In which Berry Buzz plans a party.
"What's he doing here?" Starlight stage-whispered to Twilight, smirking at Discord. Somewhere in the heart of Ponyville, the sounds of a wild party went unnoticed by those in the castle.
Laughing deeply, Discord stepped past the astonished green unicorn and scooped up both his "friends" in a dragonish hug. "Why, I'm here to see my old friend Twilight, of course." He bent his magnificent gray neck around to face Starlight. "I am allowed, you know."
Starlight pulled out of his lion's grasp. Then her eyes fell on the stunned Sour Note, whose tail was tangled with sentient flowers. "Oh! Sour Note, this is---"
"DISCORD, my dear," Discord announced grandly, extending his eagle claw, giving Starlight a sideways glare. Sour, wide-eyed, but not shaking, awkwardly placed her pale hoof in his gleaming yellow talons.
"Sour Note," she said in a hushed voice.
Discord got off a laugh like the wheels of a train screeching into its station. "Sour Note. That's cute. What's your special talent - singing off-key?"
"You're one to talk," Starlight snarled at him. Sour Note planted her hooves on the corners of the scarf-cape that covered her flank.
Discord humphed. "I was about to voice my approval," he said with distastefully lowered eyelids, flicking his red dragon's tail with a spray of clattering musical chords. "Well, no accounting for taste, as they say. Listen, Twilight, what I wanted to say---"
"What are you?" Sour Note said suddenly.
Her voice was louder than it had ever been, which wasn't saying much, but it was enough. Suddenly the whole room - all three of them - were staring at her. Usually this was a bad thing, reserved for the most grievous mistakes, but Twilight's coaching had given her a strange sort of courage. And, mistake or not, she had to know.
The wild creature before her reared to his full height, towering over the ponies, his mismatched limbs bathed in the young white moonlight. A tangle of senseless color spread across the window. His one fang gleamed, his eyes glowed, and Sour Note stared in awe, in something almost akin to respect. Flattered, Discord let out a yawning roar. "I," he cried, "am a draconequus, my dear. The Spirit of Chaos! Surely you've heard of me."
"Wow," whispered the unicorn.
"He's nothing but trouble," said Starlight fondly. "Leave the poor girl alone, Discord. She's an ambassador, and should be treated with respect."
Discord simpered down at the diminutive Sour Note, staring upward at his dragonish frame. For a moment he thought things over. Then he snapped his fingers. "Catch," he said.
A cute clay vase full of water popped into existence above her head. She caught it weakly in a violet glow. After a long day of training, it felt heavier than it really was. Discord watched with considerable interest, considering, as she struggled against the pull of gravity; she opened one eye, and met his; then, with a burst of magic, she straightened her legs and stood as tall as she could, threw out her chest, lifted her head, looking determined and feeling suddenly almost strong.
"Nice, Sour!" shouted Twilight. But Sour Note seemed more interested in the draconequus.
He looked - well, he didn't look impressed, but he did seem to approve. "Yes, quite. Now don't break that - Fluttershy will kill me." With that he shuddered, and teleported away across the room. "Your new pupil, Twilight?"
The princess giggled. "I guess so, at least for a little while. Sour Note just needs a little help with the basics of magic. We'll master as much of this book as we can while she's still here for negotiations."
Discord picked up the copy of Principles of Magic and flipped through it, snickering a bit, but said nothing. With each page, he snapped his talons, toying with some of Twilight's decorations. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem, should it?" he said finally, just as the book, apparently annoyed with him, snapped shut across his lion's paw.
"It shouldn't…" murmured Starlight, before catching Sour's eye. She gave a small smile, as if in sensible agreement with her hidden fears.
"Well then! Good luck to you all, I suppose. Goodbye," he leered, crossing to the door.
"Wait!" called Twilight. "What was it you wanted to say to me?"
Discord paused. "Oh, yes, that. Well, it's only that old Tree of Harmony of yours. Seems there's some sort of giant chasm opened up behind it. Very odd indeed."
"WHAT?!" shrieked Twilight, unfurling her wings with a snap and dashing off toward the forest. Discord smiled inscrutably and vanished.
Starlight Glimmer gave a little whimper, finding herself alone with the inept Sour Note. She wasn't sure what made the unicorn interesting to her - perhaps she understood what it was like to be around other ponies more gifted in magic than she, as Sunburst had been. She gave a tired smile - they'd been practicing simple levitation for hours already.
"C'mon, Sour," Starlight said. "Let's try that growth spell again. I'm sure you can get it this time."
With some difficulty, Berry Buzz opened her eyes; she couldn't decide whether she felt more thrilled or nauseated. The paneled walls of Sugarcube Corner were lying upside-down in front of her. A lightheaded sensation swept through her fuchsia body, and she scrambled to the floor, licking sugar from the corner of her mouth. Her hooves were sticky with paint and rock candy and kept getting stuck to the green linoleum.
An enormous yawn escaped her. Her fluorescent eyes opened wider, and the room came into focus. It was quite the sight. Masses of slowly deflating balloons drifted across the floor; a veritable torrent of last-night's streamers hung from the rafters. Berry stepped on a string, and an explosion rocked the bakery; one of Pinkie's confetti cannons had gone off. It seemed to rouse its titular sleeping pony. Pinkie Pie bounced like a spring down the stairs, greeting her new friend with the biggest smile she'd ever seen.
"Morning!" she hollered, her nose pressed against Berry's.
"M-Morning," Berry mumbled weakly. "That was…a lot more…exciting than the party you threw at the Forest. Wh-What a great time!"
Pinkie Pie squealed with delight. "I'm SO glad you think so!"
Berry yawned again, blinking lazily. As she gazed out the window onto the streets of Ponyville, now bathed in glittering gold from the newly risen sun, a sense of peace stole over her like the quietly twittering birds flitting past the window. She smiled, slow, even though something was nagging at the back of her mind. What was she forgetting?
"Oh, yes. But I think I could use a good long night's sleep…soon," she added. She was feeling as though she'd been woken up at two in the morning for drills.
"Ha HA! Silly filly, you can't sleep TONIGHT! Last night was only the practice party. Get you acquainted with the art of celebration! Tonight's the real thing. See, that's why we couldn't invite Twilight or Crimson Lance or Applejack or Fluttershy---"
Berry, who'd been trying to clean up last night's party in preparation for tonight's party, dropped a tray full of half-eaten cupcakes, which clattered to the floor.
She'd remembered.
"APPLEJACK!" she shrieked, leaping ten feet in the air splayed like a firework. "CRIMSON LANCE!"
She broke into a headlong charge for the door, tumbling over a table, streamers glued to her hooves, nearly tripping over Gummy the gator, lowering her head to ram through the door…and caught Applejack squarely in the chest.
The ambassador fell backwards, back into Sugarcube Corner. Applejack looked down at her sympathetically.
"Wa-yull, howdy there!" drawled Applejack. "I was just on my way lookin' for you. That musta been some party last night, Pinkie," she said approvingly.
Pinkie looked around herself. "Party? What party? I don't see any party, do you, Berry?"
"I do," said Berry.
"Shhhhhhhh!" Pinkie hissed. "Surprises!"
Berry took a shameful, sticky walk out the door to the cobblestone stoop outside, where she parked herself patiently. A sniff at the sky told her the weather was more perfect here today than it had ever been in Pomphay. Ponies, all with different marks blazoned on their flanks, were trotting about contentedly in the sunshine. She looked at Applejack with a sorry glint in her eyes. "I'm ready to go," she said. "Back to your farm."
Applejack laughed. "Why? You seem like you're havin' a great time. What'd you want to leave for?"
The other pony looked absolutely scandalized. "But---but I'm s'pposed to live at---at Acres! I mean...I mean, if Governor Crimson finds out I'm not learning alongside the greatest farmer in Ponyville, why---"
"Well...there's no harm if she don't find out, is there?"
As she finished reasoning through this not-untruth, Applejack was met with a blank stare. Then a moment of terror. Then, Berry's mouth split into a magnificent grin. "You mean that?"
"I...Ah do," said Applejack. "I know how important food is to Pomphay - er, us too, I guess - but I don't feel so right about you bein' stuck farmin' with me. Seems to me if you've been farmin' for years and ain't earned your cutie mark yet, maybe you're destined for somethin' different."
"My...my cutie mark? You mean your apples, like, or Pinkie Pie's balloons?"
"Yep," Applejack said.
"But almost none of us have those."
Applejack shook her head sadly. "Then maybe you just need a little help. My sister is a Cutie Mark Crusader - she helps ponies with their cutie mark problems. Maybe she can help you and your friends."
"I think I'd like that," said Berry Buzz, swishing her neon green tail.
"Good! Great. In the meantime, you enjoy yourself, Berry. You look like you've got a lot on your hooves right now, so I'll leave ya to it." The pony gave another glance at the aftermath of the previous night.
Berry glanced self-consciously at the torn pink paper stuck stubbornly to her hooves, and Applejack was gone.
Another cheerful explosion rocked the bakery. Berry Buzz turned around to find Pinkie testing her faithful confetti cannon after a night of partying. Her mane was even more of a frizzled mess than usual, and adorned with streamers. With a sigh, Berry shook her own mane, perfectly straight and sliced off short as if cut by one swipe from a sword. She couldn't remember a time before her hair had been so.
"Aw, c'mon, Berry! This might be my greatest party feat yet! But we better get working. Is there anything in particular you'd like to do?"
Berry considered this.
"Well...I would like to try your party cannon," she said.
A razor-sharp rainbow sliced through the approaching cloud bank; Rainbow Dash pulled off a tight barrel roll and dipped into a nosedive. There was Petrichor! Down at nimbus level, where she didn't have to deal with the jet winds that prevailed higher. Rainbow pulled up alongside.
"Didja SEE that one?" she howled. "Man, I love flying. Best job EVER!"
"Yes," Petrichor panted. But she didn't take her eyes off the expanse of sky ahead of her, so Rainbow Dash wasn't quite convinced.
The new roommates had begun their day quite late in the morning with a couple hours of friendly time trials, though it occurred to Rainbow that maybe this little tank of a cloud-buster wasn't quite ready for that kind of exercise - emphasizing speed and stamina. Not that Petri had complained all afternoon; you could see it in her eyes. They wore a glazed, determined look, and her blue body was drenched and shone with sweat as her tired wings beat heavily against the Ponyville air. But she never complained. Rainbow judged - rightly, as it was - that complaining was simply not in this mare's nature. She respected that.
"You doin' okay, Petri?"
Petrichor grinned suddenly at the nickname no one else would use. "Yeah," she gasped, adopting Rainbow's dialect as a kind of courtesy. She seemed a lot less uptight than the day before.
Below them, the land flew rapidly by, candy-colored roofs flashing past one after another. Rainbow dodged some air traffic - a small clique of pegasi toying with a fluffy cloud - Petri flew in the draft of her wing, trying to catch her breath. The lead pony pointed suddenly at the ground.
"Look! There's Pinkie down there! And that friend of yours - looks like they're headed toward the swimming hole."
Petri looked down.
Pink, purple, and green bounced down the tawny path gleefully, both ponies carrying enormous canvas bags of stiff, glittering cards. Some distance ahead of them lay the swimming hole. The midday sun that burned into the backs of the pegasus ponies shimmered off the clean water like a billion sequins scattered over a bed of deep blue cotton. The water looked so cool from above, so inviting...
"Hey! Did you hear me?" shouted Rainbow over a sudden gale.
Without looking back, Petrichor dove, picking up speed as she fell from the sky. Rainbow Dash froze a moment in surprise, then zoomed after her in a stream of color. The earth raced closer. "Pull up!" she cried. "You're not a Wonderbolt! You can't do stunts like that yet!"
At the last second, instead of straightening out as her friend had expected, Petri sent a small wind vortex into the pond with her wings. The surface tension softened, and the next moment she was engulfed in the water, sending swells and a magnificent crest up to the sandy edges - her dark form swished along through the pool, fishlike in its graceful swim. Berry Buzz cheered from far off. Petrichor emerged and landed in the grass; Rainbow touched down beside her.
"What'd you do THAT for?! You had me worried there!"
Petri laughed sheepishly. "I was hot," she said. "And cooling off in the river back home is my favorite thing to do. Sorry I scared you." She flapped her waterlogged wings, sending a fine spray in all directions. The sparkling mist fell on Rainbow's heated fur - she grinned good-naturedly.
"Ah, that's okay. Actually...pretty awesome, I'd say."
"I get the feeling you say that a lot," said Petri with a knowing smile.
That smile disappeared when Pinkie and Berry arrived at the scene. Petrichor stiffened, her eyelids lowered, wings folded neatly like ironed fabric. The earth ponies came springing down as careless handfuls of carefully-decorated invitations were lost to the summery breeze. Rainbow trapped one between her hooves - across a glittering pink background, it read:
"PINKIE PIE AND BERRY BUZZ
cordially invite you to a
PONYVILLE/POMPHAY FRIENDSHIP CELEBRATION
tonight at Sugarcube Corner
There will be games, music, cake, and a special surprise from Pomphay's own BERRY BUZZ
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!"
"Whoa. How many of these did you make?" whimpered Rainbow Dash, gazing at the hoof-painted invitations.
Pinkie beamed. "I don't know! I stopped counting after the third bag of glitter. Hey, Rainbow Dash, can we ask you for a little favor?"
"Uh, sure, Pinkie. What?"
She pushed her friend forward - Berry giggled nervously. "Would you mind flying all over Ponyville and air-dropping these invitations to everyone?" she blurted out. "It's really short-notice, and we're still getting everything ready. Pinkie Pie says you're the fastest pegasus in town. You could do it in no time at all, right?"
Rainbow Dash paused, and then grinned cockily. "You bet we can! Right, Petri?"
Her wings unfolding suddenly, Petrichor stepped back. Her yellow eyes opened wide and darted from side to side, as Berry looked on in amazement.
"'Petri'? She calls you Petri?" she cried.
A red reluctant blush showed through her blue fur. "Er...yes, Rainbow Dash. I am certain we could...I mean...yes, ma'am."
Berry was snickering hysterically, and buried her face in Pinkie's mane to muffle her voice. Her ears drooping, Petrichor began to slink away from the defiant earth pony in shame; her host was...confused, but the instincts inscribed in her soul leapt to her new friend's defense.
"Look!" yelled Rainbow Dash, "Ya don't laugh at people for no reason. That's hurtful. What's your problem, anyway? Lots of ponies have nicknames."
Suddenly Berry went hot with embarrassment.
"Pegasi don't have nicknames," she said. "They're the toughest of the tough. I'm sorry. I was just surprised, Petri...chor. We walked all that way here, and you never said a word or let on that you were alive. I wanted to talk to you, but you were kinda scary."
"Scary? I'm not scary."
"You were my hero," Berry insisted. "You stopped a twister once that would've plowed straight through the field I was in. You saved my life. I was so excited to get to know you on this trip, but you weren't interested. You just kinda kissed up to Crimson Lance the whole time."
Petri stepped awkwardly in place. "I...was afraid of being sent back home, if I didn't act the way a pegasus should. I wanted so badly to see Ponyville...to relax," she admitted.
The two stood nose to nose. Then Berry smiled, and then Petrichor.
"We'd love to hand out those invitations for you," said the latter, extending her hoof.
"AWESOME!" shrieked Pinkie Pie to remind everyone she was still there. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! And remember, you're ALL invited too, and you better be there, or else...we'll just have to throw another, right, Berry?" She slung her saddlebags down in the grass and began cantering back to Sugarcube Corner. Berry nosed through the bags and procured a larger-than-normal invitation, in purple with a large pink star on the back.
She passed the card to Petrichor. "This one goes to Her Highness Twilight's castle. Could you deliver it yourself? Pinkie said it's important."
"Certainly," replied Petri around the invitation between her teeth.
She looked around for Rainbow, who was already lugging the pink invitations into town. Then Berry Buzz was gone, too.
With a surprisingly relaxed sigh, Petri flexed her wings, tossing her braided mane over one shoulder; she took a moment to breathe; then she took to the sky.
"That's better...that's excellent, Sour Note...keep it up…"
Sour Note didn't open her eyes to receive Twilight's praise - she feared that if she did, she'd lose control of the applewood twig that was slowly growing longer under the influence of her foalish lavender magic. Her blue tail flicked back and forth in a sort of tense instinct. In her mind she pictured, as instructed, a branch full of leaves and the pale pink flowers that apple blossoms wore before turning into their fruit, ever scarce back home in Pomphay.
The library, clutter-free when the day began, was stacked with empty plates and castleish trinkets and decks of cards for dexterity practice. Spike lay in a bed of leather book bindings a few feet from the determined little unicorn. Sour no longer really feared Spike. He had let her stroke the spikes atop his head without biting; she had spoken with him rather intelligently on the subject of calligraphy; she had taken a lump of sugar - an elegant delicacy Sour Note only knew of through the stories told by her elder ponies - from his violet claws and she had eaten it. Spike's intentions were honest and the candy he offered poison-free; Sour was only sick from eating far too much of it. She was used to eating last out of all, whatever scraps might be left behind.
A gentle tap at the door was magnified through the cavernous hallways. Twilight gave Spike a nudge. The little dragon yawned, and trotted patiently off into the foyer.
Soon after, a pegasus flew into the library, hiding her pleased expression.
"Petrichor?" Sour Note whispered abashedly, folding her ears, opening her eyes, and dropping the overgrown twig.
The pegasus only looked in the direction of the voice for a moment; it was one of her weaknesses, she knew, for some reason, that she had trouble ignoring defective ponies the way Governor Crimson Lance expected of her. Petri turned and bowed to Princess Twilight, offering the castle invitation with her teeth. Twilight picked up the card with a swish of her horn.
Her eyes scanned the page. "Pinkie Pie and…Berry Buzz…why, Pinkie's gotten your friend into party planning, Sour Note! Just look at all those hoof-painted balloons."
"That's nice," Sour Note whispered. At the moment she and Petri were trying to look at one another without the other noticing; for just as Petrichor's rare smile had not escaped Sour's attention, Petri found herself contemplating the weakling unicorn who was not only using telekinesis successfully, but was learning to cast a spell as well.
Twilight cleared her throat and read on. "Pinkie Pie and Berry Buzz cordially invite the inhabitants of Ponyville Castle to enjoy VIP status at tonight's Ponyville/Pomphay Friendship Celebration at Sugarcube Corner. We hope you can come and have a wonderful time. Twilight, we were hoping you could say a few words before the cake is cut, about our new Pomphayian friends. Starlight, we could use your help setting up our big finale. Stop that, Starlight," Twilight scolded as her student rolled her eyes.
"But I didn't want to go to a party tonight. I've got work to do."
"Starlight," countered Twilight, "Pinkie needs your help. And this is a party to bring Ponyville and Pomphay ponies together. You really should go.
"Spike, Governor Crimson Lance…and Sour Note…please come and enjoy what we've got planned. There will be games, cake, and dancing. See you soon!"
Twilight looked up. Crimson Lance was standing in the doorway, looking as if she'd had something to say but had thought better of it. Instead she glared at Petrichor, who immediately resumed her usual military stance.
"Good afternoon, Governor," said Starlight, a little acidically, remembering that she'd been a kind of Governor herself once.
Crimson Lance bowed. "Good afternoon. I apologize for my absence today. I have been making preparations for our conference with the High Princesses tomorrow. This is extremely important to us," she added, still glancing at the hovering pegasus.
"You're invited to a party tonight, Governor," Twilight interjected cheerfully. "One of Pinkie Pie's parties. They're the best. You are coming, right?"
As she took up the invitation in her own red aura, the governor looked at the princess, Starlight thought, with almost a hint of distaste. "I am afraid not, Your Highness. This meeting must go well; I must be prepared. I trust you will enjoy yourselves without me."
"Oh, that's a shame," said Twilight, unsure whether she meant it or not. "Well, good luck, anyway. Come on, you three, and you too, Spike. Let's see what we need to do to get ready. Night, Governor."
"Goodnight, Your Highness," whispered Crimson Lance.
The room was empty when she looked over the invitation again. With her magic, at a distance, she tore a small strip - just two word days - out of the body of the message. They burnt up in a crimson flame. She laid the invitation down on Twilight's desk and walked out of the library without a word.