Princess Celestia strolled calmly into the palace library, silently nodding in acknowledgement at the on duty librarian sitting attentively at her desk in the entrance. Walking deeper into the maze of towering bookshelves and desks, she paused for a second, listening carefully. At this late hour, the library was deserted. Or so it seemed.
There was the faint sound of a page being turned. Hearing the slight rustling noise, the princess smiled knowingly before heading towards a row that a sign proclaimed as “Equestrian History.”
As she entered the aisle, she chuckled quietly at the sight before her. There was a single desk at the end of the row, wedged between the bookshelves. The desk was completely covered with books of varied age and size, from modern, tongue-in-cheek paperbacks to gigantic books of records past, their worn leather covers revealing their age.
However, it was not the books that amused Celestia. The source of her amusement was the tip of a deep, midnight blue horn that stuck out over the top of the pile, occasionally glowing to the accompanying sound of a page being flicked over. Celestia strode over to the pile, peering over the top to see the face of an alicorn, deep in concentration as she read a heavy tome, eyes flicking back and forth as she drank in the information from the pages.
Celestia loudly cleared her throat, causing the dark blue alicorn to jump in surprise.
“Celly! You surprised me!” she said, with a slightly accusatory tone of voice that was ruined by the smile on her face.
“Well, I made no effort to do so, Luna. You were simply too immersed in your reading. Incidentally, what is it that you find so engrossing?” the tall, white alicorn enquired.
Luna closed the heavy book, showing her sister the front cover. Celestia raised an eyebrow, giving Luna a questioning look.
“A History of Agricultural Techniques?” she said. Her smaller sister nodded enthusiastically, her face lighting up as always when talking about something she’d been reading about.
“Yes, what with being out of the loop for a millennium I’ve been reading up on what I missed and the developments in the farming industry are simply fascinating!” she gushed happily.
Celestia smiled at seeing her sister’s enthusiasm, but her face took on a slightly more serious expression.
“That’s what brought me here, sister. Not the history of farming, fascinating though I’m sure it is,” she added quickly on seeing Luna’s confused expression.
“I simply think that you are spending far too much time in the library. I can understand that you don’t feel like facing the public, but it’s been a year since you returned now and I believe it’s about time for you to get back into society. And to do it, I’d like for you to spend some time living and working with normal ponies.”
At this, Luna’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She was quick to retort.
“But sister, there’s been simply too much change! I was gone for a thousand years, and nothing is the same. Not to mention that some ponies still don’t trust me,” she said the last sentence huffily, rather like a foal who hasn’t gotten what they wanted.
“I know how you feel, Luna, which is why I’ve arranged for you to go to Ponyville to help the ponies there with their preparations for the Grand Galloping Gala this year. I truly believe that it will be the best for you to socialise and meet some of our subjects, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would be the best choice. After all, they released you and I know that they bear no grudge against your former self.”
Luna’s resolve to not be talked out of her secluded lifestyle began to waver. Celestia detected this and dealt the killer blow, one that had worked in the past and was sure to work again.
“And I’ve already found a place for you to stay whilst you help. My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle has agreed to allow you to stay with her at the library. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of spare time for you to further expand your knowledge of the last thousand years,” Celestia smiled, “though after all the reading you’ve done since your return I suspect you know more about the past millennium than any pony alive.”
With this, Luna caved in to her sister’s request, agreeing to spend the coming months prior to the Gala in Ponyville on the condition that Celestia write to her as often as possible.
“Why of course, dear sister. After all, I write to Twilight Sparkle almost every day, so writing an extra letter and sending them together will be no problem. Now, go and pack your things; the chariot will be ready to leave at dawn.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Maybe this was a bad idea after all…
As the chariot gracefully flew across the sky of Equestria, practically glowing gold under the light of Celestia’s sun on the eastern horizon, Princess Luna was already having doubts about the trip. What-ifs filled her mind as Canterlot grew smaller in the distance. Luna shook her head violently, forcing such thoughts from her mind.
If Celly thought this was the best idea then I have to do my best. I owe her that much. No, I owe everypony that much for what I’ve done.
Once again, she thought of the six ponies that had saved her a year ago, and wondered how they would feel about her visit.
Well, not long left to wonder now.
The chariot gently alighted on the road, outside a huge tree into which a building had been made. Luna marvelled that the tree could be living after being hollowed out like that, and vowed to research plant anatomy as soon as she had the chance.
No, that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to help, and help you shall.
After thanking the two Royal Guards who had pulled the chariot, Luna watched as they took off and arced through the sky back towards Canterlot. Sighing, she turned back to the building before her. There were no signs of life visible. In fact, the scene almost resembled a ghost town.
Not really surprising, given how early it is. Still, I’d have expected someone to have been here to meet me. Or could it be that they still remember and fear me as Nightmare Moon?
Again shaking doubt from her head, Luna approached the door of the library. Giving it an experimental push, she was surprised to find it open. Though it was a public library, she hadn’t expected it to be open so soon. It was, however, dark inside.
“Hello?” she called into the darkness. There was no reply. She cautiously walked further into the murky gloom, eyes straining to see lest she trip over something or fall down an ill placed set of stairs.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her and the lights flicked on, the sudden blinding light startling the princess.
“SURPRISE!” shouted a group of ponies in front of her.
“Wha…” was all Luna could manage, gaping at the table stacked with food behind the ponies. A large banner with “Welcome Princess Luna” written on it was displayed at the back of the room. Looking around, Luna became aware of the fact there were balloons everywhere, and a multitude of streamers were hanging from the rafters like multi-coloured rain. She then noticed that a bright Pink pony had bounded up to her.
“Hi! Do you like your surprise party? When Twilight told me you were coming, I was like ohmygosh we have to have a party with the whole town! But she said that was a bad idea, and when I found out you were coming so early I thought, why not have a breakfast party! But then I thought, how can I make it a royal breakfast party, so I had to get more food but there wasn’t enough blueberry muffins and then Mr Cake suggested using oatmeal muffins instead but…” at this point a light orange earth pony with blonde hair and a hat pushed the pink pony out of the way with a nervous laugh.
“Ah’m terribly sorry, yer majesty, but Pinkie Pie can be a mite excitable when parties are involved. An’ Ah know she’s got no manners to speak of. So let me introduce mahself; Ah’m Applejack, pleased to meet y’all.”
“Princess Luna, though could you please just call me Luna rather than using any titles. They make everything seem so formal.” Luna laughed nervously.
“Well then…Luna…Ah hope we can become good friends.” smiled Applejack.
Luna turned to see a lavender unicorn standing next to her. The unicorn gave her a warm and genuine smile.
“Welcome to Ponyville, Luna. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and we’ll be living together for a while here. If there’s anything at all that you want, don’t be afraid to ask. Here, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
Luna was then faced with three further ponies. First was a white unicorn.
“I am Rarity, and I must say I have the most perfect idea for a gown for you, my dear. You simply must pop down to Carousel Boutique and I promise I will make you the most fantastic dress you ever laid your eyes on.”
“Thank you, Rarity, I’ll be sure to take you up on that.” Luna smiled.
Next was a light blue pegasus with a garish multi-coloured mane.
“I’m Rainbow Dash, best flier in Equestria!” the pony boasted. “I’m in charge of the weather round here, but I spend most of my time perfecting my moves so I can get into the Wonderbolts.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Personally, I think she spends most of her time napping, but she really is one of the most talented fliers out there. Oh, and this is Fluttershy.”
Luna was confused for a second before catching sight of a yellow pegasus with pink hair peeking out from behind Rainbow Dash.
“Um…Hi. I’m Fluttershy,” the pegasus quietly said, peering shyly at Luna through a gap in her mane (which Luna noticed covered most of her face.)
“Hello Fluttershy. I hear from my sister that you take care of animals. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to help you at some point.” Fluttershy looked surprised, but Luna pressed on.
“I try my best to look after the animals in the gardens in Canterlot, but they’re so timid that it can be difficult. I’m sure you can teach me how to approach them better,” Luna concluded. Fluttershy was blushing heavily now, and mumbled something that sounded to Luna like “probably not.”
The pair were spared from further awkwardness as a distraction in the form of a small purple and green dragon appeared.
“Hey, Princess, I’m Spike,” the dragon proudly proclaimed. “I’m Twilight’s assistant, and despite the fact she’s the librarian I’m the one who actually knows where everything is in here. Princess Celestia said you liked reading, well if that’s the case you and Twilight should get along just fine. Just ask if you want a certain book, Twilight doesn’t have a clue where half them are.” By now Spike was starting to mutter to himself, seemingly forgetting his conversational partner. “Always getting out loads of books…leaving them scattered all over the floor…leaving me and Owlowiscious to put everything back…” Yep, she’d lost him.
Luna left the still mumbling dragon and headed over to the food table. Having left Canterlot at dawn without having breakfast, she was understandably hungry. Twilight joined her after a few moments.
“I know they’re a strange group, but really they’re the best once you get to know them,” Twilight said to the Princess. “I’m just happy that Princess Celestia sent you here to get to know us all better.”
“And to help with the Grand Galloping Gala Plans.” Luna nodded in agreement. She’d get used to the group soon enough. Hopefully. Then a thought came into her head.
“Twilight, exactly is the plan for Grand Galloping Gala? Celly - I mean Celestia didn’t tell me before I left. She just said everything would be explained when I got here.” At this, Twilight looked confused.
“That’s exactly what the Princess said in her letter to me! I assumed you would be telling us what we were doing.”
“Well…“
At this point there was a sudden flash of green and everypony turned and looked at Spike, or more specifically the scroll that had just materialised in his burp of magical flame.
Noticing that he was suddenly the centre of attention, Spike self-importantly stood up and started to read out loud in a very professional tone.
“My little ponies, I am pleased to announce that you are all formally invited to this year’s Grand Galloping Gala. However, in light of the events of last year which made it the most memorable Gala in centuries, this year there will be a special event. This year shall see the first annual Equestria Music Group Contest. It would please me greatly if you would compete in the event, as I’m sure it will make it the best Grand Galloping Gala ever! Yours faithfully, Princess Celestia.”
As she looked around at the group of ponies she’d just met, all of whom had the same look of surprise on their faces, Luna inwardly groaned.
Celestia, I swear I’ll get you for this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
By now it was approaching lunch time, but the group was still in the library discussing what to do regarding Princess Celestia’s letter. Well, the conversation had escalated into arguing rather than discussion at this point. Luna sighed – like it or not, she was involved now. Celestia had a lot to answer for.
“Well, I still think we should be doing a moving emotional ballad, or some light jazz,” Rarity said, with a slight flick of her mane.
“No way! It’s gotta be an awesome fast rock song!” Rainbow Dash interjected, furiously hacking away at an air guitar as she hovered in the centre of the room.
“Everypony! We won’t get anywhere arguing like this! We need a plan. First thing first – we need to work out how we’re going to split.” At this, everyone in the room looked at the floor, walls, ceiling – anywhere as long as they didn’t make eye contact with anypony else.
After finishing reading the scroll, Spike had materialised another document; this one had been a set of rules for the competition. Thankfully the competition was fairly flexible in terms of what could be done, so long as it didn’t exceed the permitted time of ten minutes per act. However, the rule that was going to be the biggest headache was that the maximum group size was restricted to five. And there were seven ponies present. Twilight spoke up once again.
“Well, being as nopony will want to choose groups, I think it’s only fair to divide into two by random allocation. My suggestion would be that we draw straws to decide who’s in which group.”
“Aw, but that means that one group will only have three! And that would be sad, because that group would only have 75% of the fun potential,” Pinkie Pie said, looking slightly forlorn at the prospect of a group missing out on the extra fun a pony could generate.
“You have a point, sugarcube. Plus the fact that an extra member gives an unfair advantage in terms of how much noise they can make. This is a competition, after all.” Applejack contributed. At this all of the ponies looked unhappily at each other. If it was indeed to be a competition, nopony wanted it to be unfair, even if it meant they would be holding the advantage.
“If I may, ladies, perhaps I could be of service?” Spike said. “I have a little musical ability, and would be more than happy to step in to balance this out.” He puffed out his chest a bit at this, glancing sideways at Rarity as if to suggest how mature he was.
“Yes! That would be brilliant Spike! Thanks a lot!” smiled Twilight. “Now, what can we use for straws…”
Five minutes later, the seven ponies were eagerly gathered around Spike, who was holding a bunch of eight quills tightly in his left hand. Four had stickers wrapped around the nibs (Twilight having quickly improvised with some of the reference stickers that were in abundant supply around the library) and four did not.
Applejack took a deep breath, carefully scrutinising the quills. Selecting one, she pulled it from Spike’s hand.
“Blue,” She said, releasing the held breath and smiling. “Who’s next?”
“Me!” yelled Rainbow Dash, darting in and snatching one of the feathers from Spike.
“Ha! Not blue! Looks like we’re competing against each other again, Apple Smack!” She taunted her earth pony friend.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus, you can’t use yeh wings to cheat when it comes to music.” Apple Jack replied.
“Girls, please! Well, here we go…not blue.” Rarity said, examining her quill. “Looks like we’re working together, Rainbow Dash.” Neither looked too happy with the arrangement; indeed most of the earlier arguing had been between the two of them, the result of their hugely different musical taste. However, they remained silent, accepting their fate.
Fluttershy was the next to pick, plucking a blue-tipped quill from the remaining five.
“Um, I hope we can work well together,” she said to Applejack with a hopeful smile.
Luna stepped up to the small dragon, quickly picking out a quill from his hand.
“Hmm, I got blue as well. Only one more blue left, and we’ve got ourselves a quartet.”
“Ooh! Ooh! I don’t know which to pick, I’d hate to make the other three feel left out!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Rainbow Dash facehoofed.
“Look, Pinkie Pie, they’re feathers, they don’t have feelings…”she began, but abruptly stopped as Pinkie Pie suddenly closed her eyes and leaned forward, grabbing a random feather in her teeth and pulling it out.
“Yay! Not blue!” Pinkie Pie happily bounded over to join Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
“Well, that leaves two.” Twilight said. “Spike, as my number one assistant, I’m going to let you choose the last quill for me.”
“Really? What an honour!” the dragon said happily. Sizing up the two feathers he held, he carefully moved one to his right hand and held in out to Twilight. She pulled it from his hand, looking at the nib. It had a small blue sticker on it.
“Well, I guess that settles it.” Twilight announced. Now that we have groups sorted, we can decide what we’re going to do for the contest.”
“Well the first thing my group’s gonna do is eat lunch.” Rainbow dash declared. “I don’t know about you girls but I’m starving.”
“Excellent idea! Let’s all go get some food,” Twilight started, but Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“No way! I said my group was going for food, but I don’t want you overhearing any of my awesome ideas!” She said. Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but decided against it. Rainbow Dash in competition preparation mode redefined stubborn.
“So be it. Well, see you later!” she said cheerily as Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike and Pinkie Pie exited the library.
She turned to the remaining three ponies, then looked at the still packed food table set up for the long forgotten welcome party.
“Oatmeal muffins, anyone?”