//------------------------------//
// Intermission 
// Story: Luna's Invitation 
// by CloudMagnet 
//------------------------------//

This was already posted in the comments section, but I thought that it should be a little more visible, functioning as a kind of intermission for the main feature. I enjoyed writing it so much, I've written a second one for use much later, set aboard a WW2 submarine.

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Twilight Sparkle squinted into the brass eyepiece of her favourite microscope. On her right, a quill rapidly scratched across the surface of a levitated parchment. Scrolls, bound volumes and loose sheathes of notes littered the normally pristine surface of her laboratory workbench.

Without lifting her eye from her instrument, Twilight reached for the bumper pack of Pony Joe's finest Canterlot Doughnuts. As a long time fan of all of Joe's confectionery creations, Twilight did not need to interrupt her important research in order to make a visual selection from her doughnut stash. A true connoisseur, she could identify each and every one of his 213 distinct varieties and sub-varieties by feel alone.

But none of them had ever been warm and squishy before.

'Hey, Twilight! Watcha doin?' Pinkies voice was abrasively nasal, her nose clamped tight in Twilight's hoof.

Twilight snatched her hoof back in surprise. 'Pinkie! Where are my doughnuts?'

Pinkie considered for a moment, her hoof on her chin. "Well, after what happened last time with the leopard seal, the washing machine and your underwear drawer you said I shouldn't interrupt you when you were working, so I was being all quiet and everything and just singing a little song to myself but in my head so you couldn't hear it but it was such a good song and it was so funny and I wanted to tell you all about it but you were still working and then I was getting bored and I get hungry when I'm bored and..'

'Pinkie! Breathe!' Twilight interjected.

'Oops! Sorry. So, watcha doin?' Pinkie's eyes shone with happiness, rainbows and a complete lack of the heartfelt contrition that Twilight felt was suitable for a sneaky doughnut thief.

Twilight stretched away the cramps from a afternoon spent crouched over her equipment and stood proudly beside a large hemispherical device covered in brazen lights. 'I'm studying metal fragments from that strange saucer shaped flying machine that crashed in the Everfree forest. I've even pieced together what I think is a complete machine of some kind from the large pieces Applejack and Big Macintosh brought in this morning.'

'Ooooh, shiny. So many lights! What does it do Twilight? Is it a time machine? Is this the "on" button? It looks like a big gumdrop!' A pink hoof reached out for the tempting, shiny disc.

'STOP! Pinkie, don't touch that! We don't even know what it does yet. It could be dangerous.' Twilight placed herself squarely between Pinkies inquisitive hooves and the flickering lights of the enticing machine, her forelegs crossed over her chest in a no-nonsense stance. 'And what about my doughnuts? I have to get those sent specially from Canterlot.'

Pinkie's eyes were bright blue beacons of innocence and pure fun. Much to Twilight's annoyance they were still without a trace of guile or shame. 'Silly Twilight! I ate them all, but it's OK because I brought you an extra special cake that's even better than cranky old Joenuts! It's really exciting 'cause it's a whole new design and you'll be the first pony to see it, I mean, apart from me but I don't count because I already know. It's specially designed to cheer up grumpy Twilight Sparkles and to be cannon launched!'

From absolutely nowhere, Pinkie whipped out the largest candy coloured rococo nonsense of a cannon Twilight had ever seen. It looked, to Twilight's incredulous eyes, like the cannon you would invite to a cannon kiddies party to play the part of a cannon pirate clown and make cannon balloon animals. From cannons.

'What? Pinkie don't set that off in here!' Twilight dove heroically towards the cannon, but it was too late.

"Geronimo!" Pinkie squealed with glee as the cannon roared, sending a stream of confetti, party favours, Gummy and half a metric tonne of cream cake flying though the air towards Twilight's work bench.

Unfortunately, this trajectory intersected perfectly with Twilight Sparkles dive, throwing her bodily into the strange machine in the centre of the room.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence in the laboratory. From the rippling surface of a small sea of frosting two humps arose, one with bright blue eyes and one with a horn and two slits of burning purple fury. Visible steam was rising from the second hump.

'Beep.'

'Twilight, did you say beep?' Pinkies tongue looped around her head, cleaning the frosting away in one smooth motion.

'Beep.'

'Pinkie...' Twilight's voice was a guttural growl.

'Beep.'

'Oh, Twilight, you're covered in frosting! You look like a ghost! Do want me to clean you up?' Pinkie's tongue seemed to take on a life of it's own as it snaked towards Twilight.

'Beep.'

'Don't you dare touch me with that tongue!' With a flash of fuchsia a very, very irritated Twilight Sparkle sat perfectly clean inside a little circle of bare floor, a raging sea of sponge and cream whirling about her.

'Beep.'

'Spoilsport. You never let me do it the FUN way anymore.' Pinkie pouted.

'Beep.'

'Oh stop it Pinkie, it was just that one time when we were drunk. You should just let it go. And stop making that beep noise, its really irritating.'

'Beep.'

'YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME!' Pinkie wailed, tears welling up in her huge blue eyes. 'And I'm not making any beep noises. Meanie.'

'Beep.'

'I meant that in a platonic way! And if you aren't making that noise..' Twilight's eyes turned in horror to the alien artifact in the centre of the room.

'Beep.'

'Well if you won't love me then Dashie wi... er Twilight? Twi? Hello?' Pinkie tapped Twilight's shoulder with her hoof. 'Twilight? What's wrong?'

'Beep.'

Above the pulsing dome a message was spelled out in glowing ethereal neon. Beside the message ghostly numbers writhed, counting down rapidly.

'Sweet mother of Celestia. Pinkie... what have you done?' Twilight breathed.

The message read:
Fic update imminent in: 141:08:32