In the town of Ponyville, inside Princess Twight's castle, a meeting was going on.
"All right, girls!" Pinkie Pie whacked a switch on the table, making her friends jump. She glared at them from under her army helmet with great intensity, sweeping her eyes to see if any of them were paying attention. "We have been tasked with setting up the annual Ponyville Fall Festival, and we're going to make sure this year is bigger and better than last year. More smiles, more fun, more promotion of friendship, sisterhood, and brotherhood!" She whacked the table once again, making Spike stumble out of his throne.
"Whoa, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "I know you're serious about this, but the army getup is too much."
"Don't you think you should be a little calmer about this?" Twilight asked, helping Spike back into his seat.
"Rainbow, Twilight, nopony can be too serious when it comes to planning parties," Pinkie calmly replied. "After all, the end goal is that ponies are happy and having fun, and we need to make sure that everypony has at least one thing they enjoy in this festival."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Still don't need to act like a drill sergeant."
"Now, girls, let's just discuss what kind of things we should have in the festival this year," Twilight said. "Pinkie's right in that we have to promote friendship while we celebrate the arrival of autumn this year."
Pinkie idly rubbed her hoof on her chest and held it up to examine it. "And sisterhood, and brotherhood."
"All right then..." Twilight turned to Spike. "Okay, Spike, take some notes."
"Oh, dear, where do we even start?" Fluttershy asked.
"How 'bout we start on the food?" Applejack suggested. "Especially since the harvest this year has been great. My family has harvested enough apples to bake plenty of apple pies, apple fritters, apple cider, and the like. Heck, we picked enough Zap Apples to make a lot of Zap Apple Jam!"
Pinkie gasped. "And the Cakes can make a bunch of desserts! They can make cakes and pies and doughnuts and brownies and muffins and a bunch of other sweet stuff!"
"Well, let's not overwork them," Twilight said. "Perhaps we should have every resident contribute a dish for the festival. That way, not only will there be enough for everyone, but the residents of Ponyville have at least one thing they helped out with."
Applejack nodded. "Well, shoot, Twilight, that sounds like a mighty fine idea. I'm all for it."
The others murmured in assent.
"Sounds like we'll have plenty to eat this year," Rarity said. "Of course, we also have to focus on the look of the festival. After all, you can't just say we're having a fall festival; no, it has to look the part so that nopony needs to say it." She took a small notebook from her saddlebag by her seat and set it on the table. "I have pages of various colors and patterns that'll suit the crisp and golden atmosphere of fall, and I already have the perfect arrangements for them in my head."
Pinkie snatched Rarity's notebook, and looked through it. "Ooh, they're all so pretty and fall-y! I can't wait to see how you arrange them!"
Spike jumped onto the table, and gazed at the pages that Pinkie flipped through. "Hehe, yep, Rarity sure knows how to spruce things up!"
"Heh, well, let's not forget about the Running of the Leaves!" Rainbow added. Her eyes narrowed at Applejack as her mouth formed into a smirk. "And it won't be like last time."
Applejack mirrored the expression. "Darn tootin', it won't."
Spike chuckled. "You think I could provide commentary again? I really enjoyed doing that last time."
Pinkie bounced in place. "So did I! Oh, we made a great commentator team, Spike, we should totally do it again!" There came a knock at the castle's front door. "I'll get it!" And thus, she hopped away.
"Um... I could set up a little petting zoo, if that's all right..." Fluttershy muttered. "I mean, who wouldn't want to pet a cute animal?"
"That is a simply lovely idea, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "Why, I'd love to see the foals in town interacting with some of most darling of your animals."
"Oh, yes, me too... as long as they treat them with respect."
Suddenly, the exclamation of "CHEESY!" echoed throughout the castle. The group went silent as the echos faded, and watched as Pinkie returned bounding from the hallway, towing a familiar stallion with her tail. The stallion didn't mind this at all, and when Pinkie stopped, he simply smiled and tipped his hat. Beside him, Pinkie bounced excitedly, squealing, "Look who's here!"
Twilight blinked. "Cheese Sandwich?"
Cheese puffed out his chest. "The one and only."
"Isn't it exciting?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "His Cheesy Sense led him here and that means he's going to help us plan the Fall Festival!"
Rainbow laughed. "Now we know for sure that this festival is going to be awesome!"
"Indeed it will be, my little ponies," Cheese walked to the table and glanced around. "So, uh, where do I sit?"
Pinkie pulled a stool from somewhere, and placed it beside her throne. She patted it, and Cheese was more than happy to take his seat right next to her. Looking up, he asked, "So, what have you guys got so far?"
Pinkie beamed at him. "This year, we're hoping that the festival will promote friendship and sisterhood and brotherhood--you know, positive relationships with both friends and family."
Spike flipped through his notes. "Well, there's the idea of each resident of Ponyville providing a dish to the festival."
"I have plenty of ideas for the color arrangements for the decorations," Rarity said. "Just look through the notebook to see what I've got."
"This year's festival is also coinciding with the Running of the Leaves," Applejack added.
"And Fluttershy just suggested a petting zoo," Twilight said.
Cheese leaned forward and nodded. "Not bad, not bad. Sounds like you girls are doing just fine in the planning so far. Still, would you mind if I provided a little more 'oomph' for the festival?"
"'Oomph'?" Pinkie asked. "What kind of 'oomph'?"
Cheese grinned at her. "I may have a few ideas of my own, like karaoke." He chuckled and turned to the others. "But I want to see what other ideas you guys have got."
As the rest of the week moved past, the festival was set up in no short order. Everypony in Ponyville agreed to pitch in with putting up the decorations, setting up some of the attractions, and providing food for the festival. Some extra food was prepared for those who had relatives and friends coming from out of town, which garnered complaints from absolutely nopony.
Fluttershy got to set up her little petting zoo; the Twinkling Balloon was checked for any holes and blemishes that would impair flight during the Running of the Leaves; Rarity's decorations provided the crisp autumn feel with the many beautiful reds, oranges, browns, and yellows that were characteristic of the season; and Twilight was making sure that the attractions were meeting safety regulations so nopony would get hurt.
Cheese and Pinkie were having a blast with setting up the karoake, the bounce house, the hedge maze (where the hedges came from, nopony had any idea), the bingo table for the older ponies, and much more. Cheese let Fluttershy watch his hippo (for hippo rides), and helped tweak the slide so that it stayed standing. Pinkie helped the Cakes bake some desserts for the occasion, and blew up some fall-themed balloons for decoration.
By the weekend's arrival, everything was in order, and all were excited for the fun times to come.
Meanwhile, on the train to Ponyville, Tomato Sandwich could not believe he had been talked into going. He sat on one bench with Bluejinx and Flora, facing the bench that Cirrus and Nimbus were sitting on.
While his friends were occupied with idle chitchat, he had out a copy of one of his favorite novels. He enjoyed reading about his favorite superspy pony, Dash Silver, and often found himself intrigued with the mysteries and adventures of the stallion as he extracted the secrets of a baddie from many a pony. Tomato raised an eyebrow at Dash's behavior around mares, but simply made mental edits to pretend that those instances didn't happen.
He held the book with his tail, as was a habit he developed in his teens and kept at for years. His eyes swept over the page as Dash Silver was locked in a battle with--
"His evil brother? Really?" he grumbled.
Bluejinx stopped his talking with Flora and looked at him curiously. "Huh? Evil brother?"
"Yeah, Dash Silver is facing off against Darkblood Silver, and they have a pretty nasty feud going on here." Tomato shook his head. "Why do all the books I have read deal with an 'evil brother' or 'evil uncle'?"
Flora leaned over to look at him. "Are you holding out for an evil sister?"
"No, I'm just tired of evil relatives. It gets old."
Bluejinx pursed his lips. "Huh. Hey, looks like we're here!"
Cirrus and Nimbus stopped their yammering and looked out the window. "We are?"
"Yeah, that's my cousin right there."
Tomato looked out the window, seeing a bunch of ponies waiting for the train. "Which one?"
"He's that silvery-haired blue unicorn right there."
"Ah... I see the family resemblance."
The train slowed to a stop, and the passengers filed out of the cars. The group stood up, Tomato putting his book in his saddlebag, and in turn they filed out with the other passengers. Once out, they broke out of the flow, and approached the unicorn that Bluejinx described, who had a bright smile on his face.
"Hey, Blue!" the unicorn exclaimed, throwing his front legs open.
"Hey, Roy!" Bluejinx rushed forward and hugged him. After some pats on the back, they broke the hug, and Bluejinx gestured to his friends. "Let me introduce you to Tomato Sandwich, Flora Peace, Cirrus, and Nimbus. I brought them over to enjoy the festival."
Royal Pin chuckled. "Well, good thing you did. We've been promised a good one this year, since Princess Twilight Sparkle, her Council of Friendship, and the visiting party planner planned the whole thing." Royal trotted off the platform, followed by the group. "They wanted to promote the values of friendship and family, and well, they've got a lot of activities meant to bond us Ponyvillians... and any guests that we invite."
"Aw..." Flora sighed. "You're making me wish that my family was here."
"All seven of your siblings?" Cirrus asked.
Flora glared at her. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Uh, no no no, it's just... who can stand having that many foals? My mom stopped at two."
"You and Nimbus are twins."
"Yeah, whatever. Bluejinx is an only foal, and Tomato... well, he never mentioned a sibling, so I'm assuming he's an only foal as well."
Tomato was tempted to correct her and say that his mother stopped at two, but he held his tongue, lest he start sending off a bitter message to any of his friends. Besides, the way his family was, he might as well be an only foal.
While the two girls argued about their families and the other boys listened to Royal's talk about Ponyville, he looked ahead at the small town. Sure enough, it looked like a fall festival; the banners and streamers were various shades of oranges, reds, browns, and yellows, there were leaf patterns pasted onto the buildings, and there were various vegetables and stalks placed here and there for decoration. He could see massive tables with all kinds of food, out and ready to be eaten. Looking around, he saw things such as a bouncehouse, tents and umbrellas pitched over attractions such as karaoke, bingo, carnival games, and more, and a massive slide that seemed to be built just for the occasion.
He looked forward again, and his eyes were drawn to the crystalline tree-castle. He remembered hearing about the building and how beautiful it was. He squinted his eyes, annoyed by the sunlight shining off of it. Lovely as it was, he couldn't help but feel that the castle clashed with the more humble houses of Ponyville.
In his gazing, he wandered from the group a little, and was more or less just walking without looking where he was going. He briefly noticed a pink blur zooming past him, a shout of "Wait!" from somepony, and a bunch of other colors running past him. He glanced back to see what the commotion was about, and that's when he felt somepony crash into him and send him onto the ground.
"Ow!" he exclaimed.
"Oops! Sorry, Mr. Random Stallion!" The other pony cried as he hurriedly got off him. "I was just, just--wait."
Tomato picked himself up, brushed the dust off his jacket, and then quickly picked up the glasses which had fallen off his muzzle. With a deep breath, he wondered why the pony had suddenly stopped his excuse. Putting his glasses back on, he only had to look forward to see why.
The pony who had crashed into him was all too familiar. The green eyes, the brown curls, and the lanky form wearing a yellow polo. On his face was a look of shock, as if he had not expected him there. Tomato hadn't expected him to crash into him, and his mind went blank, his expression mirroring that of the other pony.
"Cheesy!" The pink pony from before bounced to the scene, her bright eyes and big smile dissolving into a look of confusion as she looked between the two stallions. She was followed by a group of mares, who joined in with the confusion, and soon Tomato's group came, equally confused with what was going on.
Then, the shocked faces transformed into glares, and the both of them leapt back, and landed further apart then they had been originally, their stances hard and steadfast, and their noses blowing out heavy snorts. Both of their manes began to bristle, and their matching eyes were still locked in their glares.
"What are you doing here?!"