Back at the farm, right after Mac and Apple Bloom had entered the forest, Applejack rang up her friends and said the coast was clear for them to come over so that they could continue with the planning, and get baking on those party treats Pinkie went around asking about earlier that week.
Ten minutes after the calls were sent out, everyone was at the farm with their share of things needed for the baking and party.
Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike being the ones with better skills at baking than the others had the ingredients with them and went to the kitchen with Granny to get started.
While Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, the CMC and Applejack went into the living room and after clearing the floor laid out the decorations and checklists and written plans for the day.
"I just thought of something guys," Rainbow said as she was adding some (in her opinion) much needed color to the banner they would be using.
"We are NOT using..." Applejack began annoyance in her voice.
"Not that, ya grump. Sheesh," Rainbow said rolling her eyes and sitting back on her heals to address everyone. "Ok so, we're doing this for Bloom, because she can't go on that trip to Canterlot on 'Wednesday' right?" Rainbow asked making sure she understood getting nods. "And hopefully, Mac will keep her in the forest until tomorrow night at least..." she carried on now getting confused looks from everyone in the room. "Well what about Monday and Tuesday? Where will we stash all this on those days that we can get to them on Wednesday morning, or Tuesday evening might be better... But either way, where will they be held so Bloom doesn't see them and spoil her own surprise?"
That's a good question. Everyone thought blinking together only just thinking this over.
"Who lives closest to the forest other than you Applejack?" Twilight asked after a while.
"Well Fluttershy's just down the road a bit," Applejack said thinking "Let me just ask her if she'll be alright with it." with that she began to head for the kitchen when a loud 'BANG' sounded and what looked like smoke was coming out of the door.
Scared everyone dropped what they were doing and rushed for the kitchen.
In the kitchen it was surprisingly, a complete mess...
Not counting the flour that was still raining down, or the huge amount of cake batter spilling out of the oven, there were eggs on the floor, milk cartons tipped over and spilling on the counter and dripping off, and in the middle Pinkie was there giggling her head off after getting the worst of the blast, while Spike, Fluttershy and Granny Smith were all backed against the wall the teenagers wearing scared looks on the faces, while Granny acted as if this happened everyday and just went straight to the broom cupboard and handing out brooms and pans to some of the group, while Applejack escorted Pinkie outside to get her cleaned off with the hose, and others started to help tidy up a bit.
"Too mush baking soda again?" Scootaloo asked remembering that day in Sugarcube Corner where the results looked just the same.
"You could say that dear," Granny Smith said smiling an understanding look on her face. "We were making the cupcakes and Pinkie strangely got the idea that we could save time and such by doing the whole lot in one turn."
"I just think she put a little too much sugar on her cereal this morning," Spike said over at the sink handing Sweetie Belle a newly washed plate for her to dry off.
"So getting back to why we were going to come in here anyway," Diamond Tiara said disposing of her heap of flour into the bin. "Rainbow Dash brought up the fact that Bloom will be here on Monday and Tuesday, so where will we keep all the stuff until it's needed?"
"Well, where are the places Apple Bloom would be least likely to visit on those days?" Granny asked spreading the question wide open for everyone in the room, as she started on some bread rolls.
"Anywhere that's not here or the barn I think," Scootaloo said turning to place some egg shells into the bin being careful not to step into the eggs themselves.
"That narrows it down..." Spike mumbled as he continued washing up.
"But we also need it in a place big enough to hold everything, and closeish enough to the forest so it wouldn't take too long to get things there, and set it up." Twilight added stating the problems wiping down the counter tops.
"So we were kinda thinking about you Fluttershy," Applejack said coming back in with a batterless but slightly damp Pinkie a towel around her hair.
"Sorry for the mess Granny," she said her smile slacking a bit blushing a bit as she looked around seeing just how smart her idea was.
"It's alright dear," Granny said smiling her kind smile "One of the best ways we learn something is through mistakes you know."
"Like how not to pull too hard on a horses reigns to tell them to stop, making them stop too fast, meaning you get flung out of the saddle and break something?" Pinkie asked bouncing around a bit.
"Yes." she replied "But getting back to where we were before... So can we hoard all this stuff with you Fluttershy?" she asked.
"Um... You can but..." Fluttershy said playing with her broom a bit "I don't really know how 'safe' everything will be with all my animals around everything and such. How about the hayloft instead." she suggested. "That way we will all know where everything is, it's reasonably safe and Apple Bloom wont be able to find them up there because of her leg... I sorry," she gasped hearing what she said "I shouldn't of said that should I?" she asked hiding behind her hair looking away from everyone.
"Honey, honey," Granny Smith said pausing in her baking to look over at Fluttershy and rest her hand on the shy girls shoulder. "I have a feeling Macintosh has told you this already, but we're farmers. And farmers get hurt every now and again. So does everyone else.
"It's sweet that you think that you're upsetting us if you say that, but I can tell ya, ya not." she finished smiling.
"You... You sure?" Fluttershy asked peeking out from her hair a worried look on her face.
"I'm sure." Granny replied getting back to the rolls.
"How about we stash it in the grotto?" Spike asked. "I mean, if we're going to be needing it there anyway, wouldn't it be the best spot?"
"Spike's got a point there Twilight," Sweetie Belle said backing him up smiling. "What if we keep the decorations there and then the food in the barn's hay loft? That way there won't be so much to carry when the time comes cause half of it would already be there. And the forest animals won't get to the food cause it will stay here right?"
There were murmurers of agreement and nodding heads at that.
"I think that's a wonderful idea you two," Rarity said sure she's able to see the two blush at each other when they were just backing the other up like that.
"Yeah," Scootaloo said finally placing the broom she was using down "But that only works if we're sure Bloom wont be going in there between when we put everything there, and Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. And because of this 'camping weekend' thing Mac's giving her that only gives us Monday to get everything there."
"Yeah," Diamond agreed "And what about the tables and other bigish heavy stuff? We'll need to get them there too."
After about half an hour or so more of discussing when everything will be done and where it will be kept, everyone agreed that the food, once it's cooled will be packed in boxes to lower the scents, will be placed in the hayloft. While the banner, party games, tables,and other non-foody stuff will be taken to the grotto Monday morning after Bloom went to school, on Sunday evening it will stay with Fluttershy.
At the end of the day everything was put to one-side to either dry-off or cool down before they were packed to head off to their destinations of waiting.
"Phew," Rainbow said leaning back on her chair a mug of cider in her hand. "I didn't think doing something like this would be so hard. How do you do it Pinks?" she asked not moving but shifting her eyes to a curled up asleep with the biscuit tin Pinkie making her eyes grow wide (she didn't think Pinkie ever needed sleep with all that sugar).
Looking over to the clock on the wall Rainbow saw it was 9:45, and seeing that suddenly felt very sleepy.
"Hey AJ, Granny," she said getting their attentions as they finished clearing away the dinner plates "Will it be alright if we slept over tonight?"
"It's fine with me dear," Granny said smiling stepping over Pinkie taking the phone off the wall "Though you might want to call ya folks and say that's what's going on. I'll call Scootaloo's and Tiara's when you're all done."
With that she went into the living room and placed some of the blankets over the girls already asleep in there after taking away anything that might put them in danger while they slept.