My Most Faithful Student,
Luna and I are delighted to accept your invitation to come for a relaxing afternoon at the Library! It’s been so long since we were able to discuss your research and what you’ve discovered.
With the Summer Sun Celebration completed and Canterlot’s vacation season upon us, it is a most opportune time for my sister and I to take a short break from Castle life. If you could gather your friends, we would dearly love to see them as well (as I write this Luna is already expressing a strong interest in Applejack’s latest vintage).
If there is one request I may make, there has been much buzz in Canterlot lately about a delightful concoction Pinkie Pie presently popularized, a 'Ponyville Party Prandial.' We would both love to try one; can we impose upon you to prepare a pitcher prior?
P.S. Luna would like to know if her alliterative additions have doubled the fun.
Celestia
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Spike was still patting his stomach to settle it after a flaming outburst when Twilight finished reading the letter. Setting it down, she clapped her hooves together and bounced on her hindlegs. “Oh, Spike! They’re coming, they’re coming!”
Her happiness spilled over, and she bounded over to the little dragon. “I can’t wait! We’ll have such a good time!” Not even Spike’s exaggerated eyeroll could dampen her spirits. The thought of spending time with both of the Ponies she most looked up to kept her from noticing the young dragon's apathy. While planning was a joy for her, he knew it meant endless writing and list-making and -checking, followed by more writing.
But as a thought occurred to her, Twilight stopped mid-bounce and thumped to the floor. Her joy began to turn to worry as her mind began to dig into the details that would need to be addressed before such an important visit. “There's so much to do! Oh, what shall I get for them to eat? Some muffins and cupcakes, of course, and Applejack’s apples, and maybe a cake from the Cakes? Oh, and how could I forget, I need to get Pinkie Pie to give me her recipe for the Ponyville Party Prandials! Spike!” She whirled about to face the dragon, only to look in confusion at empty space where he had been standing.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” said Spike huffily, “take a memo, right?” Anticipating her demand, he had trotted over to an easel holding a large roll of parchment and grabbed a quill from a tray. “Go ahead, but you know we’re running low on parchment- there’s only two rolls left in the basement!”
Twilight was so excited, she completely missed the exasperation in her assistant’s voice. “Right! Now, we’ll need two hundred yards of assorted streamers, a gross of blue and white napkins, two score of firefly lanterns...”
“... some Royal Guard chow, and eight flank-mounted fire extinguishers. Oh, and five more rolls of No. 3 List Parchment. Got it, Spike?”
“Eight... flunked... stickers.” The young dragon yawned and paused to massage his clawcramp. He looked at the mound of parchment next to him, and then back to Twilight. “You said Luna and Celestia were visiting for one afternoon?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes. Good thing, too – if they were going to stay for a week, think of all the extra provisioning and planning I’d have to do! Oh, I should ask if they want to spend the night, they may not want to travel after a hard afternoon of relaxing. Just in case they do... Spike!” She was surprised to hear a groan and a thump. Behind her, Spike had keeled over in shock.
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Twilight frowned as she examined a cluster of citrus fruit. She pursed her lips and lifted the entire batch in a faint purple aura. On the other side of the cart, a small yellow Pony with a bright red mane and a conspicuously improbable handlebar moustache eyed her supspiciously. “Y’all know yer not s’posed to play with yer food, right? S’cuse me – y’ain’t paid yet, so that’s mah food yer floatin’ about.” To her- ahem, himself, he muttered, “Ain’t never gonna git a dang flankmark at this rate.”
Twilight reviewed her notes for the fourth time. “But how do I select a pound of ‘mildly sun-drenched, yet pleasingly ripened’ fruit? By weight?” The row of fruit bobbed slightly in the air, and she shook her head in frustration. “No, the weights are nearly identical. Of course, I haven’t calibrated my levitation in a few days, but last time it was off by less than... Oh, it’s no use!” She huffed in frustration and turned back to her list, reviewing it again to see if she had forgotten any extra information she had written down.
She hadn’t.
It had taken some doing, but Twilight had finally managed to get Pinkie Pie to reveal the true source of the Ponyville Party Prandial. The original Party Prandial had been invented by a tipsy Mulia Mild, though Pinkie insisted that the ‘Ponyville’ version was the result of her own secret ingredient: “A pinch of Pinkie per pitcher promises Prandial perfection!” she said, as she plucked several hairs from her mane. Twilight didn’t know what was more disturbing: The ‘secret ingredient’ itself, or Pinkie’s eerie mimicry of Luna’s alliteration.
“You’d think a master chef like Mulia Mild would leave more precise instructions on how to choose the right fruit!”
“What? Are you still over here pinching berries? I’m, like, totally done getting my stuff already!”
Twilight squeaked in alarm as Rainbow Dash’s voice came from right next to her ear. Somehow the Pegasus had swooped into a hover behind her, unseen and unheard. Rainbow was carrying a basket laden with colorful packets, many of which had a yellow, fire-maned Pegasus on them.
“Actually, Rainbow, they’re fruit, not berries. See, all the seeds are contained in carpels inside the waxy flav...” She trailed off as her brash friend mimed a yawn and rolled onto her back in midair. Twilight frowned, and when Dash had finally stifled her snickers she cotinued, “Besides, we only got here five minutes ago. How can you be done with your shopping already?”
Rainbow laughed, “Hah! Come on, Twi. ‘Best Young Flyer in Equestria’ here, remember?” The Pegasus gave a smug smile and flared her wings. “Besides, who needs to spend a bunch of time shopping? I got a great deal on a whole mess of Spitfire’s Pegasus Power Bars!” She grabbed one and slowly read a slogan off the label, ‘All the Cloud-Crackin’ Carbs™ A Pegasus Needs in A Bar. Eat One and You’re Done!®’ It’s Spitfire’s personal line, all balanced and full of... stuff!” Shucking the silvery wrapper, she eagerly scarfed down an entire bar in one gulp.
Twilight hoofed up a second bar and looked at it critically. “Rainbow, are you sure Spitfire has anything to do with these? Isn’t she, you know, a mare?” The Pegasus on the wrapper looked much too stocky to be the svelte leader of the Wonderbolts. “And is her name “Spitfire” or “Spotfire?” Twilight pointed to the tiny name: Sure enough, it was spelled with an ‘O.’
Rainbow snatched up another bar and looked closely. “Augh, WHAT?? No wonder he was selling them so cheap!” She squinted, hooves shaking in frustration, and muttered through clenched teeth, “Davenport!”
A crimson blush spread under her bright blue coat as she caught sight of Twilight trying to hide a laugh behind her hoof. Eager to change the subject, Dash pointed at the fruit that were still held in Twilight’s levitation aura. “W-well, that’s not important! Come on, I could have picked all you need in like, five seconds!”
Twilight’s ears perked up. There couldn’t be some secret to fruit evaluation that Rainbow Dash knew and she didn’t... could there? She gave her friend a challenging grin.
“Oh yeah? Prove it.”
Rainbow’s joking demeanor instantly became serious. She locked eyes with Twilight, testing the Unicorn’s challenge. The moment stretched on, neither mare moving, except for the steady whoosh of Dash’s wings.
Suddenly, Rainbow swooped down and batted five random fruit out of Twilight’s aura and into the Unicorn’s basket. She looped up, cackling. “Bwahahaha! Ponyville’s finest, five. Eggheads, nothin’!”
As Twilight gritted her teeth and returned the rest of the fruit to the display stand, the Pegasus did a lazy roll overhead and tapped her friend on her head. “I love ya, Twi, but sometimes you burn too many brain cycles. You gotta go with the flow more! Like, y'know, me.”
Twilight lifted Dash's full basket in her aura and smiled sweetly. "You mean, like you did with these?"
Rainbow halted in mid air and squinted, her hooves shaking in frustration.
Through clenched teeth, she muttered, "Davenport!"
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