Sixth Lesson- Party Planning Problems
"Applejack, would you be a dear and make sure all of those tablecloths are straight?" Glory called out, looking across the ballroom at the earth pony. "Surprise, could you and firefly please hang that banner up straight this time? We don't need it falling on the serving ponies head right in the middle of the banquet."
"Yeah, yeah... keep yer cutie mark on, we're workin' on it." The pink Pegasus replied, as she and Surprise pulled both sides of the long banner with Congratulations Harmony Bearers! up to the ceiling, hanging the ropes on a pair of hooks. "And I still don't see why ya had ta volunteer us for this project anyway."
"Yeah, the party's supposed ta be for us- the Harmony Bearers!" Surprise protested, zipping back down to the floor. "We shouldn’t be putting the party together, we should be having fun at it!"
"Now now girls, that the party is for us, is exactly why we should be putting it together!" Glory replied, folding a levitated napkin. "The Princess Ponies have invited representatives from every pony kingdom in the confederacy to our grand unveiling, and it's important we make a good impression."
"Glory, why am I putting glass plates on one table, porcelain on another, paper plates on the third one?" Applejack questioned her, as she set the places in the guest section. "Now, I'm no expert on settin fancy table places fer parties, but doesn't this look a little, well, crazy?"
"My dear Applejack, this is exactly how they were meant to be set." Glory replied, grinning. "Porcelain is the expected formal dish from Hoofkaido, whilst Fort Rainbow Dash traditionally uses glassware as their traditional place setting of choice at a formal affair. As to the disposable cups and plates, I don't get Bright Valley's odd customs, either."
"My mom told me because it shows 'frugalness and functionality', whatever that means." Posey explained, as she sat different flowers on the various tables. "Personally, I think the porcelain and glass is much prettier."
"Posey, be sure to get the right flowers for the proper tables." Glory reminded her. "White Lotuses for the Hoofkaido table, and-"
"Narcissus for the Fort Dash table, I remember." Posey replied with a giggle. "As wonderful as it is to be working with these flowers, I do wish we had more ponies to help us here."
"You called?" A voice rang out from the doorway, followed by a flash of light and a pegasus appearing in the room. "Hello, ladies. Certainly I might be of help to you?"
"Starglow!" Posey galloped up to the mare, hugging her in a tight embrace. "It's so wonderful to see you!"
"Thank you, my friend." The glow 'n show pony replied, her body twinkling in a variety of hues. "It's an honor to see all of you again, as well."
"But, what are you doin here?" Applejack asked, trotting over to their new arrival. "Things gotten that boring at Hoofkaido?"
"Actually, I've been sent here as one of the representatives of my herd for the party." Starglow flashed a happy blue light. "When the others went to pay their respects to the princesses, I just thought I'd come down and say hello."
"And she's not the only one!" Another familiar voice called out, as an earth pony mare trotted into the room. "Guess who Bright Valley chose as one of their representatives?"
"Butter Pop! I'm so happy you could make it!" Glory rushed up to hug the other mare, but suddenly pulled back, wrinkling her nose at the butter stench. "Though I'm not as happy to smell your... unique odor."
"Yeah... I really need to work on my grooming a bit." Butter pop replied with a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her neck with her hoof. A large glob of butter oozed out of Butter Pop's greasy mane, landing near Brightglow's well-polished hooves with a disgusting splat. "Whoops, sorry about that!"
"I-it's nothing, really... " The glow n' show pony replied, trying to hide her disgust. Ew, gross! How could the girls be friends with this dirty slob?"
"Hey, Firefly, I'm here, too!" Another Pegasus came flying in, smiling at the sight of the Harmony Bearers. "The Margrave thought there should be an alacornist at the ceremony, besides Princess Cadence, I mean."
"MEDLEY!" The pink Pegasus almost tackled her old friend to the floor. "Good Golly, it's soo awesome you're here! How've you been? How're things back home? Are the alicornists free yet? What-"
As Firefly droned on and on, another pony trotted quietly into the room. The diminutive filly flexed her insect wings silently, and no one even noticed her until the filly finally spoke up.
"Um, excuse me?" A shimmering sweet voice called out, drawing the attention of all present. "I don't mean to bother you, but is this where the Harmony Bearers are preparing for their party?"
Her coat was pale mint green, with a dark blue mane and tail streaked with white highlights. Her cutie mark was a trio of purple, blue and white Iris’s with another white one on her cheek. Their seemed to be a kind of... etherealness to this odd flutter pony, giving her a look that was both beautiful and mysterious.
"Yep, that's why we're here!" Applejack finally spoke up, trotting to the new arrival as the other equines continued to stare blankly. "And who might you be?"
"My name's Harmony Iris, representative of the Flutter Kingdom." The flutter bowed to the harmony fillies. "I didn't get the chance to meet any of you when you were in Flutter Valley, so this is really an honor."
"A flutter pony?" Glory asked skeptically, looking over the filly who put her own beauty to shame. "Why in the world would the xenophobic flutters send a representative to meet with the other pony types?"
"My mother believes it's time we start dealing with other types of ponies again," Harmony Iris replied. "we can't just go back into our shells and hide from the world!"
"The queen might see things our way." Firefly added. "But I'da thought she woulda sent Honeysuckle or Morning Glory."
"They did want to come, but I insisted that I be allowed to go instead." The glimmering flutter pony replied. "I don't hate the rest of pony kind like my herd does, I'm sorry they treat who all so cruelly."
As the harmony bearers spoke to the new arrival, the other ponies looked the flutter pony over.
"Oh my! Her wings are so elegant... and her mane!" Medley gasped. "I've never seen a pony that pretty before! Not even the last alicorn!"
"Harmony Iris?" Brightglow whispered, thinking to herself for a moment. "Princess Harmony, of course! Queen Rosedust's adopted daughter!"
"Princess Harmony?" Butter Pop asked, being the only other pony to hear the samurai standing next to her. "But isn't Princess Flutter was an only child?"
"There were rumors circulating that there was an older, adopted daughter- one who wasn't in line for the throne." The Glow 'n Show pony whispered back. "It was said she is so beautiful and elegant that stallions of all pony kinds weep at the sight of her beauty, and those that have seen her insist that she must have been born of the elements of Harmony themselves."
"What a load of pony wash! She doesn't look like anything special to me." Butter Pop snorted back, looking at the new pony with contempt. "Still we'd best keep her away from the stallions at the party... otherwise no one will dance with us!"
...
Outside the ballroom window, two spying little snoops watched the proceedings with interest.
"Wow, look at that pretty pony!" Draggle whined, hovering on her parked broomstick. "I wish I could have a horsey like her!"
"Shut your mouth sister!" Reeka hissed. "Hydia might be watching us in the viewing pool right now! She'd fry us both for you saying that!"
Having failed miserably to stop Twilight Shine's arrival at Misty Mountian, the two witches had returned to the royal paradise, and were currently plotting on how to mess things up for the other Harmony bearers. Having snuck up to the palace via a stealth spell, Reeka and Draggle brainstormed* on what evil scheme to enact next.
"Ohhh, Reeka! Why don't we turn 'em all into newts?" Draggle asked, licking her lips. "Then we could cook 'em all up into a big tasty stew!"
"Nawww! Too predictable!" Draggle grumbled. "Hey, why don't we create a giant hammer with our magic, and squish em?"
"Nah, too messy!" Reeka snapped back. The two girls sat on their broomsticks, trying to come up with a solution between two brains with the combine intelligence of a potato chip. Finally, an idea began to dawn on Draggle's twisted brain.
"Hey, wait, I got it." The moronic with exclaimed. "What if we ax the dignitary ponies? That'd get the harmony bearers in trouble!"
"Say, that's a good idea, sister!" Reeka suddenly agreed, a bug-filled smile slowly crossing her face. "We'll send those ponies on a one-way trip to the glue factory, and start a war between all the herds in Ponyland!"
"C' mon, let's go get ready to put em' on ice." Draggle cackled. "Boy, momma's gonna be so proud!"
The Two witches turned, and flew off on thier broomsticks. Zipping off and away from the Crystal sea and towards the masticient forest, the two agile fliers managed to hit every tree in their path.
THWAK!
"Ow!
Thud!
"Ouch!"
Bang!
"look out!"
Boom!
"OWIEEE!"
CRASH!
"MAMAAAAAA!"
...
Well Tornado, this is it! The unicorn thought to himself. Time to show her what this town is made of!
Back at Misty Mountain, Tornado Firehooves was rising from his bed early in the morning, preparing for one of the hardest tasks of his life. It was today that he had to convince Twilight Shine, the Harmony Bearer candidate of magic, that the regular ponies of Misty Mountain were worthy of the power of that ancient Equestrian talisman. True, it was not going to be an easy task, but the historian pony was confident that he could pull this off.
Trotting into the bathroom, he turned the sink on, and levitated his tooth brush and tooth paste up to his mouth, even as he went over this whole situation in his head again. Oh, there was the fact that Twilight might be in love with him, but he knew she was professional enough to not let her emotions get in the way of an impartial decision, right? True, she was the pony of romantic dreams and fairy tale wishing, but certainly she wouldn't-
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Just a minute!" The nervous stallion finished coming the gel into his mane, and galloped to the door. There, a pink filly eyed him seductively, smiling at the surprised unicorn.
"Oh... hi Twilight..." Tornado whinnied nervously. "I-I didn't expect you so early."
"Hey there, big boy." The filly batted her eyelashes at him. "You ready to show a girl a good time?"
"S-sure... just let me check to see if all my lights are off." He trotted back inside. "You wouldn't believe some of the places I plan on taking you! The pretzel shop, the candy factory... you'll simply love our strong traditions and culture!"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll just love it..." She smiled again, as they both trotted out of his door. "Just as I'm sure you'll simply be stunned by what I have planned for afterwards!"
Tornado was taken aback by her frankness, but put it out of his mind. He was probably was just being nervous, that's why something didn't feel right about Twilight. It was his silly imagination that was setting alarm bells off in his head, telling him that Twilight was in danger. There wasn't anything really wrong...
.. though he would have to ask Twilight why she had used a spell to turn her eyes green...