“Welcome, everypony, to Lily’s Homecoming Party!”
The crowd of ponies stomped and cheered as Mayor Mare posed at the podium.
Lily, standing near the temporary stage, raised an eyebrow. I don’t remember Pinkie Pie’s parties being this... formal.
“We have come here to give one of our beloved citizens a warm welcome, in the wake of her recent tragedy. Please welcome our guest of honor… Lily!”
Lily balked at the thundering crowd. She hadn’t counted on this. That does it. No more Pinkie Pie parties, ever, she thought to herself as she sheepishly made her way up to the stage to stand next to the mayor.
She waited for the mayor to say something, but to her horror the old mare was gesturing invitingly to the podium. Lily gulped, and reared up to place her forehooves on the piece.
“Um… Hello, everypony! I, uh, wanted to thank you all for coming to this- to my party. It means a lot to me, and… I hope you all have a great time!”
She hurried off the stage, cheeks burning, as the crowd cheered again. She retook her position at the front of the press, doing her best to be unnoticeable, as Mayor Mare spoke again.
“Thank you, Lily! Now I’ll turn the stage over to Pinkie Pie, who will be announcing the evening’s activities. But stick around, because in an hour I will have another announcement you won’t want to miss!”
After Pinkie Pie gave her musical presentation about the party, the crowd dispersed into small groups of friends. Lily stayed close to the stage. She wanted a word with Pinkie about public speaking.
Before Pinkie got off the stage, however, Lily was approached by Twilight and her other friends. “Hey, Lily! You made it!” Twilight said.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” Lily responded, rolling her eyes back.
“It’s great to see you out of the castle for a change. You’ve met all my friends, haven’t you?”
“All except her,” Lily said, pointing to Applejack.
“Yeah, sorry about that, sugarcube,” Applejack said, rubbing her head. “Ah meant to come meet ya like the others did, but I was too busy out here helpin’ to set all this up. Name’s Applejack. Ah’m Applebloom’s big sister.” She reached out for a hoofshake, which Lily accepted.
“Pleasure to meet you, Applejack. You have a wonderful sister.”
Applejack chuckled and winked as she turned and led the group to where the party activities were set up. “Oh, you have no idea. Just wait until y’see her present for ya.” Lily missed the warning look Twilight gave Applejack, who just shrugged in return.
“Where are those girls, anyway? They wanted me to meet them here.”
“Oh, they have special party duties they’re taking care of right now,” Pinkie Pie said, catching up to them. “You’ll definitely see them later.”
Lily sighed. “So until then I have to do this party thing with you guys?” she guessed, sounding decidedly unenthusiastic.
Twilight and her friends all nodded in affirmation. “Come on, Lily, you’ll love it!” Rainbow Dash assured her, hovering ahead a little. “Pinkie’s really pulled out all the stops for this one! Ooh! Check this game out! It’s awesome!”
And so Lily was wrangled (almost literally, Applejack came prepared) into enjoying the party. And, she had to admit, she actually did have fun. She had been to Pinkie Pie parties before, but never like this. It wasn’t the scope of this particular party that made the difference, though. Before, she had kept to herself and stayed near the refreshments, never dancing and only playing games when she was invited. She stopped enjoying them after the novelty wore off, and eventually she stopped going. But this party… it was like Twilight and her friends were inviting her to every little activity, like they wanted her around for some other reason than her old friends did. Lily didn’t like to think about what that said about her old friends, but it was definitely a refreshing change, whatever it meant.
The only thing that bothered her was that these ponies were almost dragging her into having fun with them. She didn’t mind it, really, but it did make her feel uncomfortable. All her life she had had to make the first step with making friends, so it was jarring when someone wanted to be her friend more than she wanted to be theirs. As the party progressed, however, and Lily became less reluctant to participate and just have fun, she found she liked the change.
When the mayor called everypony back together for her surprise, she surprised Lily by leading everyone off into the orchard, calling Lily and Twilight up to the front to walk beside her. Lily was very confused and asked her what was in store, but the mayor was carrying a lantern in her mouth and couldn’t answer, instead giving a look that clearly said “wait and see”. Lily looked to Twilight, but she just smiled and winked.
They were following what looked like a freshly-made road, lined by a new fence hung with lanterns. I guess this explains all the building materials I saw being delivered, Lily thought as she studied the construction.
Before long Lily began to make out a dark mass ahead, among the trees. She squinted to get a better look, and was startled by a hoof blocking her way. She looked to the mayor, and saw her step a few feet away, where she began waving her lantern over her head.
“SURPRISE!” came a shout from ahead, and numerous little lights suddenly illuminated the dark shape.
Built around a large apple tree, with three familiar grinning fillies standing on the front porch, was a beautiful two-story house.
Lily stepped towards it, her jaw hanging slack. The lanternlight gave it an unearthly, magical feel, and Lily almost didn’t believe what she was seeing.
“You… you built me a house?” Lily asked, turning to the mayor.
The mayor chuckled. “Me? Oh no, dear. I only helped. Applebloom built you a house.”
Lily’s head whipped back to her incredible gift, and Applebloom waved at her. “What?”
Twilight stepped forward and explained. “After the storm, Applebloom came to us with an idea to rebuild the Crusaders’ clubhouse into a house for you to live in. We thought it was an excellent idea, and we gave her all the support she needed, which didn’t turn out to be much. She came up with the blueprints herself, with some help from an architect, and she went around town recruiting volunteers and soliciting donations for materials.” She smirked humorously. “Sometimes it felt like half the town was out here working on it.”
Lily looked behind Twilight to see the crowd of ponies all grinning at her.
“There was something else we wanted to give you,” Twilight's voice brought her attention back to her, “as a token of our friendship and our appreciation for who you are.”
Twilight’s horn lit up, and so did the latch of her saddlebag. A small, ornate wooden box floated out and onto the ground in front of Lily.
Lily opened it with a hoof to reveal a golden flower resting on a bed of soft red velvet.
She took it out of its case and held it up to a hoof to examine it more closely.
A lily.
She looked to Twilight with moist eyes, and saw that she had been joined by her five friends, who were all smiling sweetly at her. “We want you to know that it’s not what you can do or who you are that make you special, It’s having friends who think you are. Will you please be our friend?” Twilight asked hopefully.
Blinking back tears, Lily nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course I will! Thank you all so much!”
“Go thank the one who deserve it most, sugarcube,” Applejack prompted, gesturing with a hoof.
Lily turned and galloped to her new home, stopping in front of the porch. “Did you really do all this for me?” Lily asked in wonder.
“We sure did!” Applebloom answered excitedly. “What d’ya think?”
“This is amazing!” Lily said, eyeing the construction. “You must be really good at this!”
A sudden curiosity made Lily lean to one side to get a better look. A wide grin opened up on her face.
“Better than you ever thought you were, I would say,” she said, pointing at Applebloom’s flank.
“Looks like we might have an opening for a second Cutie Mark Crusader Counselor.”
THE END