“Listen, Twilight,” Sunset began gingerly, “I know this party is a big deal for you, because Vice Principal Luna asked us to organize it for Principal Celestia whom you… ahem… admire, but… aren’t you taking this a bit too far?”
“…ty nine… one hundred! Check!” her friend exclaimed proudly, transferring the last two balloons from their bag to a box, then put the mark on her quite long checklist. “What was it?”
“Don’t you think counting every single balloon and streamer is an overkill?”
Judging by her face, Twilight was both surprised and appalled.
“Are you kidding? We’re talking about a party for the best principal I’ve ever had… and the one at my elementary school was already very nice. Everything has to be perf… oh, Fluttershy and Pinkie are back!”
With that, she hurried off towards her two pink-haired friends who’d just entered the gym where all the preparations for the next day’s party were underway.
Sunset sighed and ran after her.
“Okay, I get it,” she said, catching up with her. “You like our principal, you admire her, you’re grateful to her and so on… but seriously: you begin to sound and act like Rarity. If you keep running around with this list and checking every detail, you’ll end up exhausted.”
“Don’t exaggerate. I’ll be just f…” Her friend paused and stopped in mid-stride.
Looking in the same direction as she, Sunset saw two girls (called, if she remembered correctly, Lily and Rose), kneeling beside a long strip of white fabric on which they’d just finished painting letters forming the inscription…
“Happy birthday… Principal Celest?!” Twilight shouted, clearly shocked. “What happened to the rest of her name?!”
“We couldn’t fit it all in.” The paler girl (probably Rose, judging by the color of her hair and lipstick) smiled a little nervously.
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and facepalmed.
“We can’t hang a banner that says Happy Birthday, Principal Celest,” she snapped. “Scrap this one and try again.”
“We’ve got no more fabric…” the other girl said.
“Then cut it. Seriously, do I have to think for everybody in here?!”
“Twilight, that’s enough.” Sunset grabbed her shoulders, turned her around and sternly looked into her eyes. “You’re tired. I’ll take care of everything here, and you go and relax.”
“But…”
“I said: go and relax. It’s not like the world will crum…” She paused, spotting a familiar, blond-haired, freckled girl, wearing an equally familiar cowboy hat. “Oh, Applejack! It’s great to see you!”
“We’ve already seen each other this mornin’.” There was amusement in Applejack’s green eyes, and a smirk on her lips. “Seriously, though: what’s up?”
“I think Twilight’s getting a little too wound up about this all…”
“I’m not!” the bespectacled girl objected.
Sunset ignored her.
“Could you take her to a quieter place?”
“Sure thin’.” Applejack gripped Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on, Twi.”
“But… but…” the other girl babbled.
“Go. We’ll be fine,” Sunset assured her.
When her friends mingled into the crowd, she turned to the other two girls.
“Okay, let’s see what we can do about this banner…”