Days passed, and the issues with the griffons did not seem to any closer to being resolved. Day after day, hour after hour, Twilight would be forced to sit in the large, open meeting hall in Canterlot Castle with her fellow princesses, Celestia, Luna and Cadence, and put on a fake smile while listening to the demanding King Penneth and the snooty Queen Gildana complain about borders or trade agreements.
Every night that Twilight would crawl into bed, she would be biting her lip in nervousness. How were the preparations going? Did Spike remember to tell everypony everything? Did they mishear anything? Had they forgotten anything? Doubts and worries clouded her mind, and more than once, she had almost zoned out while in the meetings.
Groaning, Twilight rubbed her eyes as she woke up at eight o’clock one Saturday morning. She slumped down further into her pillow as she gazed sadly at her small calendar, located on her nightstand. On today’s date, a large, unmissable red circle with a matching red arrow pointing to it, marking the date as ‘Book Fair!’’ was there.
“Well, maybe I can write a letter to Spike tonight and he can tell me how it all went.” Twilight sighed quietly, silently cursing the griffons in her mind. Why do they have to be so unsatisfiable?!
“Twilight?” A familiar voice chimed out, interrupting her spiel. Twilight sat up in bed immediately. While she had told her personal servants time and time again that there was no need to be so formal with her, they would continually refuse to refer to her as simply ‘Twilight.’ Currently, there were only three others in the castle that would use just her name.
“Celestia?” She called back, smoothing down her hair with a hoof quickly. Just because the two of them were equals, there was no need to appear any more disheveled than need be. Sure enough, the white alicorn stepped into view, wearing a large smile on her face. Twilight returned the smile as she crawled out of bed.
“Hello, Twilight. I apologize for disturbing you so early. I trust you slept well?” Celestia asked, dipping her head down to cross necks with her former faithful student. Twilight returned the gesture and nodded. Twilight noticed that Celestia, strangely, was already wearing her regal attire, which was odd. Usually, the elder alicorn would only don her regalia when she was either meeting with someone or going out in public.
“Oh yes, Princess, don’t worry! I was just about to get up anyways! Was there something you needed?” Twilight asked, curiously. While she would never turn down a visit from her former mentor, it was odd that Celestia would come at such an early hour. For a moment, Celestia’s smile got even bigger.
“Well, I came to inform you that King Penneth and I have, in private, just come to an agreement that we think satisfies both parties nicely,” Celestia told her, as she touched noses with the surprised lavender alicorn, “Which means that you can return home to Ponyville, just in time for your book fair.”
“Really?!” Twilight squealed, jumping up with joy. “You mean it?! Oh, this is wonderful news, Princess! I thought for sure that I would have to miss it!” Celestia chuckled and put a hoof on her shoulder.
“I know that you must be eager to be off, so I have arranged for a carriage to meet you outside the castle whenever you are ready to leave. They will drop you off directly at Golden Oaks Library in due haste.” Celestia said loudly, to be heard over Twilight’s squeals of happiness.
“Thank you so much, Princess Celestia! I’ll leave immediately!” Twilight zoomed off before Celestia could reply. The older alicorn watched with a smile as Twilight began to gather her small amount of belongings that she had brought with her and stuff them into her saddlebags.
“I’m grateful that you came, Twilight. Your knowledge was truly invaluable. I’m glad that I had you by my side.” Celestia murmured with a proud smile on her face. It always made her heart swell when she saw how much Twilight had grown up. The mare in question turned back to Celestia for a brief moment and returned her smile in earnest before doing up the clasp to her bags and throwing them over her back.
“Thank you, Celestia. It means a lot to hear you say that! “Twilight giggled, running back over to her. “I have to go now, but thank you for letting me stay here! I’ll be sure to visit you again soon, and I’ll make sure to write a letter to you in a few days letting you know how the book fair went!” Twilight reached up and gave her a tight hug. Celestia nodded and motioned towards the door behind her.
“I look forward to it, my friend. I wish you the best of luck. I hope it goes well!” Celestia called to Twilight after they had separated. Twilight waved back at her and took off through the hallways, nodding politely to the many servants and guards who greeted her on their way past. With a ridiculously wide smile on her face, Twilight pushed the front doors open and was greeted by a shining, golden carriage, complete with two white pegasi strapped into the harnesses. They bowed low when they saw her.
“Your Serene Highness, it would be our pleasure to take you wherever you wish to go, whenever you wish to leave.” The first guard said, his voice powerful, yet respectful. Twilight nodded and jumped in the back, putting up the rear guard after she was comfortable.
“Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville, please! As fast as you can! I need to get there as quickly as possible!” She informed them. The two nodded and stretched their wings before taking flight. The big whoosh of air through Twilight’s already messy mane made her cringe slightly. I’ll need to take a shower and brush my mane before I see anypony today! I can’t show up to a book fair looking like this!
With Canterlot slowly growing smaller the farther they drew away, Twilight rested her head on the side of the cold carriage and sighed contentedly. She was going to make it to her book fair, and her troubled mind could finally be put to rest!
~~~~~~~~~~
Bidding farewell to the pegasi with a smile, Twilight looked to the sky. It was clear, warm and beautiful, just like she had asked of Rainbow Dash! Yet strangely enough, there were no other pegasi basking in the warmth of the sun. Shrugging, Twilight trotted excitedly inside and peered around. What she saw made her freeze in place and her mouth hang open.
The library… was beautiful!
Sure enough, standing by their promises, all of her friends had done their part. Rarity had beautifully decorated tables set up around the center of the library, and all the bookshelves had been pushed around the perimeter of the room. Spike had taken the liberty to organize the books on the tables, sorted be genre, and banners and streamers hung from the rafters. Rarity had even made custom colored curtains, specially made to match the décor.
On the far left side of the room were three long tables, each completely covered with wrapped-up food and drink. Twilight’s mouth watered at the sight of the many cupcakes, muffins, cookies, tarts, apple trays, jams and punch as she was painfully reminded about her lack of breakfast. She debated about unwrapping the trays early and sneaking in a few fritters, but thought better of it. She looked around the room for Spike, but saw no baby dragons wandering about.
Shrugging, she ran upstairs to make herself presentable before the book fair opened. There was a little less than an hour until the guests would start pouring in, so Twilight flung herself into the shower and washed her mane and body as quickly as she could. Towelling herself off afterwards, she ran a brush through her hair and made the decision to forsake her crown for the day. After all, it was Twilight running the book fair, not Her Serene Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Spike? You around?” She called, but silence greeted her. Brow furrowed, she trotted around the book shelves and glanced under tables, but saw no sight of him. “Spike?”
“Huh? Twilight?” A drowsy sounding voice answered from afar. Twilight’s ears perked up and she picked up the noise coming from her bedroom. Cocking her head, she trotted upstairs and saw her number one assistant still wrapped up in his bed, blanket pulled over his head.
“Spike? What are you still doing asleep, it’s almost nine! It’s almost time for the book fair to start!” Twilight shoved him lightly in the side, and Spike’s eyes shot open.
“The book fair! Oh my gosh!” Spike yelped, jumping up and throwing his blanket off. “I nearly forgot! I have to go unwrap the food and put out the sign!” He started running for the stairs and disappeared before Twilight could say anything. Shaking her head and laughing, she stood up and joined him downstairs, where he was unwrapping the food trays with one hand and holding the large, colorful welcome sign in the other.
“Spike, it looks great! You did a fantastic job! I’m so proud of you!” Twilight pulled Spike to the side just as he tugged off the final wrapping. “Thank you for getting this all set up!” Twilight looked around the library, and out of the corner of her eye, saw Spike smile proudly as well. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t be here to help out.”
“Aw, it’s fine Twi. No harm done! It was easy! Me and Rarity were here for days, cleaning and organizing where everything would go. You never told either of us what kind of décor you wanted, so she just guessed that you were going for ‘elegant and refined.’” He nodded towards the tables, which were a creamy white with gold trim.
“I can see that!” Twilight laughed, levitating the heavy sign out of his hands. “Is there anything else left to do?” Spike thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“Nothing that I can think of, nope! Just the sign, and then that’s it!” He declared with a single nod. Twilight trotted outside and unfolded the sign. She read it over quickly once. The First Annual Golden Oaks Library Book Fair – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Looks great, Spike.” She complimented as she placed it down and put a door stopper under the door, holding it wide open. A gentle breeze rolled in, sending a waft of fresh air through the library. “I’ll have to make a mental note to thank everypony for their hard work!”
“Are you gonna go attract people outside?” Spike asked, joining her in the doorway. “They might be more inclined to come in if a Princess is there.” Twilight pursed her lips and shrugged.
“Might as well. If there are too many ponies, you call me in, alright? I’ll come help out.” She nudged him playfully before stepping outside and next to the sign.
“I will, don’t worry! Good luck out there!” Spike turned and waved before heading back in, disappearing around the corner.
Alright, now for the ponies to start rolling by! Twilight thought merrily to herself. She looked down the street to her left, expecting to see a horde of ponies meandering down the road.
It was deserted.
That’s odd… Twilight shrugged and turned to her right towards the market, expecting the same thing. The ponies were probably all there, doing some morning shopping before stopping by the library.
Once again, the market was empty.
Twilight turned to the doorway and leaned her head in. “Spike, is there some kind of festival going on today or something?” She called in. She heard Spike yell back the word ‘no’.
“I’m going out for a second, I’ll be right back!” She yelled again after a second. Without waiting for a response, Twilight took off down the street, towards the market, and confirmed her suspicions.
The market was absolutely forsaken.
“Hello? Anypony out there?” She shouted, looking about. Nopony could be seen. “Hello?! Where is everypony?!”
“Hey Princess Twilight!” A voice yelled back from above. Twilight lifted her head and looked to the skies, and saw none other than Ponyville’s lovable mailmare, Ditzy Doo.
“Ditzy! Hey! Finally, somepony showed up!” Twilight flapped her wings and clumsily joined Ditzy in the sky. The grey pegasus gave her a goofy grin. “Where is everypony at today?”
“Oh, everypony in town is down at Sugarcube Corner for the day! Pinkie Pie is throwing a giant ‘I missed you all so much and now I’m back and I’m so happy to see you all again’ party!” Ditzy told her. Twilight immediately felt conflicted. On one hoof, she felt upset that nopony would be free to go to her book fair today. On the other, she was elated that one of her best friends was back in town.
“Oh… why aren’t you there, then?” Twilight asked, hopeful that maybe one pony would be attending the fair. Ditzy giggled and pointed to her full saddlebags.
“I have a boatfull of deliveries left to make before I can take the rest of the day off! But once I finish, I’ll be heading over there too!” Ditzy said. Twilight’s face fell even farther, but she put on a smile nonetheless.
“Well, that’s great Ditzy. I won’t keep you any longer, then. Hope you have a good day!” Twilight waved to the mailmare, who waved back and resumed her rounds. Twilight hovered back down to the ground and sighed, looking around at the deserted market square.
I suppose I should head on over to Sugarcube Corner as well, then.