is that it orbits the planet along its equator (parallel to the rings, of course) at an extremely low range so that it appears from the planet's surface to be skimming along the edge of the rings.
Is this scientifically possible, however unlikely, and even if not what effects would the close proximity of a moonlike satellite to a planets rings have on the surface of the planet (climate, sunlight reflection/blockage, etc.), the rings (like, would the gravity of the moon pull on the rings and skew them somehow or something?), and the moon itself (like the gravity of the planet causing it to flatten out as it rotates)?
Oh. Also it all has to be stable enough for life to begin and mature unaided on the planet with little to no change in the orbital system.
Edit: It would appear that this scenario is generally accepted as possible (though unlikely, but that's pretty much irrelevant when you look at the likelihood of a planet that supports intelligent life in general), so that satisfies the first part of the question. However I still feel like a shepherd moon that's big enough to act like our own in terms of gravity would still have some unusual effects on rings that are much closer to the moon and smaller than the planet itself. Am I just paranoid, or does that make sense?