Chapter 31
Well, last night went way better than I was expecting. The dream walking lessons were amazing and the slumber party... I'll admit to not entirely hating it. It sort of proved that Equestria’s heroes don’t hate my lack of guts. Well, most of them anyway.
Still, this morning they all appeared to be in quite a hurry to get evacuate the premises, despite the party they’d all enjoyed. Upon awakening, most of them had a quick reminisce, before wanting to rush off for their own various reasons.
Rarity stayed for a little while to try and convince me to engage in her hobby, before she left to pursue some epiphanies her rest had given her. Probably something to do with repairing a sentient jacket or something.
The slightly more nervous butter pony, Fluttershy, took the time to thank me for my vanquishing of her nightmare. I did try to tell her it was my fault to begin with, but she was thankful non the less. It does seem that my intervention in dreams doesn’t go completely unnoticed. Anyway, after her brief thank you, she had to leave to feed her various animals, of which she assured me, there were many in need of new homes.
For her part, Applejack was pleasant enough, much to my surprise. She just steadily roused, thanked her friends for the party and left to go start work on her farm. The way she gave me the side eye upon leaving, gave me a pretty good impression of her opinion. Not the best, but at least she isn’t accusing me of anything out loud.
After Applejack, there was the opposite end of the sleep spectrum. That being Rainbow, who after quite a few shakes from Luna, finally roused to go and get ready for her work. As she left, she gave me no illusions that she was probably just going to go back to her own bed. Wish I could do that sometimes.
Another deep sleeper it turns out, was the small purple unicorn, Twilight. She seemed incredibly content in her sleeping state and it really pained my good friend Sunny, when she felt forced to wake her. Due to Twilight’s reaction, Loony took great pleasure in watching.
As Celestia gently poked her students muzzle with a feathered wing, she periodically grumbled, bringing a bit of mirth to the older pegacorn. Eventually though, Twilight made the mistake of saying, “not now mum.”
That earned a hearty chuckle from the sun, before she replied, “it has been a while since you called me that. Your third day of lessons I think it was?”
The much smaller unicorn bolted awake at that, her face so bright red, the purple couldn’t hide it. “Yes, I know, I didn’t mean anything by it! Nothing at all.”
After escaping the confines of her bag, she set about hurrying what remained of us out of her abode, spouting reasons of needing to clean it ready for the residents of her home town. I’m pretty sure everyone knew; she was trying to hide her embarrassment. Even Celestia, who probably had no idea of the deeper cause.
As we were kicked out, Celestia managed to say, “it was lovely to see you and your friends again. Thank you for inviting us.”
Those words did appear to calm the nervous unicorn, right up until Luna ruined it again. “Yes, as thy aunt, We really enjoyed seeing thou again.” That earned her a blank stare, followed by a slammed door in our collective faces.
Loony found that to be hilarious, while Sunny didn’t see the funny side in the slightest. I really shouldn’t have had Twilight’s dream tutor act like her mother all night.
Anyway, on to the most important member of the party for what concerns today’s events. Pinkie Pie was a bit of a special case, as we weren’t saying good bye to her and instead, were currently waiting for her outside her house made of sweets. Or hopefully, just painted to look like sweets.
As we stood waiting for the energetic pony’s return, my friend Sunny was nervously looking back over her shoulder towards the home. Her hooves shifting in a way that no living pony has probably ever seen, aside from her immortal sister of course. Speaking of Loony, in stark contrast positioned directly opposite her sister, she was sitting with the smuggest grin on her face, clearly sensing an entertaining day ahead.
After Sunny made the fifth nervous look back, the younger pegacorn finally broke the tension that’d formed since we’d left Twilight’s home. “Thou art aware that thou still hast time to back out, yes?” She wore a victorious smile as the words left her.
The words seemed to harden the Sun’s resolve for a moment, allowing a smile to grace her features. “I would not want to neglect providing you with a nice blue flower.” That poison joke better be mild. If it’s something that can make her sick, I’m going to have to step in. I wouldn’t be a very good confidant if I let my ward keel over.
In response, Loony just giggled lightly, before glancing in my direction. That actually caused me to release the disappointed sigh I’d been holding in. “Is this really necessary?”
Rather surprisingly, both the siblings turned to me and rather harmoniously said, “yes.” It really shouldn’t be this big of a deal. It was a stupid dare, made under the direction of a plastic bottle that’s probably already in a recycling bin. If ponies recycle stuff.
Their answer only brought out a deeper sigh, as we continued our wait for the pink mundane pony. Why would either of them be willing to go through those dares? Maybe it’s a matter of alicorn pride? They really do take the weirdest things seriously.
The thought of the current dare in question, caused my gaze to fall on the thin golden line still scarring Celestia’s back. An action that did not go unnoticed by my alabaster friend. That thing probably really bothers her. It would bother me, knowing I have this incredible weakness.
Seeing as my wandering eye holes had dropped me in it, I decided to try and sate a little of my curiosity about the object. “So, what was it like last time that, erm… Zipper was used?” Is it actually a zip? It seems to defy reality as I know it. Suppose that isn’t such a difficult thing in pony land.
That elicited a rare sigh from my friend, before she said, “to be honest, it is not one of my greatest memories.” As she spoke, one of her wings absently flicked the zip’s tab slightly. Seems like the understatement of the century. She was being forced to fight her sister, and me. Not a great memory for anyone involved.
The waiting pegacorn then turned to her darker sibling, before continuing, “I know very well that I was not the one to commit Discord’s actions during his escape, but, everything he did and said… at the time it truly felt like I was the one doing it. The harm he tried to make me commit… it still causes me some guilt, even to this day.”
As she spoke, her wing pulled down the zip, allowing her back to open up. This revealed an incredibly dark void within. The sight of this caused me to look away in a mock-up of a wince, also allowing me to notice Loony mimicking my action with a very real one.
Once the Night had shaken off her initial distaste at the memory, her ears flopped back in a first showing of empathy, as she spoke up, “maybe this was a little insensitive on Our part. We shall come up with a different dare if thou wishes? It will not count as Our victory.” Thank goodness. Finally, a voice of reason.
Unexpectedly, even though she’d been given an out from what was about to happen, Sunny raised a hoof and said, “no, no, I can accept my lot.” She then brightened up a little thanks to her smile. “Besides, if I pretend Pinkie isn’t there, it might be an interesting experience.” This is really some matter of honour between them, isn’t it? Then again, maybe she’s worried Luna might come up with something worse.
“If that is what thou chooses,” Loony acknowledged with a nod, before her smug grin returned, “We shall endeavour to enjoy every moment of this.”
So, is Celestia just putting on a brave face again? She does have a bit of a smile and her ears look pretty pointy, but those periodic nervous looks pretty clearly betray her true feelings. I bet she’s forcing her ears like that. They’re way floppier on a happy pony. Well, I probably shouldn’t feel as bad for her now, she had her out and threw it away.
As I was taking in her appearance, the ears I was gauging suddenly swivelled around as her shoulders hunched over. That was probably the appropriate reaction to the sound of her executioner opening the door to the sweet home.
“You guys won’t believe this, we’re out of flour again. It’s a catastrophe!” a bubbly voice said from behind the increasingly nervous pegacorn. The origin point, Pinkie, then only shrugged as she started to bounce towards us. “Heeeey, everypoooony ready?” Her excitable energy was much the same as it was last night, despite the slightly reduced amount of sleep. Possibly due to how much sugar she probably eats.
The first to great the approaching mundane pony, was Loony. “Of course We are. Right sister?” As she spoke, she gave Celestia a light poke with a wing tip.
Sunny seemed to nervously lick her lips, debating on how to respond before saying, “yes, erm Pinkie. You are aware that the words of the dare state you only need to use the zipper? That means you only need zip it up and down.” Wow, that’s why she didn’t go for a change of dare. There was a chance she could talk Pinkie out of it.
As the sun finished, she turned to look over at the pink bouncy pony with the slightest of hopeful smiles. Her approaching menace decided to dash those hopes, when she over enthusiastically said, “what! I’ve been waiting to do a sun themed party for like, forever. This is the perfect excuse.”
Those words caused the sun to look back towards me with a down trodden expression. I’m not feeling bad, stop making me feel bad, you could have gotten out of it... Oh, poor sun horse. As Sunny looked in my direction for pity, pinkie seemed to jump ever so slightly higher into the air, before shouting, “cannon ball!”
The result of this final jump, had Pinkie smoothly fly through the air and slip neatly through the opening upon my surprised friend’s back. The action caused my friend to yelp out in surprise as she stumbled forward unprepared for the impact. She then looked back over her shoulder, as we all watched a pink hoof pull the zipper closed from within, leaving no evidence that anything untoward had happened.
A low groan escaped Sunny at that, as she put a hoof to her face and quietly said, “I truly hope she remembers the rules we came up with.”
While the sun stood opposite us, I was starting to feel more and more antsy. It felt like something truly horrible was going to happen. To my right, Loony had the exact opposite reaction. She was almost bouncing on the tips of her hooves waiting for the end result.
After what felt like forever, Celestia started shift about a little awkwardly, seemingly being knocked off balance by an unseen force. Eventually, she couldn’t counteract it and tripped forward onto her stomach. “This is fine,” she said seemingly to reassure herself more than anyone else.
“You really sure about that?” If Celestia’s willing to go through this, how awful could the poison joke be that Luna has to eat?
From her position on the floor, the Sun looked up at me with an unsure smile, before rolling onto her back. A ghost of a defeated laugh escaped her as she stretched her forelegs into the air. “Do I look fine to you?” Even with that false smile, no, she does not.
As she finished speaking, she reached back towards her rear legs and gripped the left one. She then appeared to pull her leg in a rather confusing fashion, as if she was trying to put on a trouser leg. You could almost see the limb shift slightly as the action was undertaken. Upon completion, her rear hoof twitched backwards and forwards a little, as if testing the range of motion.
Her leg apparently satisfied, she repeated the action with the other before reaching towards her tail. With a quick pull, the usual majestic aura seemed to gain the consistency of a very familiar cotton candy one. Welp, seems we are about to see Pinkie again.
Now, apparently fully dressed, she rolled back to her hooves and slightly Shakely stood up. Wow, I can only imagine how scared Celestia would have been when it was Discord doing this instead. It must have been a real nightmare. Hmm, then again, does it look like this when I’m worn? I really hope not.
I was taken from my internal musings, when Sunny decided to take a few steps forward and bumped straight into my helmet. Hopefully not injuring her skull in the process. “Oh, Eclipse, my apologies. I was not paying attention,” she said as she began looking back at her now cotton candy tail.
“Erm, Sunny, do you feel… different?” I had to ask. She didn’t seem like Pinkie. Apart from the weird cloud aurora she now possessed anyway.
As I asked, her forehooves had begun probing around her neck. She didn’t pay it any mind though and curiously said, “hmm, I do not feel much like partying.” The moment those words left her, she appeared to grip the sides of her face and pulled downwards. Almost as soon as she did this, her usual aurora mane poofed into cotton candy, and her nervous smile shifted into that of a very large grin.
“Dost thou feel like partying now ‘sister’?” Loony just had to ask, placing extra emphasis on the final word, even though the answer was pretty evident.
With a very familiar smile on the wrong face, ‘Celestia’ said “absaposilutely, parties are like my whole cutiemark.” As she spoke, she turned to show us her usual sun mark, which hadn’t changed in the slightest. Upon doing so, she let out a gasp, “oh my gosh, you guys, I’ve never been this high up.” She appeared to marvel at how high she was before giggling and saying, “only joking, I’ve been upstairs before.”
So, we’re in it now. Better ease some of Celestia’s worries. “So erm… ‘Celestia’, you remember the rules for today, right?” Why do I feel so nervous.
When my question escaped, Sunny stopped looking in random directions and returned her focus to me, before raising a foreleg high into the air and shaking it around. “Ooo, ooo, I know, I know, pick me.” Another exasperated sigh escaped me at that. This might be a long day.
Taking up my slack, Loony raised a foreleg and started moving it slowly all the way from her left to her right. “Now then, let me see. Who best for Us to ask?”
As the navy shoed hoof past over her, ‘Celestia’ tried her best to stay in front of it without leaving her spot. Going so far as to attempt to stretch herself out to always be in front of it. She sort of looked like an over eager school child, not wanting any other student to steal their shot at answering. It was made all the stranger by the fact she was the only one present.
Eventually, either the shaking foreleg, the desperate cries of pick me or Luna’s wish to see a result won out, and Loony decided to point at her energetic ‘sister’. “Oh, how about thou?” Loony asked, while attempting to hide her mirth. She took a moment to look at me, before looking back to her ‘sister’. She’s probably hoping I’m enjoying this as much as her.
The over excited pegacorn took a moment to rear upon her hind legs in celebration of being chosen, before taking a seat on her rear and quieting down. With a very hearty throat clear she began what appeared to be the makings of a speech. “Okay, rule number one, ensure no pony is harmed during our game.” The way she said that honestly reminded me of the real Celestia’s tone, if she hadn’t gotten to her hooves and started shadow boxing the air anyway.
As she struggled to defeat her invisible opponent, she continued on in a very unCelestia tone. “Nopony would ever hurt somepony at my parties. They’d be a right meanie if they did.” She then paused mid swing, almost falling over if it wasn’t for one of her wings shooting out to steady her. “Well, if somepony was a meanie, I’d at least have to get out the party cannon.”
“Okay, I’m sure that’s fine, erm, can you move on to the next one?” This’s probably isn’t necessary. Pinkie is a good pony, even if she is a little… fruity. Besides, this whole situation is unnecessary, why even have rules?
With a quick salute, ‘Celestia’ said, “okidokie.” Her hoof moved swiftly from a salute, to reach directly into her cotton candy, rainbow mane in search of something. That object was revealed to be a large fancy looking scroll, which she began to look through. You’ve got to wonder how Sunny kept that thing in there. It’s almost as big as her head.
Sunny herself upon reading the scroll, seemed to lose a little of her giddiness, before asking no one in particular, “is that the real constitution?”
The pause in her overly sunny demeaner ended abruptly, when she tossed the document into the air. “Don’t make any new laws, yay!”
The paper didn’t fly through the air for long, as almost as soon as it left Sunny’s golden shoed clutches, it was surrounded by a golden aura. Said aura, then propelled the scroll in my direction, causing it to sail straight through my left eye hole, to my unwelcome surprise. Well, seems Sunny is still at home in there. She hopefully just wants me to look after this thing, and wasn’t trying to blind me.
As I gingerly pushed the document the remainder of the way through, Loony had gained a little nervous smile of her own. “It appears Our sister hast forgotten she was carrying such an important document. Thou will need to ensure the safe return of that relic to the castle’s archives.” Not sure if I like having an important responsibility thrust upon me out of nowhere. Saying that, I’m not sure Celestia likes the idea that that scroll probably just appeared in her mane. No way was she carrying that thing around all this time.
Without waiting for us to pay attention, ‘Celestia’ went on to explain the last rule. “Finally, no ordering anypony about, because nopony likes a bossy four hooves.” The moment she finished, she appeared to get onto her tippy hooves and stuck her face as close to my helmet as possible. Clearly, she was in desperate need of confirmation.
Not quite used to having such a wide-eyed Sunny invade my personal space like that, I simply said, “erm, that’s fine.”
That got her out of my face, as she fell back to the flats of her hooves. “I knew it was,” she beamed, before putting a hoof to her mouth with a light giggle.
“So, now everything is in order, ‘Sister’, what are thy plans for this fine morning?” Loony slyly asked, clearly choosing to forget the issue with the integral piece of paperwork that only just occurred. Guess I’ll be looking after it for a while.
The prying question prompted ‘Celestia’ to spring into the air for a moment, before she went off on a mini tirade. “Obviously, we’ve gotta set up a splendifourous party. So many sun themed cakes to make, so many sun streamers, sun plates, sun cups and not forgetting sun hats. Ahh, so many bright yellow things to buy.” She seemed to sigh happily at the thought of all the required decorations.
“Does everything really need a sun on it.” I know it’s Celestia, but come on.
As soon as those words left my helmet, a pair of impossibly strong hooves gripped it on both sides and pulled me faceplate to muzzle with the excitable princess. “How can Celestia set up a party without suns everywhere? Have you even seen her? She has suns on everything.” Sunny sounded almost hurt that I didn’t know her. For a few seconds, I actually felt a little bit of guilt well up. Right up until she reminded me of who I was dealing with.
Her hurt demeanour suddenly evaporated, as she released my helmet. It was replaced with one of puzzlement as if only just realizing something. “Would suns everywhere be tacky? We can’t have the princess set up a tacky party, but… she’d probably want it that way. But ponies might not like it. No no, we can do it. They expect Celestia to be a bit tacky. She’s old. Don’t tell her I said that.”
Before I could tell ‘Celestia’ that I wouldn’t tell Celestia what she said, she decided to give some confirmation herself, in her usual royal tone. “Do not worry, I did not hear a thing.” She said while still staring in my direction, her lips seeming to lightly curl up at the sides. Hopefully, that means the real Sunny is finding this a little amusing. It’s probably more likely that the zipper is making her feel Pinkie’s emotions or something.
Anyway, ignoring my dislike of the situation, Celestia suddenly celebrated, by raising her hooves and shouting, “yay!”, in royal Canterlot. Clearly, she was happy she didn’t hear what she said. Seeing no further reasons to waste any more time, the Pinkiefied sun turned down the street and blurted out, “onwards to the flour shop. Not the flower shop.” The next moment, the space in front of me was empty, and Celestia was happily pronking down the road.
A swift nudge to my side, ended my stupefied staring at the royal alicorn merrily bouncing away from me. Turning to that side, Loony was clearly holding back full-blown laughter as she jovially said, “We are loving this already. Is this not amazing?” Instead of waiting for a reply, she set off at a gallop to catch up to her estranged sister.
Not wanting to abandon the sun to her fate, I followed hot on her hooves. The main thoughts going through my head being a bit less than amazed. That Zipper is so dangerous. I really can’t believe we’re taking it so lightly. What if some random pony finds out about it? It might be too tempting a prize.
Keeping those negative thoughts to myself, I decided to instead focus on the current problem. That being the rapidly pronking pegacorn that both me and the night were struggling to catch up to. She was going so fast that her wings kept popping out in order to keep her balance. That’s probably Celestia trying to prevent a face plant.
To make matters worse, the royal Canterlot voice from earlier had clearly had an effect upon the steadily waking town. As we passed the colourful homes of Pony Town, various doors began opening as their awoken residents either left for work, or just wanted to see what was going on. Not to long after, a chorus of gasps and jaws falling open followed. Those ponies probably aren’t used to seeing their ruler bounce past like a small child. Wonder what they think of her being pursued by her sister and a ghost? Hopefully nothing bad.
Just as the night was about to catch up with the escaping day, the familiar sound of a car’s brakes screeching met my ears. This signalled the almost instantaneous stop of the pegacorn. A feat which I completely failed to replicate, resulting in quite a large amount of dirt being torn up and a buckled street light.
The familiar musical laughter of my favoured pony met my ears at that. Something that is likely to be the theme of today. She hadn’t managed to stop as fast as her sister, but she rather more majestically lowered her gait. Steadily managing to reach a walking pace nearing my catastrophic stoppage. “Eclipse, art thou okay?” she said with the slightest of concern, one or two laughs still managing to escape.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about the light.” Looking at the light did cause me a little bit of guilt. The lamppost in question appeared to be a solid, cast-iron construction with what might have been an oil lantern at the top. That thing probably cost a decent amount of taxes. Saying that, they are probably due for an upgrade. The discovery of electricity is calling.
My demeanour appeared to have some effect, as it seemed to put pause to Loony’s joviality. She took a moment to observe the appliance and said, “could thou please stand back, We can restore this if thy magic resistance is not in the way.”
“Okay.” Scrabbling off of the broken light as fast as my shoes could carry me, I stood in wait to hopefully marvel at some impressive and useful magic. I was not disappointed, as Loony lit her horn, causing the damaged object to glow blue and somehow reverse in time. It took only a few seconds for the lamppost to return to its upright position. What’s more, it even relit. How on earth does that even work? This is probably the most amazing thing I’ll see all day.
“Now come along, Our sister needs us,” Loony said, as she basked in my marvelling of her displayed power. Seriously, that lamppost being so easily fixed will trump anything that happens with that Zip. Oh dear, hope ‘Sunny’ hasn’t run off.
It seemed that ‘Celestia’ hadn’t gotten very far since my little screw up. I’d have thought she was waiting for us, if she hadn’t have been bending her legs rapidly, causing her to bounce up and down on the spot. Once the two of us met up with the vibrating pony, her head suddenly shot in our direction. The next words that came out of her mouth were quite a surprise, thought they shouldn’t have been. “Guys, have you seen how bouncy alicorn legs are? It’s almost like I’ve got springs in my hooves.” She emphasized her thought, by doing another couple of bounces. The distant sounds of springs could almost be heard. You’ve gotta wonder how Pinkie does that.
Luna started to make a small sound of amusement, right up until ‘Sunny’ decided to grab one of her forelegs and inspect it. “Your legs aren’t as long, but I bet it’d still work. You should try bouncing with me. It’s so much more fun.”
A little unsure, Loony failed to pull her hoof from her sister’s grip and said, “maybe… it did seem quite fast. Maybe We could try during Our next workout?” Now that would be funny to watch. Wait, would that mean I’d have to do it?
Releasing her grip of iron, ‘Sunny’ nudged her sister a couple of time and said, “why not now? It’s easy.” She then turned towards the nearby general store and bounced through the door. The door that seemed to open just so the immortal sun’s bouncing wasn’t interrupted.
Seeing the action, Loony actually took a moment to look down at her hooves, experimentally bent her legs and then mimicked the jump a couple times. She then immediately halted the action and looked around, the slightest of red tinting her features. Upon seeing no one else staring, she looked back to me and asked, “how did We look? It did feel a little amusing.”
Hmm, she was a lot more elegant than what her sister had been. The way she moved was actually kind of… I don’t know, nice? It wasn’t really the same sort of bounce though. “I would say you were quite graceful, like a… erm… deer? There was more elegance than your sister’s one.” Yeah, that makes sense, it did look quite natural. Aren’t unicorns supposed to be part deer or something?
From the smile she gave me, she liked the idea of that. Still, she seemed to decide against mimicking her sister further, and steadily walked towards the shop’s door. The door which rudely didn’t open of its own accord for her.
Once we were both inside the building, it didn’t take long for my gaze to fall upon the alabaster pegacorn. She normally stands out in any room, but this time, she was making extra efforts to do so by talking animatedly at the mundane pony shop keeper.
“What’s so hard to get? I only need my usual super-duper deluxe cup cake flour with all your special extras. I also need thirty metres of yellow paper, some smiley sun stickers, yellow cups wait… make them blue with a sun on them,” the impatient pegacorn rattled off at the terrified shop keeper, before seeming to have another idea. “ooo ooo, I’m going to need some stuff with moons on as well, can’t have Luna getting left out, but then again, it is a Celestia party. But how can you have the sun without the moon? That’s like a cake without frosting, right?”
As the sun goddess’s tirade suddenly ended, the shaking shop keeper realized his princess wanted an answer. After a long period of nervous staring, he finally let out a squeaky, “Errrrmm, I have flour?” Wow, I feel bad for that guy. Just a normal day, running the store and then your ruler comes in demanding all sorts of random stuff off you. It probably isn’t helped by the fact ‘Sunny’ practically has her nose pressed up against his. Who knows, he might think this is some weird honour. Seeming to realize the Sun wanted more than just flour, he almost screamed out, “you can have anything you want!”
Luckily for him, it was too early for any other ponies to be present to witness the unusual exchange. Well, too early for all but one. “Oh my, ‘tis better than We could imagine,” Loony said while using a wing to rub a tear from her eye. “We only wish We had one of those new picture taking devices our ponies invented.” So, ponies do have cameras. That does make sense.
Just as the navy pegacorn finished rubbing the joyful tears from her eyes, ‘Celestia’ gave the poor stallion a moments respite, by rushing towards her sister and pulling an apparently gold-plated camera once again out of her mane. Loony blinked a few times at the device, as from her point of view, it probably somehow materialized in front of her. It seems Pinkie puts extra effort into making things seem to appear from nowhere.
“Here ya go,” Sunny said helpfully. “Not sure why I’ve got that. Maybe it’s in case of a group party picture emergency?” As the party princess started to walk back towards the slightly recovered shop keeper, one of her wings tried in vain to knock the device from Loony’s grip, before they were pulled out of reach by her legs.
“Oh excellent,” Loony said, after easily dodging her sister’s desperate swipe. She then took a moment to turn the expensive looking camera over, before hoofing it to me. “Erm Eclipse, could thou use Pinkie’s, ahem, Our sister’s camera to take a picture? We are not familiar with these contraptions.”
I’m pretty sure that camera actually belongs to Sunny. I was pretty sure she took a picture of Luna with my makeover. Bleh, can’t believe I did that to her while she slept. Welp, seems Loony’s going to get a little vengeance. Taking a moment to look over the vintage camera, it seemed not to work due to needing to be wound. An easy thing for me to rectify, but it apparently took long enough for Sunny to pull the shop assistant in close to her like a small foal. “Say cheese.”
“Mooooon!” came the unexpected call from the solar pegacorn, prompting me to snap the picture. There we go, one happy pegacorn, with a terrified, sweating, beat red shop keeper in a hug. Hmm, wonder how Pinkie managed to use her borrowed feathers to give him bunny ears? She pretty clearly can’t use the wings.
After taking a moment to look at the scene portrayed by the magic camera, Loony’s curiosity got the better of her. “So, pray tell ‘sister’. Is moon the norm to say when a pony capture’s thy image?” From the way her ears were perking up, it seemed Loony quite liked the sound of that.
Sadly for the intrigued Night, ‘Sunny’ had a disappointing answer. “You know how it is. The moons made of cheese, right? How else could you have lived up there so long? You must really love cheese to have it be your whole thing. There really should be cheese named after you.” With that reveal complete, Celestia turned her attention back to the steadily creeping away shop assistant. That guy can’t get a break.
With her bubble burst, Luna swivelled around to face me. “Do not listen to Our sister. Our precious moon doth not consist of a dairy product. ‘Tis made of the finest stone known to Eques.”
Seeing how this wasn’t the most important thing going on at the moment, I simply said, “Okay.” This does bring up a good point though. How did Loony survive up there for a thousand years? She clearly needs to eat and from almost personal experience, she does possess all the other bodily functions. Well, I’m pretty sure. I never did let her take me into the bathroom while she did her thing. Not for lack of her forgetting she’s wearing me mind. Three times now.
Anyway, it seemed Loony was still locked onto the whole cheese thing, as she insistently said, “’tis true, We would not lie to thou. We do not live off cheese alone.” Just the lack of air.
Seeing as her ‘sister’s’ dumb joke worried her, I ended up saying, “I believe you,” in a much more sympathetic tone.
This caused the pegacorn to sigh in relief. “Honestly, We must get to the bottom of these bizarre rumours. They put Our image as Equestria’s protector in jeopardy.” It’s not that bad, is it? Pretty sure everyone’s told their kids at some point that the moon is made of cheese.
In an attempt to try and lighten my friends worries, I decided to say, “you know, that rumour is pretty funny. A giant block of cheese in the sky? I mean, what kind of cheese would it even be, mozzarella?”
In retrospect, trying to make light of something Loony cares about was not the best idea. She responded by seeming to somehow stand a little taller and giving me an imperious stare. “’Tis, not, made, of, cheese,” she then declared, while giving me a number of light pokes with a wing.
“I know it isn’t. I’m just pointing out why it wouldn’t make sense. Heck, I’m not even sure what this world’s moon’s for.” Oh wait, I’ve put my shoe in it, haven’t I?
That I had, because after an initial bout of shocked despair, Loony decided to subject me to five minutes of all the uses for her night’s fair moon. Due to her newfound irate state, the explanation didn’t really go into my earless helmet, before ‘Celestia’ had managed to collect all the supplies she needed.
“Yes, this stuff’s amazing. We’re going to make the best cupcakes ever,” she said with her back now laden with supplies. These ranged from bags of flour bigger than a pony, all the way to a single wheel of mozzarella cheese sitting at the top of her pile.
The sight of her sister laden like a pack animal, luckily distracted the Moon from her saddened explanation. It even prompted her to grab the camera out of my shoe, wind it up and then snap another picture. Heh, seems she’s a fast learner, and fast forgetter. As she smiled at the newly frozen moment, Loony proved my thoughts wrong yet again. “We would like to explain Our night to thou one of these days,” she said in a much calmer tone. One that still didn’t broker any argument. Why would I argue about that anyway?
“Yeah, I’d like that. We’ll have to go star gazing together or something.” That’s a good excuse to leave the castle again.
Those words seemed to brighten up the pegacorn more than I’d expected. She even seemed to look a little embarrassed. “Of course, it will be a most wonderful occasion. Maybe… it could count as…” She even started to trail off a little nervously at the end. There’s that weird atmosphere again. It seems to keep happening lately.
The moment only lasted for a few seconds, as the shop’s door swung open behind us. “Bye mister Sweep, be sure to come to the party.” Those words, were our signal to restart our pursuit once again.
“Come along my knight, the day requires thy presence,” she said returning back to her former jovial tone, before rushing through the door, probably hoping to beat her sister in the return journey.
With a light shake of my helmet, I turned to the relieved shop keeper and said, “thanks for helping us out. The Princesses truly appreciated your efforts.” Before he could respond with terror due to the weird ghost thing he’d been left alone with, I made my way out of the store to catch my escaping friends.
The small thought that them leaving me behind would cause some issues with the locals did worry me for a moment. Thankfully, the two Princesses hadn’t gotten too far, as ‘Sunny’ had taken the time to stop at a small ice cream stand. Both sisters had apparently had time to purchase a cone each. Luna had gone for a single scoop of chocolate, while Celestia seemed to have gone for one of each colour.
“So, how’s the ice-cream?” I asked the pegacorns once I was in range.
Loony was the first to respond after licking a small portion of chocolate from her lip. “’Tis quite the delectable treat. We never had such things in Our original kingdom. Would thou like to try?”
Those words prompted me to look at her offered cone. One that had almost been completely exhausted of the sweet treat. “I think I’ll pass for now.” Then again, have I ever had any? I know it’s good.
That earned me a light shrug as the navy pegacorn tossed the remains of her treat into her mouth. “’Tis thy loss,” she said with a slight shrug of her wings, before turning to observe her sister’s own treat.
For her part, the alabaster mare seemed to be in a world of bliss, almost completely ignoring everything else, save for the licking of her snack. Wonder if that’s because of the diet? After numerous licks of the full stack of ice-cream, she paused and appeared to go cross eyed at her cone.
“Isn’t that ice-cream a bit excessive?” I attempted to jest. She’d managed to smear quite a large amount of it across her usually pristine muzzle.
For a moment, her eyes turned to me before shooting back to their original target. She then loudly said another of those things you’d never expect, all while keeping her tongue stuck out. “Hey eveypony! Have you feen my tongue? It’s fuper long.” As she said that she wiggled the appendage in the air, dangerously close to her treat.
Oh, she was staring at her tongue, not the sweet. Makes sense. Although, pretty sure that’s how long it should be for a pegacorn. Her head is almost twice the size of a regular pony’s. “It does seem impressive; I don’t even have one.”
“Aw tht’s a thame, no ice kream for you,” she started to say before her tongue flicked back to her treat. An action that seemed to surprise the usually stoic pony. “Do you thee tht? It even goes by itshelf!” Her accusation at her own limb seemed to cause her cheeks to tint red, but the appendage did not stop. Seems Celestia is taking the opportunity to cheat on her diet while she can.
Once the treat was complete, and Loony had taken the opportunity to snap another picture, the three of us set off once more to return to whence we came, Pinkie’s sweet house. I would like to say we immediately escaped the stares ‘Sunny’s’ shout had attracted, but our method of travel ensured we kept them. That being the pronking Sunny, and unexpectedly pronking Loony. The two sisters keeping almost neck and neck for the entire journey, while I settled for galloping behind them. They might be enjoying themselves doing that, but it would probably annoy the locals if I started smashing more holes in their road.
Part way through the race, a small purple unicorn had finally decided to leave the safety of her library, but upon seeing the commotion decided to make herself scarce and hide once again. Or maybe it was due to her still feeling embarrassed about that dream I gave her? She did seem to really enjoy giving that lecture though. Either way, the weird thing about that event, was I could have sworn I didn’t actually see her with my own eyes. Strange.
Anyway, the impromptu pronking race had the exact ending I’d expected. That being the inevitable victory of the Sun Princess. I mean come on, her current driver pronks everywhere, while Loony has only just started. To be fair it was a lot closer than you’d expect, probably due to ‘Celestia’ not realizing it was a race, but still. There was also the fact that Celestia was carrying a whole load of stuff, some of which I had to collect along the way.
When I, this time, steadily slowed down to a halt next to them, Loony was almost completely out of breath, while Sunny looked like she was ready for round two. She was still bouncing from hoof to hoof with boundless energy. “Come on Loony, you can’t tell me that wasn’t fun?” she cheerily said to her defeated sister.
As she regained her breath, Loony gave a slightly jealous look to her sister’s lack of fatigue, before saying, “We shall admit to thy way of travel having merits in entertainment, although it does waste vast amounts of energy.” When she noticed my arrival, an idea appeared to form within her mind. “How about we have another round? This time, Eclipse can help Us. ‘Tis not fair for only one of us to have assistance.” Oh come on, the race didn’t matter that much.
The sun seemed to contemplate that idea and started to say, “that seems fair enou-” before she shook her head in disagreement. “We don’t have time. This party isn’t going to set up itself.” She then seemed to reluctantly turn around, before walking towards her sweet home.
Sunny’s blatant rejection of Luna’s desire to a rematch, caused the Moon to grumble slightly to herself. In an attempt to dull this irritation, I said, “erm, I’m pretty sure your sister want’s a rematch. Maybe you could do one at your work out?”
“’Tis true. She will also lack her advantage then,” she grinned as we followed behind the Sun.
The moment Sunny crossed the threshold, she called out, “Miss Cake, Mr Cake. I’mmmm baaaack.” No response came to the sing song voice of the pegacorn, thus prompting a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “They must have gone out. Oh well, more ovens for me.” Now that’s a blessing. Imagine having your beloved ruler pop in and act exactly like your daughter. Now that would be a mind breaking moment.
Soon after, Loony followed her inside. An act that made me feel a little wrong. I mean, do we even have permission to walk into Pinkie’s house? Her parents aren’t even home to give it. How old is Pinkie anyway? Actually, how old does a pony have to be before they’re an adult? How long do they even live?
Despite these worries, my form quickly darted into the building due to the larger worry of being left outside with the local populace. Once inside, it became pretty obvious that permission wasn’t really needed, seeing as this place wasn’t really a house at all. It was in fact a very familiar cake store, one that I’d only witnessed within the dreams of a certain pink pony. Huh, her dream was completely accurate. Then again, that door at the back probably doesn’t lead to the dream realm.
The door in question actually led through to a nicely set out kitchen. A kitchen that my second-best friend was currently making herself right at home within. In a slightly awkward manner, she kicked off her fore shoes, removed her chest piece and placed her crown carefully onto a waiting hook. In almost the same motion, her hoof moved over the next hook and retrieved a white baker’s hat and apron. Items clearly designed for a much smaller mare.
Paying this no mind. Sunny squeezed the much too small apron over her head, only getting it caught on her horn a couple times. With the tiny amount of material, covering some of her chest, she successfully attempted to precariously balance the tiny hat upon her large head. After a small titter of amusement, she walked over to a set of cupboards and started retrieving some cooking utensils. A familiar content humming sound emitting from her lips, as she started her work with the slightest of dance to her movements.
“This is really weird,” escaped my helmet at the sight. We’re basically just staring at a mare as she tries to go about her usual day. If she wasn’t dressed as she was, we’d have no reason to be here. Maybe we should leave her to it?
“We know the feeling,” Loony agreed. “Tia never could bake. Maybe Pinkie will teach her something?” she continued, as Celestia cracked a couple eggs into a bowl and began whisking in a practiced motion. Pretty sure that’s not what I meant by weird. It never really crossed my mind that Celestia didn’t bake. Suppose being royalty means the two pegacorns have probably never needed to touch a stove. Saying that, have they always been royalty?
As we continued to spy on the happily working mare, she added a small amount of butter to another bowl and began looking around at the top shelves. A moment later, she’d reared up onto the tips of her hooves trying to reach for some unknown ingredient. “Longer legs, but still can’t reach,” she grumbled slightly to herself. “Don’t think Mister Cake was right about a coming growth spurt being enough.”
While the frustrated pegacorn continued to try and get one of the many unlabelled bags down from the poorly positioned shelf, Loony nudged me with a wing. Looking at what had caught her interest, it appeared there was a specially designed ladder she was likely supposed to use for the task. “Maybe we should tell her?” Have her parents not told her about that? How would she get those bags down normally? They look pretty big.
“And spoil the fun?” Loony said with another flash of her camera. She then returned her focus to her suddenly less composed sister. “Besides, she appears to have the situation well in hoof. If ‘tis not cheating a little.”
The familiar sound of magic being used, coincided with a golden glow surrounding the surprised pegacorn’s horn. “Yeah, that’s a great idea,” she applauded herself before dropping back to her four hooves. That same glow then surrounded one of the many large sacks and began bringing it down to the floor. Much to Celestia and ‘Celestia’s’ disappointment. “Hmm, I don’t think these cupcakes need potatoes.”
A moment later, the bag of potatoes was carefully placed upon the ground, before the one next to it was collected. O man, two down about thirteen to go, those bags really need a label. As the second bag began to lower, Celestia appeared to wince for a second, hiding her mouth with a hoof, “ooo careful with that one. That’s my gun powder.”
Sunny’s wince was almost immediately repeated by my friend, who was understandably unhappy with the substance’s presence. “Gun powder! What would thou ever need such a dangerous material for?”
“Gonna go out on a limb here and guess her party cannon,” I nonchalantly pointed out. This earned me a probably much desired hoof point of affirmation from the distracted Sun. As I watched this second bag be carefully lowered down and hidden under the sink, its presence brought up some more inconsistency’s about Equestria. Do ponies have real war cannons, and guns? If so, why do they only use crossbows? But then, if not, why would they call that stuff gunpowder? Wouldn’t it be like spark powder, or something firework related?
Anyway, seeing as her sister had carefully hidden the dangerous substance, Loony seemed content with my answer. She was also very content with continuing to watch her sister struggle. “Sister, art thou having some issues?” she asked sweetly, very aware of the current difficulties.
In a rather polite tone Celestia replied with, “the baking is fun. I am just a little unsure as to what I am currently after.” She then stuck out her tongue in concentration and began trying to aim her horn using her hooves. Suppose that’s one way to do it.
The act caused my friend to titter into a hoof. “Thou art aware, that horns don’t work like that?” Oh well, suppose it isn’t a way to do.
Watching the strange dual nature of the usually regal pegacorn brought another thought back to the forefront of my mind. “Erm Loony, it doesn’t look like that when people wear me, does it?” I hope not, I’ve always tried to be as comfortable and helpful as possible.
“I would not know of such things. We have only really experienced the first-pony perspective,” Loony said with a smile. She seemed quite happy with that fact. A fact which was pretty incorrect, seeing as she’d seen both Skitter and Sunny wear me before.
“’Tis quite clear that thou art a tad subtler,” she said as we watched Celestia climb onto the counter top and begin reaching for a bag with just one leg precariously holding her up. The Moon then let out a light laugh, “nay, thou could make even the most uncouth individual appear regal born. As befits one of thy position, We would not adorn ourselves with thou if it were any other way.” What even is my position anyway?
A groan of complaint interrupted the comforting conversation. “Oh, I see. Not the white bag with no label, but the other white bag with no label,” Celestia half complained, as she hopped down from the counter, a large bag in tow.
The moment her butter coated hooves hit the ground; a small tremor went through the counter, causing the pegacorn’s eyes to widen in shock. “Twitchy tail twitchy tail!” she blurted out in our direction before attempting to dive underneath one of the counters. Seeing as she was bigger than her wearer was probably used to, her rear was left sticking out into the room, with her cotton candy aurora visibly twitching behind her.
After another quick flash, this time getting a selfie as well, Luna quizzically asked, “twitchy tail? Is this some new found slang term?”
That caused me to sigh. “I don’t think so. If what Twilight says is true, then it’s something to do with the Pinkie sense.”
I suppose I did earn that incredulous look. “The Pinkie sense? We are aware of no such magic.”
“It probably isn’t magic. It’s like a sixth sense or something? Anyway, she thinks somethings going to fall.” That better be right. I had to sit through an entire night long lecture as Celestia, while also helping Loony dream walk. It was so distracting. Especially when the little unicorn thought I wasn’t paying attention.
After taking a moment to survey the room, Loony smiled and gave me a knowing look. “Well my dear Eclipse. It appears this one time, thou art incorrect. Maybe Our sister is just afraid of her own tail?”
I was about to complain that it was Sunny’s student who told me about it in a dream, when a box fell from a shelf above Luna and tried to fall upon her head. I say tried, because before it could make contact, it received a slightly too hard kick from my fore shoe. Thus, scattering hundreds of thousands of Hundreds and Thousands across the room and its occupants.
“Told you…heh.” Okay that was a little embarrassing, she probably wouldn’t have even felt the impact, now she’s covered. Hope those things aren’t sticky.
“My hero,” Luna jokingly said with a good-natured shake of her head, before using her magic to collect the small cake sprinkles from the various surfaces they had adhered to. Not least of which was her own form. Noticing a bin, she expertly tossed her assembled ball into it, neatly disposing of most of the evidence.
A good thing too, as the sound of the sprinkle ball entering the bin, caused her sister to pop out from her hiding place. Only a few tough sprinkles stuck in her candy tail. “That was a close one,” she said with palpable relief.
“’Twas indeed,” Loony replied, before taking a look through a window. It appeared like she was staring directly at the actual sun, not her sister. After a quick sigh, she said, “well sister, this experience has been most enjoyable, but all good things must come to an end.” Hmm, that’s a bit sudden.
Her sister appeared to agree, as she turned to face us baring the one thing everyone should fear, sad pony eyes. “But why? We’re having so much fun.” As she spoke her mane seemed to deflate, falling down either side of her face. It actually looked pretty interesting, like a cascading rainbow straight down. Maybe I should mention that to her? But then her mane would drag on the ground. It’s a good job it usually defies gravity.
Seeming to easily resist the affects, the other pony with gravity defying hair, a little disappointingly said, “Sadly, as per Our agreement, day court requires our attention. It will take some familiarization.” As she mentioned day court, her good wing gestured in my direction. Pretty sure Sunny already has ponies who help with that, but I’ll come if she wants.
The sad pony eyes continued, until Celestia raised a hoof to make a point, “sister, day court does not start for three more hours. I believe it could be fun to bake together.” It was a strange contrast to see her sad eyes paired with a hopeful smile.
Her actions actually caused the Moon to hesitate for a second, before she looked to me, probably for my irrelevant opinion. “It could be fun, I suppose.” It would probably make Sunny happy. She always seems to find random reasons to spend time with her sister.
“But day court is a little more compli…cated,” Loony began before making the mistake of looking into the desperate pegacorn’s pleading eyes. With a quick swallow, she looked to the rack where the sun themed regalia lay and heartily said, “Eclipse, could thou provide an apron? It appears We have some cupcakes to bake.”
Nodding in response, I used a portion of my mist to form the desired item, a light blue apron with a moon in its centre. Alongside it, I shoed over a matching chef’s hat, both items being the correct size in stark contrast to the Sun’s attire.
As Luna took the items in her hoof and began removing her regalia, Celestia reared up in celebration for something like the third time this morning. “Yay, the first party set up by the sun and moon butt duo. This is gonna be amazing.”
Don’t forget me, I’m going to be there too. I do know how to poach an egg. Hopefully that’s somehow involved in baking.