Twilight Sparkle and Spike were logging books returned to the library that day. She thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of her librarian job as it tickled her inherent sense of orderliness. It also gave her a reason to peek into each book, thereby getting a glance at what was either important or of interest to her fellow citizens of Ponyville. This made her feel closer to them and broadened her own interests at the same time.
Spike liked doing this task as well, but mainly because he enjoyed stamping the cards. Sitting at the desk was also much easier than climbing ladders to find or re-shelve books!
Engaged in this pleasant daily ritual, it took them a moment to notice that somepony stood at the door of the library, waiting to be noticed.
"Princess Luna, what a pleasant surprise!" Twilight bowed. She approached the Princess, noting that she was wearing saddlebags.
As always, Luna felt a warm rush of gratitude towards the lavender unicorn. Twilight Sparkle was one of the first ponies to see in her something other than the hated despot Nightmare Moon and truly accept her as a Princess of Equestria.
"Twilight, my dear friend, it is so good to see you and Spike again. May I come in and chat for a while?"
"Absolutely, your Highness! Please make yourself at home. Would you like some tea?"
"That would be very nice indeed. I brought a few gems from Canterlot, just in case a certain dragon felt the need for a snack." Luna magically extracted a small box of various colored gems from a saddle bag.
"Rubies and Sapphires and Emeralds, oh my!" said Spike rapturously. "I'll go make the tea. He grabbed a fistful of gems from the open box and ran to the kitchen.
"You know, it was really sweet of you to think of Spike like that. Do that again a few times and Rarity might have a rival for his affections!" Twilight chuckled. "So what brings you to Ponyville, Princess?"
Luna looked somewhat abashed, ears beginning to droop. "Well, I was conversing with my sister, and she said that I was looking a bit tired of late. I agreed, as it was true that I did feel a bit peaked, so she suggested that I..." her ears drooped further, "well, that I take a 'vacation'." She said the last three words as if she had ashes in her mouth.
"That sounds like a great idea, after all when is the last time you took a vacation?"
"This is precisely my problem." She smiled sheepishly. "It has been over a thousand years, and Equestria is so different now. Besides, a vacation before meant holding court in some other palace for a few weeks. When I asked Celestia what I should do, she actually proposed that I should disguise my appearance and go on a normal pony vacation 'just like anypony'! But I have no idea what normal ponies do on vacation!" said Luna, uncharacteristically flustered.
"When I told Tia that she suggested I take one of those 'package tours' from a travel agency, and that I take along a friend, as she does when she goes on vacation. So I came here." She paused a moment and gathered her courage. "Twilight Sparkle, you are one of the few ponies I truly consider a friend. Would you go on vacation with me?" She looked at Twilight imploringly.
To say that Twilight was surprised would be an understatement. Celestia takes vacations?! She was also flattered that Princess Luna called her a true friend, as she had developed a fondness for her mentor's younger sister. "Princess Luna, I would be pleased and honored to go on vacation with you! Now we just need to start planning this out." Already the bookish mare was getting enthused at the very thought of organizing a vacation, when a new voice rang out.
"A vacation! I love vacations!" Pinkie Pie appeared from nowhere as usual.
'How does she do that?' thought Twilight for the umpteenth time. Out loud she said. "Yes, Princess Luna and I are planning to go on vacation. By the way, your Highness, when do you want to leave?"
The Princess was visibly relieved that Twilight agreed to her request. Smiling broadly she replied: "Oh, we can start immediately. I have already packed what I need in my saddlebags."
Of course this meant dropping everything. Twilight was about to list all the reasons why she couldn't possibly leave on vacation right now, when Pinkie Pie began jumping up and down excitedly.
"Oh, can I go too? For vacations the more the merrier! We can party all day and all night! We can go to the water park, the amusement park, go see some shows, go to dances, go swimming, go white-water rafting down the Everfree river..."
Twilight was dismayed that Pinkie would just invite herself along. But then, it was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Also, she saw that Princess Luna was greedily drinking-in the seemingly endless list of fun activities Pinkie Pie was producing, and so she changed her mind thinking it might not be such a bad idea after all.
"... we could wear polka-dot bathing suits, we could go zip-lining, we could take a trip in my balloon... oh, we could take a trip in my balloon any day, but wouldn't it be even more awesome to do so while on vacation?" The pink mare finally stopped to take a breath.
"Yes, that does sound like fun!" said the Princess, reviewing in her mind the innumerable 'normal pony vacation' things they could do.
"Great! This will be the most awesome vacation!" said Pinkie Pie. "I'll be right back!" Upon which she literally disappeared.
"Uh, Pinkie Pie... Drat!" Twilight dropped the hoof she had been holding up to get the bubbly earth pony's attention. She turned to face the Princess. "So, where do you want to go? The beach? The Mountains? Manehattan?"
While Luna was considering her options, Spike arrived with a teapot, cups and some cookies on a platter. He began serving tea. "Was that Pinkie Pie I heard a minute ago? Should I serve her a cup too?"
"Might as well, but who knows when she'll be back." Twilight picked up her own teacup magically, as did Luna. Their eyes closed in pleasure as they sipped the baby dragon's excellent tea. When Twilight opened her eyes again she saw a blue head with a rainbow mane drinking the tea laid out for Pinkie.
"Um, ah, hi Dash... when did you get here?" she enquired of her pegasus friend.
"Hi Twi, hello Princess, I just got here now, duh!" She rolled her eyes at Twilight's lack of seeing the obvious. "But Pinkie's vacation idea is at least 20% cooler than her usual ideas, don'cha think?"
"What idea is that Dash?" Twilight began to get a sinking feeling.
"Oh, this idea of going on vacation with Princess Luna. Why else would I be here?" She raised an eyebrow at the lavender mare.
Luna's smile grew wider. "The more the merrier!" she said.
Just then there came a knock at the door. "Come in." Twilight looked up at the new arrivals, confirming her fears. It was Rarity and Fluttershy, both with saddlebags. 'How did they get ready so fast?' thought Twilight, and then decided to just chalk-it up to Pinkie Pie's ability to bend time and space to suite her random purposes.
They both bowed to the Princess, and entered, Rarity speaking first. "Your Highness, it is truly an honor that you should invite common ponies like us to join you on your vacation. I will no doubt tell stories about this wonderful interlude to my foals and grand-foals." She was practically beaming with pleasure.
As usual Fluttershy was staying in the background with her head down. She mumbled "Me too," but with a great deal less enthusiasm. Twilight recalled that she was still quite frightened of Princess Luna, and was amazed Pinkie Pie had managed to convince her to join the group. As expected, there came another knock at the door.
"Come on in Applejack," said Twi without even bothering to look up.
"Hey! Howdja know it was me?" asked the orange mare, who bowed to the Princess and added: "It's mighty nice o'yer ta invite us to join y'all on vacation. I haven't had one fer ages, and it just so happens I got cousins visiting fer a spell and more hooves than work at the farm. So I left Big Macintosh in charge and galloped right over."
Twilight signed and remarked "And now all that's left is..."
"ME!" Pinkie Pie finished for her, making a patented Pinkie Pie appearance from nowhere. "Now we're all here. It's time for a vacation party!" From nowhere she pulled out a party hat and blew on a paper horn, streamers flew-in from the sides and confetti dropped from the ceiling.
***
Twilight Sparkle looked at the collected ponies all arguing about where they should go for 'their' vacation. "Ahem, ladies, please!" When this did not get a response, she tried louder: "Fillies, listen up!" Still they talked on oblivious. Finally, giving up pretense she shouted: "PIPE DOWN AND LISTEN UP!"
Everypony froze. Twilight grew visibly embarrassed realizing what she had just done in front of one of the ruling Princesses of Equestria. She struggled to regain her composure. "As this is Princess Luna's vacation, I suggest we first ask her what she would like to do. Your Highness, do you have any preferences?"
Luna thought about it for a moment. "I think I would like each pony present to make a suggestion. That way I can have as broad a set of experiences as possible."
"Good idea. Who wants to go first?" Twi asked the mares.
"Oo, me first, me first!" Pinkie Pie bounced up and down energetically. Deciding to protect her ceiling Twilight gestured for her to proceed.
"There's a huge carnival in Cloudsdale. Let's go there first!"
Luna looked impressed. "That really does sounds like... fun. We shall go to the carnival." she affirmed with a smile.
As there were no dissenting opinions, Twilight began to plan the outing. "We can go using Pinkie's balloon, and I can enchant the hooves of all non-pegasi so we can walk on the clouds. Ah, one last little thing. Princess, if you go like that it might cause a bit of a ruckus. Did you say earlier you could disguise yourself?"
In response Luna's horn glowed a moment, and a thick white cloud coalesced around the Princess. It dissipated a moment later it, revealing a light blue Pegasus with a night black mane. Everyone ooed and ahhed!
Twilight was impressed! "Perfect! But we'll blow your cover if we go calling you Princess Luna in public". She thought for a second. "Everyone, please meet my cousin Selene from Trottingham."
All the ponies made a fuss greeting 'Selene' with hugs and hoof-shakes. The Princess played along good-naturedly. Spike offered her a flower, a moon lily, which she pinned into her mane, giving the baby dragon a gentle kiss on the forehead. Spike blushed, and Rarity seemed a bit uncomfortable with the whole proceedings.
They decided that the Pegasi would fly out to Cloudsdale and wait for the others to catch up. Somehow, by the time they exited the library, Pinkie Pie had already managed to retrieve, assemble and inflate her balloon. They lifted off for Cloudsdale.