“That dress is coming along nicely,” complimented Twilight as she continued to watch April work with as much care as she had seen Rarity use while sewing. In the time since she began, she managed to create a rather nice-looking deep blue dress with a white trim and aqua blue accents.
“You really think so?” she asked sounding doubtful. “I mean I was just working on something I just scribbled together. Usually I’d spend almost a week designing and redesigning an outfit to get it right before I even put thread into needle.”
“Even so,” replied Twilight. “This is quite nice what you did and I’m sure you’ll impress Rarity at what you can manage in the spur of the moment. She’ll definitely want to take you under her wing after she sees this.”
“I think I’d just be happy if she just likes it,” she admitted turning to Twilight as she spoke while still pushing the needle through the fabric.
“Yeow!” cried Starlight getting jabbed by the needle in her shoulder. “Careful. This ‘mannequin’ of yours can feel pain.”
“Oh, sorry,” apologized April. “I’m grateful you volunteered to help me out when I couldn’t get a real one. I’ll try to be more careful.”
“I’ll just be glad when I can move freely again,” commented Starlight. “I’ve been standing still for over an hour now. Can’t I take a break?”
“The basic design of the dress looks securely stitched,” she answered as she carefully inspected every bit of the fabric from one sleeve to the other. “It should be fine to take it off, but I’ll need you to put it on again later to do some finishing touches.”
“Fine, so long as I can move around some,” sighed Starlight with relief. April helped her out of the dress and then she happily stretched as she walked around the room to loosen up. “Oh, much better.”
“I should probably see how well it fits me,” commented April as she took off her coat and tossed it onto the map table.
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Twilight as April put her hooves through the sleeves.
“If I’m going to model it for Rarity,” she contemplated. “Then I’m going to need to make certain it can fit me just perfectly.
“I don’t think I’m far off from your size,” observed Starlight. “I can’t imagine it needing to be adjusted all that much.”
“Yeah, it looks to be about right,” she agreed taking it off to resume working on it. “Now I can work to make it really look dazzling.”
As April took up needle and thread once more, Twilight sat and watched. Then she turned to the map and saw the four Cutie Marks were still there. “It’s getting late again and still nothing. I can’t stand all this waiting around?”
“Getting nervous?” asked Starlight looking over at Twilight. “About our bet, I mean.”
“I’m was more concerned about how long this friendship mission is going to take, but I guess I’m getting a little worried about that too,” she answered. “It feels like we should be doing something other than waiting around.”
“But what else can we do?” wondered Starlight.
“I don’t know,” sighed Twilight as she lowered her head a bit and saw April’s black coat on the map table. Then in the pocket she noticed a piece of paper sticking out and curiously took it out. “What’s this?” she asked as she began to read what was written and then turned to April. “Is this a copy of what you wrote in all those letters you sent?”
“Yeah, that’s the original copy I made,” she explained. “Why?”
“I wish I knew about this sooner,” she cried. “We have to get going!”
“Going?” asked Starlight. “Where to?”
“To Macintosh Hills,” she replied. “That’s where everypony is going to be.”
“What makes you think that?” asked April. “I never said anything about going there.”
”Just look at this letter,” Twilight countered. Walking over, Starlight read over the letter herself.
“Hi, it’s me, April. I’m sending this letter to all my friends hoping you’re all doing well. There is so much I want to tell you all. I just hope I have enough space to write it on.
Gale, I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to decide if you were white with black stripes or if it was the other way around. That was probably the only thing I ever wondered about you till we first met, but I’m glad that I was able to learn a million other more important things about you in the time that we did spend together. I’m so thrilled that you are following your dream. I’m sure you’re on your way to becoming a big star, but you were always one to us. We’ll have to definitely come see your show sometime. I hear Los Pegasus is pretty crowded, so I hope you can find some space to fit us in.
Rocky, I think out of all of us, you were the one who desired friends the most. I remember how you used to get so angry over every little thing. You were more than a bit scary, but also a bit sad. I’m glad to have gotten the chance to know you and see you were quite the sweetie underneath too, kind of like those wonderful popsicles you would always make. Hopefully the next time we meet I’ll be able to try some again and maybe some other tasty treats (that is where you wrote you were working at). Just remember to give it your all and that we’re always here to support you.
And Fire Wheel, make sure that every step forward you take is one filled with confidence. I remember the way you’d always tremble and sweat when you got nervous. You actually looked pretty adorable, but I think you look even better when you don’t look frightened at all. We were always there to give you confidence, but I think that you might have helped us out with that even more. Just hearing your music, I feel so happy and relaxed. It’s like there is nothing I can’t accomplish. You said you wanted to fill Equestria with your music. I think if you can accomplish that then there won’t be anything for anypony to fear ever again. But take your time. No pressure after all.
In closing, I know this might sound a bit selfish of me, but I wish that we could go to our special place again this year, but if we haven’t been prepared to go by now I doubt there is any way we could, considering we will all be too far away by the time this gets into our hooves. But I guess there’s always next year.
Hope to hear from you all soon,
April”
“This is a really nice letter,” commented Starlight upon reading it. “But April is right, she only says she wishes they could go somewhere.”
“She might say that, but is that really how you feel?” asked Twilight to April. “Do you?”
“No,” she admitted. “I don’t think I’d want anything more than to do what we’ve done every year since we became friends. I want that even if they would have to drop everything they are doing just to get over there. That must sound very selfish of me. I truly am a bad friend.”
“You aren’t a bad friend,” smiled Twilight putting a hoof on her shoulder. You only want that because they are so precious to you. I feel the same way when I really want to do things with my friends. When they read this, I bet they’ll want to go just as badly as you do.”
“But even so, it’s too late, now,” April sobbed. “It’s tonight and it is impossible for us to all get there before sunset.”
“That is going to be a problem,” admitted Starlight as she looked at the map. “Your friend in Los Pegasus is the furthest away. Even if they left right after getting their letter I doubt they could make it there in time. I could try to teleport over there with magic, but that’s a pretty big place to cover and not much time to do it in.”
“Don’t worry,” stated Twilight confidently. “Rainbow Dash is over there too and if the map sent her over there I’m sure it’s because she can handle that.”
“Then all we have to do is teleport ourselves over there and wait,” figured Starlight. “It shouldn’t take us more than a moment.”
“Yeah, but I was also thinking of bringing Fluttershy and Rarity along too,” Twilight added. “If the others are going to be there I kinda want them with us too. Fluttershy is probably at her home right now and I’m guessing that Rarity is at her boutique in Canterlot. If I go get Fluttershy with April, can you go to Canterlot to pick her up and take her over?”
“I’m already gone,” answered Starlight as her horn glowed and she vanished in a flash.
“Let’s go, April,” Twilight told her offering her hoof. “Together.”
April looked over at Twilight for a moment then grabbed her black to and put it on. “Together,” she smiled and took Twilight’s hoof and the two of them vanished in a flash.
“Here you go Angel,” Fluttershy spoke as she placed down a bowl of carrots that he happily started to munch on. Looking around, she gazed contently as all her animal friends were now fed and happily chowing down. Then in a flash of light, Twilight and April appeared in the middle of the room and made Fluttershy jump in fright. “Eep!”
“Oh, sorry about that,” blushed Twilight.
“Twilight, um, sorry about what happened yesterday with Discord,” she apologized.
“Water under the bridge,” she assured her. “NoW, I know this is sudden, but you aren’t doing anything right now, are you?”
“I just finished feeding all my friends,” she answered. “So, I don’t have anything else going on at the moment.”
“Great, then I need you to come with us to the Macintosh Hills,” Twilight told her taking Fluttershy’s hoof.
“Uh, ok, but why?” she asked.
“I’ll explain when we get there,” Twilight answered and the three of them vanished in another flash of light.