Anyway. Once we got home I dropped off the new res fork on my work table and the two no, the three of us – Twilight got Spike, who I think had spaced on the fact that we'd left and was just reading comic books – finished setting up my lab. I'll spare you the details; no matter how many times Twilight argues otherwise, organizing shelves is not actually an interesting pastime when you already know exactly what it is you're moving around.
After double-checking the wards and triple-checking that there would be enough space to properly store the artifacts that would be arriving the next day, I set up the locks on both doors. The door to my part of the lab could only be opened by a magical key that only Twilight and I could summon; the door to the basement itself was locked like I described in yesterday's entry.
And... let's see... Well, nothing else really happened before the party, so I'll just skip ahead. Oh! I'm pretty sure we had sandwiches for dinner since Twilight said we should keep it light, so there's that.
Anyway, the party. Since it was supposed to start at seven, Twilight made us be ready to leave half an hour beforehoof...
“Haven't you ever heard of 'fashionably late' before?” Sunset asked as she watched Twilight review her 'party guest preparation checklist' for what was probably the fifth time now.
“Yes,” Twilight answered in her most matter-of-fact tone, her eyes still glued to her parchment. “I simply don't subscribe to such a notion. If Pinkie Pie had wanted us to show up at 7:15, she would have said so. But she didn't. The invitations said 7 o'clock, and so 7 o'clock is when we will arrive at Sugarcube Corner.”
She paused a moment, then added “Meaningless argument with Sunset over what time we're leaving? Check.” And then she checked off the next box on the list, and all Sunset could do was roll her eyes.
Then, since she had nothing better to do, she sighed. That was enough to persuade her thoughts to coalesce into actual words, and she said “Well, nopony can say you're not thorough. What do you think this party will be like?”
Twilight shrugged. “The only consistencies I've noticed in Pinkie's parties is that they're always on-theme, and they're always fun.” She raised her head from her list for the first time in minutes, and looked back at Sunset. “Did you tell her to do anything specific?”
“Not really,” Sunset answered, trying to think back to earlier in the day and recall what she had told the party planner. “I'm pretty sure I just gave her a time. And-” her brow furrowed- “I think she said something about taking the plunge? But she didn't tell me what- it's bad, isn't it.” The realization that Twilight had suddenly tensed up having struck her, Sunset's mind adeptly sped to a conclusion.
It hadn't even been a question, not really, but that had never stopped Twilight from answering things before. Though the forced smile she wore as she did so told Sunset at least as much as her words, if not more. “It's, umm... unexpected.”
“Unexpected?”
“You'll see what I mean,” she said. Then she thought for a moment, and added “Probably. It depends on whether or not she's made any changes to it since she used it last time.”
“Oh really?” Sunset replied, quirking a brow. For a moment she considered expressing her doubts about going, or rather the fact that she'd never been interested in the party in the first place, but she held her tongue. The only ending she could see for that conversation was an argument that had a high potential, in her mind at least, of irreparably damaging her relationship with Twilight.
So instead she sighed, and resolved herself to spending some token amount of time with Twilight's current friends no matter how little she cared for them. Still, her pride wouldn't allow her to give up everything. So she said, “Well, I can't say I'm looking forward to it then.”
“It'll be fine, trust me,” Twilight told her. “Pinkie's parties can get a bit hectic at times, but I've never seen anypony get hurt, or even have a bad time!”
“Really? You must not have been looking in the mirror during your welcome party.” The sound of Spike's voice alerted the mares to the fact that he'd finished up whatever task had been delaying him, and a slight turn of the head showed them that he was walking towards them from the kitchen.
Sunset turned her gaze towards Twilight just in time to see her turn her flushed muzzle away. “Th-that was different, Spike. I was stressed because of Nightmare Moon. Had I simply been there to assist with the Summer Sun Celebration and nothing else, I assure you I would have enjoyed myself.”
Spike scoffed, and Sunset echoed the sentiment half a moment later.
“W-well, I've enjoyed every other party Pinkie's thrown, haven't I?” Twilight countered, looking right at her surrogate sibling.
“Yes,” he conceded, “but they were all after you became friends with her.”
“So?” Twilight asked with a brief but defiant look elsewhere. “In that case, there shouldn't be a problem. Right Sunset?”
Sunset found herself staring blankly into Twilight's eyes for a moment after they were directed at her, only managing to get out a pathetic “Uhh...” Then Twilight's face fell, and Sunset suddenly found her words. “I mean, I've only known her for a little over a day, Sparkle. I don't think I'm ready to call us 'friends' just yet.”
Then she paused, and added “But I do trust you when you say I'll enjoy the party.”
The relief on Twilight's muzzle was palpable.
The trio finished up their pre-party preparations in short order after that, and with Twilight hurrying them along they soon found themselves on the streets of Ponyville. And much like the night before, Sunset noticed, they were plenty populated. Also like last night, several passersby greeted Twilight and Spike as they passed. Sunset was grateful that none of them lingered or held them back for an extended chat.
She was also grateful that none of them seemed to be heading in the same direction as they were, at least not in more than a general sense. It had occurred to her that, along with the menu and activities, she genuinely wasn't certain of the party's guest list either. She presumed that Twilight's other close friends would be invited, of course, but she knew from Twilight's own anecdotes that Pinkie's party guests often extended beyond their small clique. But since she'd already asked Twilight what to expect without bothering to bring up the guest list, she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to bring it up now. It wouldn't reflect well on her.
So she kept quiet, outwardly pretending to enjoy the evening air while inwardly crafting contingencies for dealing with various party-related scenarios. She had no honest expectation of using them; she'd always took pride in being a mare who could think on her hooves; but it was a fairly decent way to pass the time.
To Sunset's mild surprise, the three of them weren't the only party-goers that seemed to be aiming for a 7 pm arrival. At some nameless intersection near the center of town they were spotted by Applejack, who called out before joining up with the group.
“Howdy y'all,” she greeted. “On your way to the party, I take it?”
“Good evening, Applejack,” Twilight answered for the group. “And yes, we are.”
“Wouldn't be out here if we weren't!” Spike quipped from Twilight's back.
Applejack chuckled. “Yeah, that's what I figured.” She turned her gaze to Sunset. “So, you excited for the very first party thrown in your honor here in Ponyville?”
“I hear it'll be interesting,” Sunset said with a smile, pleased with her non-answer. “At least if it's anything like what I hear Twilight's welcome party was like.”
The farmer chuckled again as the four resumed walking. “Well, I doubt it'll be as big as that ended up bein', on account of you already havin' a bunch a' friends here and all. But then again, I ain't gonna pretend to know what Pinkie Pie is thinkin' half the time so for all I know half the town coulda been invited.”
Unsurprisingly, Twilight snorted. “It couldn't possibly be that many ponies,” she said. “Nopony else but us is heading towards Sugarcube Corner!”
She waved her hoof at the street, prompting Sunset and the others to look around and confirm the truth of what she was saying. “...maybe this is just the half that wasn't invited?” Spike said after a moment. “Maybe everyone else is already there!”
Twilight and Applejack just giggled. “That's pretty unlikely,” the former told him.
Spike hung his head, looking that particular mix of childish defiance and embarrassment that told Sunset that while he hadn't been entirely serious about his suggestion he still didn't appreciate it being laughed at. “I know...,” he muttered, proving Sunset correct as far as she was concerned.
The conversation petered off fairly quickly after that, and for good reason – they were finally in sight of their destination.
Sugarcube Corner was easily the most thematically appropriate building that Sunset had seen in Ponyville, and possibly in her entire life. While stylistically it mimicked the thatched roofs and half-timbered walls of the rest of town, every square inch of it was done up like a gingerbread house. Pink-striped candy sticks flanked the doorway; thick white icing coated the eaves; and the shingles resembled massive slices of rich, almond-filled fudge. The building's unusual central steeple was done up like a pink cupcake down to the trio of lit candles sticking out the top, and even the flowers planted out front looked particularly sweet. The fact that it was situated all alone in the middle of what would have otherwise been a fairly sizable plaza made it stand out even more.
The lights inside were already on, and Sunset could see hints of streamers and balloons set up inside – as well as a familiar pink mare milling about. She couldn’t see anypony else inside, and allowed herself to smile because of it. Though the feeling was dampened somewhat when she spotted Pinkie catching sight of them, grinning ear to ear, and darting out of sight.
She was completely unsurprised when the door was opened mere fractions of a second after Twilight began to knock; so fast, in fact, that the knock didn't even finish properly and her startled best friend ended up booping Pinkie on the nose.
Everypony just sort of stared for a few moments before Twilight, flush with embarrassment, withdrew her hoof. “Umm, hi,” she said in her classic 'I genuinely have no idea what to do right now' tone of voice.
Sunset had missed that tone of voice.
Pinkie, meanwhile, simply giggled. “Hi girls! Come on in!” With a wave of her hoof she stepped aside, allowing the group of four inside. Twilight and Applejack moved towards the center of the room without delay, Spike doing the same as he slid off Twilight's back, but Sunset lingered just inside the door and scoped the place out.
The theme of the exterior continued on the inside, as far as Sunset could tell, with images of various sweets plastered to the walls or carved into the wood. But all of that was beneath the party decorations, which she could now see consisted almost entirely of streamers and balloons. Red and gold were clearly the colors of the evening, which earned a smirk from Sunset – a smirk that widened just a smidge when she caught a glimpse of a painted rendition of herself adorning a banner hanging from the ceiling.
“Welcome to Ponyville, Sunset Shimmer!”
It took her a moment to register that it hadn't been her thoughts that had said that, and she turned her gaze from the banner to see all of Twilight's friends, Rarity and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash included, standing around her with excited expressions. The sheer warmth of it took her quite off guard, and for far longer than she liked her mental gears just spun in place without meaningful reaction.
But eventually words came to her again, and after finding herself laughing along with the others she said a simple “Thanks.” Then she looked at Rarity and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy – who immediately hid behind her mane – and asked “So how long have you three been here? I thought we were the first ones to arrive.”
“Oh, Pinkie Pie had us come early, darling,” Rarity explained, stepping forward and moving alongside Sunset as if to escort her into the party.
“Yup!” Pinkie replied with what Sunset was quickly assuming to be a characteristic enthusiasm, literally bouncing into view from her right. “Since Twilight is always right on time to parties, I figured she'd make sure you were on time too!” she explained, walking backwards in front of Sunset and Rarity. “But since you're the Guest of Honor, you need to make a good entrance! But you can't do that if you're the first one here! So I thought to myself-” she scrunched up her muzzle and furrowed her brow in what Sunset hoped was an exaggerated 'thinking' expression- “if the Guest of Honor is going to arrive when the party starts, then that means everypony else needs to be here before the party starts! So then I went around and told everypony but you and Twilight and Spike to get here early!”
“And so we did!” Rarity finished brightly, before her eyes dulled and she shot a look at Applejack. “Well, most of us did at least.”
Applejack chuckled bashfully. “Yeah, that's on me. I figured I'd have a bit more leeway for my arrival; guess I was wrong.” She shrugged. “All worked out in the end, though.”
“I'll say,” Twilight said.
“Well, it certainly was a surprise, I'll give you that,” Sunset added, stopping in place after Pinkie bumped into the shop's sales counter.
“I'll say,” Rainbow Dash said next, flying up close to her head. “Seriously, you shoulda seen your face.” She made a face of gaping shock, which Sunset took to be an imitation of her own reaction. Then she laughed for about a second. “Pretty funny,” she remarked. “Not the funniest, but not bad, Shimmer.”
She nudged Sunset on the shoulder, then flew off. “Thanks?” was all Sunset could say, watching the mare pour herself a cup of fruit punch from a bowl near the side of the room.
Looking around again, Sunset could see refreshments set up on tables throughout the room. The sheer variety on offer surprised her; just about every baked sweet she knew the name of was accounted for in some fashion, as were several she'd never seen elsewhere. Cakes and donuts and pies and so much more, in a rainbow of colors and, Sunset suspected, flavors. Even the punch came in more than one variety.
As she swept her gaze back across the spread, and the others began to fan out and gravitate towards one platter or another, she soon found herself face to face with Pinkie Pie. And with a rather startling abruptness at that, though she successfully staved off her urge to yelp or flinch.
“So, anything catch your eye?” Pinkie asked with wide-eyed, fast-talking innocence. “Since you weren't really sure what kind of cake you wanted, I decided to go with a little bit of everything. That way, you're sure to find one that you really like the best!”
“Uhh, thanks?” Sunset said, taken aback by the thoughtfulness of the gesture. With nothing better to do she allowed herself to be led forward to the nearest assortment, in this case a large platter of cupcakes that had each been given a unique look. “Did you bake all these?” she asked.
Pinkie giggled, to no surprise. “Oh no, I only baked some of them. Mr. and Mrs. Cake helped me with the rest.”
As if on cue, a bell dinged in what Sunset presumed to be the kitchen causing Pinkie to perk up. “Ooh! They're finished!” she said, hopping up in excitement and dashing around the sales counter and through a set up saloon doors.
Sunset watched her go, then shrugged and looked over the cupcake platter. Settling on a green-colored one with a sort of tan-ish swirled frosting, she picked it up in her magic and took a bite. Then blinked in surprise. “Pistachio?”
“Oh yes, when Pinkie says 'a little bit of everything', she means it.” Sunset looked to her right to see Rarity walk up alongside her. She looked over the platter with a scrutinizing gaze, then levitated a peach-colored cupcake up for a closer examination. “This one should be peach truffle, if I'm not mistaken.” She looked at Sunset. “Would you mind ever so much if I had it?”
“Go ahead,” Sunset shrugged.
“Thank you, darling,” Rarity replied, taking a bite and savoring it. “Mmm, yes. Simply scrumptious.”
Before either could say anything else, Pinkie burst through the kitchen double-doors with a tray balanced on her head. “Chocolate lava cakes, fresh out of the oven!” she announced, eyes on her prize as she cantered merrily to the nearest – and, Sunset noted, emptiest – table to drop it off. “Get 'em while they're hot, girls!”
She was followed out of the kitchen by two other, older earth ponies, each bearing trays of the chocolate-filled cakes. The first was a mare, light blue coat and pale crimson in mane, and visibly pregnant; she was followed by a harried-looking stallion that Sunset assumed was her husband, yellow and orange with a bit of an underbite. They dropped their smaller trays off next to Pinkie's, and joined her – and the others who had gathered around after the announcement – in taking a sample of the freshest wares.
“Oh hello dear, you must be Sunset Shimmer,” the mare greeted once she caught Sunset's eye. She stepped to the side and motioned for her to step forward. “Come now, don't be shy, there's plenty enough for everypony.”
“Thanks,” Sunset told her, doing just that – after hastily finishing her cupcake, anyway. “I take it you're Mrs. Cake, then?” she added once the chocolate lava cake was firmly in her magical grasp – with a saucer under it to keep the sauce from spilling.
“That's right,” said the mare, her gaze distracted as she looked at the others all enjoying their cakes.
“And that would make me,” the stallion said with a light chuckle, “Mr. Cake. Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shimmer.”
“Same here,” Sunset answered with a smile, though she was mostly only being polite. “Thanks for helping Pinkie Pie set this up. I hope it wasn't too much trouble.”
“Oh, it was nothing at all!” Mrs. Cake assured her.
“Yeah,” Mr. Cake nodded. “We're always happy to lend a helping hoof to Pinkie. Goodness knows she's been a big help to us.”
And that prompted a round of giggles from Pinkie. “And I'm happy to do it! Now let's get this 'Day After We Welcomed You to Ponyville' Party started!”
She zipped over to a phonograph set up in a corner, and set the needle playing.
As though Pinkie's words had been a spell, so did festivities suddenly commence. It began much like the previous day's party had, with plenty of dancing and eating, and Sunset busied herself with far more of the latter. After all, she decided, why would she turn down food that was specifically baked for her? Even she wasn't so cold as to turn down free food simply because she wasn't fond of the chef.
The sweets themselves were excellent and Sunset made sure to have a little bit of everything even if she was certain it'd bring her trouble later on. Of course, the downside to everything being so good was that she was left unsure of her own dessert preferences, and it was only then that it dawned on her that she'd wanted to sort them out at all. She had never been a picky eater, and even with the importance of her station as the Princess' Personal Student she'd never felt inclined to insist upon any particular meal preferences. But at the same time, not having an answer for the question of what her favorite dessert was felt strange in some way now that she thought about it.
But, she soon decided, it wasn't important. Obviously either her 'favorite' wasn't at the party, or she just didn't have one. It really didn't matter either way. She didn't need a favorite dessert. She was Sunset Shimmer!
And then she realized she was getting worked up over something pointless, and decided to distract herself – or, rather, to move on to something marginally more interesting. Which, in this case, ended up being conversation.
She was surprised when the first one to talk to her wasn't Rarity but Rainbow Dash, and was left unsure whether the surprise was a pleasant one or not.
“So, ya got any good stories about Twilight or Spike?” she asked while hovering over one of the punch bowls again, an unexpectedly mischievous smile on her face.
It took Sunset a few seconds to figure out just how much she was willing to tell; while she most definitely had her fair share of embarrassing stories about both in question, a good chunk of them weren't things she wanted to make light of at such a social occasion. Most of it, actually, considering how sensitive Twilight and Spike could still be even after being around Sunset for so long. The last thing she wanted to do was make Twilight mad at her for revealing the more sordid details of her academic career.
There was also the fact that several such stories would paint Sunset in a negative light, and she wasn't about to do that to herself. And still others were practically cherished memories to her, and the jealous part of her refused to part with them so easily.
“Uhh, hello? You still there, Sunset?”
The sound of Rainbow Dash's voice snapped Sunset out of her thoughts. “Sorry,” she lied, “I was just trying to decide which one to tell you.” She put on a mischievous smile to match Rainbow's, and it seemed to placate her. “There's quite a few good ones.”
“Heh, I'm not surprised,” said Rainbow. “She's kind of a riot, loads of fun to prank. So, what do you got?”
Filing away Rainbow Dash's apparent tendency towards pulling pranks away as something to be mindful of, Sunset made a show of thinking up a story to tell. “Let's see,” she said with a fair bit of volume, tapping her chin. “Oh! I know! I bet she hasn't told you about the quesadilla thing yet!”
A quick glance to the side showed Sunset that her words had been picked up, and had had the desired effect. Twilight's ears had swiveled around to face her, and she was by Sunset's side before she could blink.
“Q-q-q-quesadillas?” she stammered. “Who cares about those? They have nothing to do with anything! Wh-why don't we talk about something else?” Her smile was wide and frantic, and Sunset could almost hear Twilight pleading as she looked between her and Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus snickered into her hooves. “Fine, fine,” she told Twilight. “We'll talk about something else.”
Then she proceeded to give Sunset an incredibly blatant 'We'll talk later' wink, so much so that Sunset had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
“So, Sunset,” Rainbow Dash continued, unaware of herself. “Tell us about yourself. How did you and Twilight meet?”
Now aware that every pair of eyes in the room were on them, Sunset and Twilight froze in place and exchanged a brief and nervous look. “There's... not much to say, really,” Sunset said, attempting to be both quick and careful simultaneously and pulling it off better than most ponies could have. “Princess Celestia just kinda... introduced us one day.”
“When she decided it would be beneficial to both of us to do so,” Twilight hastily, and somewhat helpfully, added. Or perhaps clarified, Sunset wasn't entirely certain of her intent.
“Y-yeah. Like I said, not much to say.”
“I see,” said Rarity, nodding rather sagely. “I suppose the two of you must have been friends ever since?”
Spike snorted before either Sunset or Twilight could answer her. “Not exactly,” he said at the others' questioning looks, taking a bite out of a pastry studded with rock candy.
“It... took us a while to warm up to each other,” Sunset admitted before Spike could say anything more.
Twilight echoed her sentiment with a nervous chuckle and a short “Yep.”
A bit of an awkward pause followed, broken first by Rainbow Dash picking up a piece of yellow cake and then by Applejack. “Well, that makes sense I s'pose. Can't expect two ponies to automatically hit it off just cause they got somethin' in common.”
“True, true,” Rarity said with another falsely sagacious nod. “The important thing is that you're friends now.”
“Uh-huh!” Pinkie eagerly chimed in, getting a little too close for Sunset's comfort. “Aaaaaaand you're friends with us, now, too!”
Sunset didn't have the heart to contradict her, especially not with everypony else nodding along in agreement.
“So, what do you do for a living, Ms. Shimmer?” asked Mrs. Cake in the next lull in the conversation.
“Oh, well, I am still Princess Celestia's student, like Sparkle here,” Sunset answered with a bit of thought and a nod to her bashful bestie. “But I'm pretty much doing all my studying independently from her nowadays, so I guess calling myself a Researcher would be more accurate.”
“Oh? What are you researching?” asked Mr. Cake. Sunset was mildly surprised that he was interested, as were the other Ponyville residents.
“Right now? Magical artifacts,” Sunset answered. “Specifically, the enchanting techniques used to make them. Powerful, permanent magic isn't exactly easy to pull off, y'know.” Sunset's smile grew as she realized how much of the group's attention she had. “It's a lot of work digging up whatever information exists about a given relic, and even more trying to safely work out how it all, well, works, but it's been pretty worth it so far.”
That earned another nod from Rarity. “Oh, I can imagine.”
Sunset doubted that, but held her tongue. “Moving out here to Ponyville is a bit of a shake-up for me,” she said, putting it lightly, “but I think I've adjusted pretty well. I've already got a new lab set up,” mostly, “and tomorrow I'm expecting the rest of my equipment and things from Canterlot to be delivered.”
“That so?” Applejack said with what seemed like renewed interest. “Well let me know if ya need some help gettin' it to the library. If your luggage yesterday was anything to go by, I can only imagine how heavy the rest of your stuff is.”
“Thanks, I'll keep that in mind,” Sunset told her. She hoped she wouldn't have to, of course; she'd paid the shipping company good money to get everything out to her new lab, after all.
“And what do you plan on doing after you've finished moving in?” Rarity asked.
Sunset gave her a blank stare, working out what exactly she meant by that and what Sunset wanted to do about it. She settled on a puzzled look. “Well, I guess I'll probably just get back to researching. Although setting up the lab will probably take long enough that I won't have time for anything other than some preliminary tests to make sure everything still works fine.”
Rarity gasped, and Sunset made a mental note that she'd correctly guessed the mare's intentions again. “Why, surely you can spend some time getting settled in first, can't you?” Rarity said, aghast. She stepped around in front of Sunset, putting on a pout.“It would be a shame to put your nose to the grindstone without settling in to your new home and discovering all that the town has to offer first.”
“I... get what you're saying,” Sunset began carefully, “but I'd really feel better if I make sure everything made the move intact first. The sooner I catch a problem, the sooner I can fix it.”
She'd hoped that would strike a chord with the dressmaker, and it didn't take long for her to determine that she had.
“Oh! Yes, of course,” Rarity said with another more legitimately knowing nod. “Your work is important, and I apologize for trying to pull you away from a critical moment. However, I do still feel you ought to take some time off to really get to know Ponyville.”
Sunset opened her mouth to issue a stock reply about how she'd be sure to do that without actually committing to doing it with anypony in particular, but Twilight surprised her by answering first. “Oh, don't worry,” she told her friend in a matter-of-fact tone that evoked a minor sense of dread in Sunset. “I've already scheduled a full tour of Ponyville for her over the course of the next week.”
“The next week?” Rarity repeated, blinking in surprise. Sunset felt the same way.
“Yup!” Twilight nodded, before revealing the exact details of her plan on a rolled up piece of parchment she had presumably summoned from her bedroom. “As you can see,” she continued, unfurling the document and showing it off to her friends and the Cakes, “I've included all of Ponyville's major shops and landmarks.”
“You missed, like, all the best sleeping spots though,” Rainbow Dash pointed out after scanning the list for about a second.
“Well, those are hardly-” Twilight began to say, amusing Sunset with how put-out she was.
“And do ya really need to show her all the restaurants in town?” Applejack chimed in.
“She deserves to know all her choices, and-” Twilight once again tried to answer, getting flustered as her friends crowded around her more and more.
“Eugh, you can leave off GT's Fryery,” Rarity said, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Their food is dreadfully greasy.”
Applejack shot her a look. “Well duh, it's a fryery! The food's s'pposed to be greasy!”
Rarity flipped her mane defiantly. “All the more reason to remove it from the tour, then!”
“I'm not removing anything from the list,” Twilight told them, her voice unheard despite its stubborn insistence.
“Umm, I'm sorry to interrupt, but...”
“I say leave the fryery, but take off all the boring stuff like town hall and the book stores,” Rainbow Dash chimed in again.
“...I'm really not certain I'll be able to show off my cottage on Monday...”
“That should give you some space for the sleeping spots, and time to watch me perform some awesome tricks,” Rainbow finished, puffing herself up with pride.
“...It's just that that's the time I usually spend playing with Angel...”
“Ooh! You should totally take Sunset to Sugarcube Corner on Monday!” Pinkie excitedly suggested.
“Pinkie, she's in Sugarcube Corner now,” Mr. Cake tiredly informed her just a second later. “She doesn't need to come here again on her tour.”
“Though she is welcome to, of course,” Mrs. Cake added with a smile, looking at Sunset.
“...But if you still want to come anyway, I understand...”
For her part, Sunset remained silent during the... She wasn't sure whether to call it a debate, a discussion, or something else entirely. Whatever it was it amused her, if only because of how flustered it was making Twilight. But she could tell her friend was about to reach her breaking point, and decided to step in and head things off before she blew up.
“Hey, thanks for the suggestions, all of you,” she said in a strong, clear voice; one she'd practiced specifically for talking over crowds of ponies. “But I think I'll just stick with what Twilight has planned, and see where it goes from there.”
As she'd hoped, the others quieted down and Twilight sighed in relief. “Thanks, Sunset. I-”
And then the conversation began again, voices talking over voices as thought the previous lull had only been the eye of a storm.
“I still think you're missing out on some awesome stuff, though,” Rainbow pointed out.
“I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to work in a session at the spa, would it?” Rarity asked, carefully looking over the schedule again. “I've been meaning to treat you to one, Twilight, and this would be a fantastic occasion to do so.”
“They already said they're stickin' to the schedule,” Applejack scolded. “Stop tryin' to get them to change it!”
“Umm... is there anything in particular you'd like me to do for your visit? Because...”
“Ooh! Ooh! What about the Everfree Forest, are you gonna show Sunset that?” Pinkie asked, prompting the Cakes to exchange a nervous glance.
Sunset looked back at Twilight just in time to see her facehoof and groan.
It took longer than Sunset liked for everypony to give up on modifying Twilight's tour schedule and return to the party. They were all apologetic, of course, but nevertheless Sunset's opinion of them had been soured slightly. After all, what sort of 'friend' didn't respect their friend's schedules?
Sunset dutifully shoved away memories of herself dragging Twilight and Spike away from whatever they had planned to assist her in whatever she wanted to do, ignoring their protestations all the while. None of that counted, as far as she was concerned.
After a bit more eating and dancing, Pinkie suddenly announced it was time to play some games and disappeared to some other part of Sugarcube Corner. She returned shortly after with far more equipment than Sunset had expected from a single pony. The items needed for 'Pin the Tail on the Pony' and her new hit 'Guess the Book' were meager enough, but the water basin, ladder, and toilet plungers that she managed to keep perfectly balanced on her head and back were... concerning, to say the least.
The fact that several of the others looked like they thought so as well was not as comforting to Sunset as she would have liked.
It didn't take Pinkie long at all to set up everything, leaving Sunset to dread what now resembled a makeshift carnival dunk tank sitting off to the side of the room away from any food as she recalled the mare's words to her about 'taking the plunge'.
“Alright Sunset Shimmer, up you go!” she said, filled with eager energy as she pulled Sunset over to the base of the ladder.
Sunset blanched. “Uh, why me exactly?”
That just caused Pinkie to giggle. “Cause you're the guest of honor, silly!” she said. “Obviously you get to be the first one to play Truth or Dunk!”
“...Truth or Dunk?” Sunset repeated with nervous skepticism, failing to dig in her hooves enough to prevent Pinkie from pushing her closer to the ladder.
“Yup! Truth or Dunk!” Pinkie said, grinning. “We take turns asking you funny questions, and if you get them wrong or tell a lie, you get dunked!”
Sunset wanted to protest, to assert herself, to do anything to get out of the game, but Pinkie Pie was now practically forcing her to climb the ladder, and was somehow far stronger than she looked.
“Fine, fine,” Sunset muttered, trying to pretend to be good-natured about it. A glance around the room showed the others watching her with quiet interest, even Twilight, and when she looked down at Pinkie the mare's grin widened.
With a sigh, she sat down on the 'platform' at the top of the ladder that hung out over the water basin. She was high up enough that she could touch the ceiling with her horn, and overall she felt ridiculous. “Okay, let's get this over with,” she told the ponies down below.
“Okay,” Pinkie replied, the others gathering around her in front of the makeshift dunk tank. To Sunset's surprise, Pinkie pulled a small stack of notecards out of her mane, cleared her throat, and said “Question one: what do you get when you cross a cow with a trampoline?”
To say the 'question' took Sunset off guard would be putting it mildly. For several seconds she simply stared at Pinkie, then she shook her head quickly and asked “Sorry, can you repeat that?”
“What do you get when you cross a cow with a trampoline?” Pinkie repeated without a hint of duplicity in her grin.
Sunset blinked, then furrowed her brow in thought. “Cow with a trampoline...” she murmured as she tried to puzzle it out. Her mind immediately went to schoolyard tales of failed transmutation and the horrors that resulted, and she picture a half-cow half-trampoline monstrosity roaming the countryside until she herself defeated it with her magical prowess.
Then she realized it was just some joke, face-hoofed, and guessed “I don't know... a milkshake?”
Pinkie practically squealed with delight. “Yes! A milkshake!” she said, descending into a giggling fit that last a good couple seconds. Once she recovered, she continued. “Okay, question two.” She looked at her notecards again, nodded, and looked back up at Sunset with her eyes narrowed dramatically. “What has a foot, but no legs?”
“Oh! I know this one!” said Fluttershy, beaming with the quietest excitement that Sunset had ever barely heard before.
As the only two things that Sunset knew about Fluttershy were that she lived up to her name and that she took care of animals, she wasn't sure what to make of her apparent knowledge of the answer. But she decided to take a gamble on it having something to do with animals, and dredging up the memories of biology lessons from her school days gave her an answer.
“A snail,” she answered with a confident smirk.
“Hmm...” Pinkie hummed, narrowing her eyes even more and even rubbing the bottom of her snout as she deliberated.
For all of three seconds. “Corrrrrrect!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hooves in excitement and tossing her notecards into the air. A second passed before she noticed them fluttering back down to the ground, and frantically started grabbing them out of the air.
“Let's see, third question, third question,” she mumbled, looking through the notecards.
“Hey, I got a question for her,” said Rainbow Dash, now hovering over Pinkie. Sunset raised an eyebrow, and a feeling of dread rose up as she saw Rainbow's grin turn mischievous. The pegasus flew up to eye level with Sunset, and asked “True or false: you're about to get dunked.”
Sunset paled, instantly seeing where this was going. But it only lasted a moment before her pride took over, and she leveled Rainbow Dash with a dull stare. “Ha ha, you got bored and decided to dunk me.”
Rainbow Dash just stared back for a moment, apparently taken off guard that Sunset hadn't even attempted to answer the question if her expression of inner struggle were anything to go by.
“...yup,” she finally admitted, turning and giving the platform a swift buck. It collapsed as it was designed to, and Sunset let out a scream as she plunged into the water basin.
When she recovered from the shock of it all and looked around, Sunset felt a surge of bitter happiness when she realized that Pinkie had, in fact, been sitting close enough to get a little soaked by the splash. Nopony else had, of course, particularly Rainbow Dash, but at least Pinkie had. Though Sunset's satisfaction was dampened by the fact that the mare had apparently enjoyed the experience.
“Wasn't that fun?” Pinkie asked in earnest, and Sunset found it surprisingly difficult to take her happiness away from her.
“I... think I'll let somepony else have the next turn,” was what Sunset settled on.
“Great idea, Sunset!” Pinkie said, her enthusiasm unabated. “There's enough fun for everypony! Who's next?” She turned and looked at the others expectantly, and Sunset noticed distinct looks of reservation on all of their faces.
Except for one.
“Dibs!” called out Rainbow Dash, who was already taking a seat on the platform at the top of the ladder.
Sunset quickly moved out of the way, fully expecting Rainbow Dash to take the plunge after two questions at best.
She lasted five, and gloated after every right answer. Granted, none of them had been the same sort of trick question that she had asked Sunset, but it stung her pride all the same. It also seemed to rouse a spirit of friendly competition in the others, and to Sunset's surprise the group actually began to enjoy it. Even she herself voluntarily made another attempt!
She was proud to beat Rainbow Dash's record, but the plunge into the water when she'd missed the seventh question still stung.
Eventually the game wound down once everypony got tired of it or simply hungry for more sweets. Pinkie successfully diverted some of them into playing 'Pin the Tail on the Pony' with her, but Sunset had never enjoyed the game.
At least 'Guess the Book' ended up being fun, even if most of them were cookbooks this time. It kept things competitive at least, and even led into a team showdown with Sunset and Twilight pitted against the Cakes themselves.
The Cakes won, but Sunset decided she had a fun time regardless. But a glimpse out the window caused her to realize just how late it was getting, and how much time the party had, in a way, taken away from her.
Fortunately, it seemed the others felt the same way. Rainbow and Pinkie were picking through and passing over what remained of the food; the Cakes were moving slowly back towards the kitchen; and most of the others had broken off into small conversations – Spike with Rarity; Twilight with Applejack and Fluttershy. The most recent record stopped playing, and even Pinkie didn't bother putting on a new one.
As for Sunset, after deciding she was done sampling the sweets on offer she headed over to where Twilight was.
“...which reminds me,” Applejack said to her, “I saw that Trixie again the other day. She was still kinda miffed about what happened, so ya might wanna get things sorted out with her.”
Twilight flushed. “Oh, right. I guess I do owe her an apology, don't I?”
“Trixie? Who's that?” Sunset asked, a sudden burst of paranoia causing her to insert herself into the conversation the moment she saw the chance. She looked at the others expectantly, and once again Fluttershy shied away from the attention.
“She's some kinda travelin' stage magician that rolled into town a little while ago,” Applejack helpfully answered. “She's got some fine tricks, I'll give her that, but she wears on a pony's patience somethin' fierce with all her boastin'.”
“Right, right,” Sunset replied, nodding somewhat absentmindedly. Sensing something more to the story she looked at Twilight, and raised a brow when her friend shrunk back from her gaze, her ears falling flat and her cheeks turning even pinker.
“She, er, she's kind of what caused me to, um... remember you...” Twilight said, eyes still averted and voice quickly becoming quicker and quieter. “Sorry,” she squeaked.
Sunset stared as she processed what Twilight said, flattening her gaze and uttering a dully annoyed “What?” when she finished.
“I'm sorry!” Twilight squeaked again, looking Sunset in the eye and orienting herself closer. “A pair of colts told Spike and I that there was a new unicorn in town with a lot of talent, and Spike said he didn't think that they could be as talented as I am, which caused me to remember that I'd forgotten all about you because you're at least as talented as I am!”
And now Sunset was flushing, reeling from the revelation of what, exactly, had triggered her irritatingly forgetful best friend to recall that she existed after a month-long absence. And hearing that it was apparently due to a unicorn that had some kind of ego about her magic was... a bitter sensation.
Sunset comforted herself by focusing on the details of what Twilight had said, specifically that simply the mention of a magically-talented unicorn had triggered the memory. No mention of the implicit ego of the other unicorn being involved. That was good, right? Sunset certainly hoped so.
“I see...,” Sunset finally said, so filled with conflicting emotions that she wasn't sure what to focus on. “So what happened next?”
“Well, I rushed over to see if it really was you, and got... annoyed when it wasn't,” Twilight admitted, averting her eyes and flattening her ears again.
Applejack chuckled. “Is that what happened? All I saw was you rushin' up like a hog at feedin' time only to start arguin' with the pony you rushed up to!”
Sunset looked back to Twilight; she was still embarrassed. “Well, she started saying she was the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria,” she said in a tone that told Sunset she wasn't entirely sorry she'd done it. “I may not like to brag about it, but that doesn't mean I could just let that stand without testing.”
That brought a smile back to Sunset's lips. If there was one thing about Twilight she was glad to have affected, it was forcing the filly to actually stand up for herself and what she could do. “So, you trounced her, right?” she asked her friend.
“And how,” Applejack answered for her, letting out a whistle at the memory.
It only made Twilight's blush reassert itself. “I may have gone a little overboard in our little 'duel',” she admitted, idly rolling a hoof.
“Oh, are we talking about your duel with Trixie?” said Rainbow Dash, flying over to a spot just above the group. “Cause that was totally awesome,” she added with a chuckle.
“I humiliated her in front of an audience,” Twilight countered.
Rainbow shrugged. “Ehh. She shouldn't have challenged you to a duel in the first place when she coulda just kept going with her act. As far as I'm concerned she brought it on herself.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Anyway,” she said forcefully before looking back at Sunset, “after I won, the others asked me how I got so powerful, which-”
“-reminded you of me again, I take it?” Sunset asked, unable to keep the dryness from her voice.
“...pretty much,” Twilight admitted, flushing again. “I left for Canterlot right after that.”
“Without so much as a word of explanation as to why, mind,” Applejack pointed out. “All ya told us was that you had to go back to Canterlot for somethin'!”
“We were quite worried,” said Fluttershy, though when Sunset realized she'd actually spoken and thus looked at her, the pegasus shrunk back and hid behind her mane.
“Sorry,” Twilight told them. “I wasn't really thinking straight at the time.”
“It's alright sugarcube, we understand,” Applejack told her. “Ya had to go patch things up with Sunset,” she nodded at the mare in question, “and we can't blame ya for it.”
“Even if things were a little more boring without you,” Rainbow Dash commented, earning a mild glare from both Twilight and Applejack.
“Well, I'm glad you left, at least,” Sunset said, offering her friend a wry smile. “But anyway, what ended up happening with that Trixie character?” she asked the others. As far as she knew Twilight had never actually made an enemy of anypony before, aside from Sunset herself. And the last thing she wanted was for some nopony with a grudge to show up one day and cause trouble for Twilight.
Applejack shrugged. “Well after basically gettin' her hindquarters handed to her outta the blue like that, Trixie scampered off all humiliated like ya said. Left her cart behind, but folks left it alone and it was gone by mornin'.”
Twilight raised a brow at that. “You're sure it was Trixie who came and got it, right?” she asked. “I'd hate for somepony else to have taken it.”
“I'm sure,” Applejack said. “Like I said, I saw her a couple days ago makin' camp in the woods on the north side a' the farm. She had her cart with her, plain as day. I reckon she's been lurkin' around tryin' to figure out what to do next, but since she ain't been makin' trouble I didn't bother tryin' to talk to her. Course, with how mad she looked I doubt she'd wanna hear anything I had to say to begin with.”
Twilight sighed. “I think I understand. I'll go and apologize to her tomorrow morning.”
“I might come with you,” Sunset told her, tapping her chin in thought. “Depending on when you go, anyway. I'll have to stay behind if you go when my shipment is coming in.”
After a thoughtful frown, Twilight shook her head. “As much as I'd like to wait until you have everything in your lab, that could take all day. But I'll get up a little earlier than usual so at the very least I can be back in time to help you out.”
That got a smile from Sunset. “Thanks, Sparkle. I appreciate it. And if it isn't too far out of the way, I'll come with you like I said.”
The party began to wrap up after that. Applejack and Rarity said their goodbyes first, citing their respective needs for an early start to each day. Then went Rainbow Dash, thanking Pinkie and the Cakes for another fantastic party and re-extending her offer to show Sunset some 'awesome moves'.
That left Sunset, Twilight, and Spike to leave with Fluttershy, which was awkward for Sunset – the pegasus was still essentially a complete stranger to her. Not that Twilight or Spike seemed to understand that.
“So, how did you like the party, Sunset?” Twilight asked with a happy smile.
Spike chuckled. “I bet you loved being the center of attention,” he said with a sly sort of smile.
Sunset laughed too, though it quickly trailed off. She just couldn’t get comfortable, even in the warm air of the summer night. Not with Fluttershy stealing looks at her every time she thought Sunset wasn't looking back. The looks weren't malicious or at all negative, simply a blank sort of stare, but that only served to unnerve Sunset even more.
“Uhh, well, I wouldn't put it like that,” Sunset said, trying to keep things light-hearted and pretend she wasn't being stared at by a pegasus she'd barely spoken to. “But it was good. The party, I mean.”
Now Twilight was laughing. “I'll say. Good food, good friends, good fun.”
“Truth or Dunk could stand to use some polishing,” Spike said.
That earned a giggle-snort from Twilight. “True. But at least it went better than the last time she tried it. Right?” she asked Fluttershy, who seemed startled by the sudden attention.
“Oh! Umm... yes...,” she answered, voice becoming progressively quieter with each word.
“I think it would have been better if it had been done outside,” Sunset chimed in, deciding it wouldn't hurt to let some of her true opinions be known. “With a bigger basin, and stricter rules-enforcement.”
Another giggle from Twilight. “Well then, make sure to tell Pinkie the next time you see her. I'm sure she'll appreciate the feedback!”
“I'll, uh, be sure to do that,” Sunset said, silently hoping she wouldn't have to do so any time soon. Even after the mare threw a party in her honor, Sunset still found Pinkie too strange and overbearing in her positivity to want to be around her very often. Two parties over two days lasting for several hours each was already what she felt was over her limit; she felt absolutely fine at not having anything to do with Pinkie for weeks. Even longer, actually, though she felt that Twilight wouldn't be happy if she actually tried to pull it off.
“Umm... good night...” The words came from Fluttershy at a volume barely high enough to qualify as 'said', and she began to turn down one of Ponyville's nameless streets.
“Good night, Fluttershy!” Twilight answered happily.
“See ya later!” Spike added with a wave.
Sunset added a wave of her own, mumbling a halfhearted “Good night” of her own to go with it.
The three returned to the Golden Oak in peace, though upon entering they noticed an envelope lying on the front podium next to Twilight's 'The Librarian is on break' placard. It bore the logo of the Steady Shipping Company, so after sharing a glance with the others Sunset picked it up in her magic and opened it.
“Oh, they're just confirming the time of delivery tomorrow,” she said after scanning the letter inside. Her face fell. “And adding the fee for the courier that sent this to my bill.”
Spike snickered into his claws, and Twilight rolled her eyes. “So, what time will they be arriving?” she asked, looking from Sunset to the message with interest.
“It says here their train is scheduled to arrive in Ponyville at 10:15 in the morning,” Sunset answered.
We basically just went to bed after that. Probably talked a bit more about the party? But yeah, that was it for Day 2 of me being in Ponyville.
I just realized I'm gonna have to write a bit about Day 3 too, even though I swear that not much happened then. Basically just to write about my original artifacts, and I guess the Trixie thing too. But nothing else, I swear!
Uhh, aside from that, I don't think there's much else to say. I probably got some details wrong about what happened at the party – Princess Celestia always said that memory of day-to-day events is a fickle thing – so, uh, sorry if what I wrote contradicts anything. Though I still don't think my 'Day After I was Welcomed to Ponyville' party or whatever was really that impressive, especially compared to some of the other parties Pinkie's thrown. You'd think it would be more special to me since it was literally thrown in my honor, but... well, it happened before I considered Pinkie to be a friend so it was hard for me to really care that much about it. Or something.
Figuring out my emotions and motivations and things like that is hard when I'm doing it alone. And also when they're from a year ago.
Anyway, that's all I'm gonna write about for now. I should be able to write the next entry tomorrow. Maybe more if I have the time.
- Sunset Shimmer