After breakfast Twilight and Starlight went to the park while her friends trotted around Canterlot. The five ponies and dragon trotted through the streets gazing at the many shops They were on a mission from the pink party pony. And she was going make sure they complete it.
"So Pinkie, what party do you have this time?" (Applejack)
"It's been so long since we saw Twilight, I thought we could throw a Happy-Three-Week-Anniversary-Of-Being-A-Princess-Party!" (Pinkie)
"How do you come up with these parties?" (Rarity)
"They just come to me." (Pinkie)
The group continued down the road until they reached a shop filled with jewelry. They trotted inside and began looking about the shop, eying the many gemstones and jewels attached to silver or golden chains. Rarity wanted to get her gift first.
The snow colored unicorn wandered around the shop until she came to a certain pendant on a silver chain. The pendant itself was silver with curling black marks spelling out something. Rarity picked the pendant up in her magic and trotted to the sales-mare.
"Excuse me, what do these symbols mean?"
The mare dropped the magazine she was reading and stared at the pendant. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the symbols.
"You want to by this?"
"Well, yes. It is for my dear friend Twilight. How much is it?"
"This is very old, before the princesses time. It will be only ninety bits for you though. Consider it a gift at that price. I would have sold it for no less than twenty thousand bits."
"Thank you."
The unicorn pulled out the bits needed and the sales-mare placed the pendant and chain in a small black box. Then the group left the shop, but the sales-mare did not stop watching them.
Applejack wanted to go next for gift hunting. She looked all over Canterlot for a good shop, the best place she found was a book store. The group trotted inside and separated around the store.
The orange mare went down each row of books. Most of them looked brand new, but she knew Twilight liked older books. After asking the bookseller, she was standing in the dustiest row of books.
They had very few of these ones. So Applejack had to chose between a book about Starswirl the bearded or one with similar symbols to Rarity's gift. She stared at the symbols while the bookseller trotted next to her.
"Good day, madame. Did you make a selection?"
"Hi there. Ah can't chose between these two."
"Well let me take a look. Who are they for, may I ask?"
"You may and they are for my good friend Twilight."
"The princess?"
"Eyup."
"Well then I think this one will satisfy the princess."
He pushed the Starswirl book back on the shelf as carefully as he could. Applejack stared at the book in her hooves with curiosity. These symbols looked familiar to her.
"How much?"
"Just forty bits."
Applejack gave him the bits and trotted outside with the rest of the group. When she turned around the bookseller was by the window smiling at them. She gave him a small wave and he smiled bigger.
The next pony was Rainbow Dash, she wanted to look at the pegasi district for a gift. This meant only Fluttershy could go with her. The others would have to wait on the ground.
The pegasi district was a special place in Canterlot where only pegasi could enter. It was on a large cloud hovering over the local taverns and inns. The buildings of course were also made of clouds.
The pegasi there mostly unwind by flying fast or taking a nap on a cloud or shopping at stores that cater to pegasi needs. It felt like home to Rainbow Dash.
"All right Fluttershy, let's go gift hunting!"
The pair flew all over the small city to find the perfect shop for the purple alicorn. Then Rainbow Dash sped downwards with the yellow pegasus struggling to keep up. The prism maned mare landed on the soft pathway in front of a dark colored cloud shop.
Fluttershy crash landed next to her, head sticking out below the cloud city. She immediately pulled her head up after a stallion looked up to her and waved. She then hid behind her blue friend when she saw the shop.
"Rainbow Dash, why are we here?"
"To get Twilight's gift."
"But I thought mom said not to ever go to this shop. Remember."
"Well, I think she'll understand that we are older mares now and that it is for a friend."
"Okay."
The pair trotted cautiously inside the dark cloud doorway and were welcomed by a grey pegasus.
"Welcome to Shocky's Wild Experiments, the dark cloud of the sky. My name's Sparky Boom. How may I help you?"
"Where are your magic storm clouds?"
"Over by the window in the back."
Rainbow Dash proceeded to the storm clouds while Fluttershy hid under her tail. When the entered the area of the storm clouds, they were met with a pink heart hitting the floor.
"Stupid cloud. Jasmine you are one wild thing. I regret bringing you in from the north."
The voice belong to a white pegasus, well you could tell he was white. His coat was covered in multicolored scorch marks. His hooves had iron gloves on and his face wore a leather mask. (don't ask me where he got it.)
"Oh, hello there. I never get any new visitors here. Whatcha looking for?"
The blue pegasus looked around at the various clouds. Each one was labeled by color, shape, lightning color, and shape of the lightning. It was so beautiful, for a show pegasus, but for a weather pegasus like Rainbow Dash, these were illegal to use for anything except decoration at festivals.
"Do you have any clouds made by zaldias?"
"Zaldias? Hmm....I believe I have one made a long time ago. Made by the first zaldia in fact! Hold on for a moment."
The pegasus trotted into a hallway past the cloud he was scolding. Fluttershy was now standing and staring at a cloud shaped like a rabbit that was eating a lightning blot shaped like a carrot. Rainbow Dash had a stare off with Jasmine who changed into the shape of eyes.
The scorched stallion returned to the two with a small white cloud. The other clouds, who of course were alive, quickly flew behind the two mares. The white cloud had small black symbols like the others' gifts. It was shaped like a filly, exactly like a filly.
"All right. This is Night Star. She was created long ago to be a friend for our lunar princess. I was told to keep her safe by my father. She's been pas through generations of my family. Never thought I'd see the day she'd find a home.
Who did ya' say this was for?"
Rainbow Dash pushed Jasmine off her face and trotted to the filly cloud with caution. The filly looked up to her with black eyes. Rainbow stared at her. Up close she could see now that the filly, Night Star, was an alicorn.
"She's gonna be a gift for my friend. I-We think she would want a buddy to hang with while she's reading her books."
"Well then I'll give her to ya'. Free of charge!"
"WHAT?" (new voice)
The grey pegasus appeared behind Fluttershy and scared the magical storm clouds to hide behind the white filly.
"Father, this is the oldest and most valuable item in our shop and you're giving it up for free!"
"Sparky. This is a gift for Princess Twilight. Don't look surprised, Miss Dash. I knew who you were going to shop for, it's written on your face."
"Father, this is an outrage. I'm getting Ivory."
"Fine! Go get Ivory. But remember who pays for your stupid wonderbolt private lessons!"
The Sparky flew away from them and out the door with his dad shouting at him.
"What am I going to do with that colt? Any-who, I just need your hoof print on this paper and you can take Night Star to the princess."
He held out a clipboard and paper and Rainbow Dash kindly stamped it with her hoof. The stallion tied a small rope around Night Star's waist and gave it to Fluttershy to hold.
"This is in case you run into any stray winds."
Then the pair and cloud filly left the dark cloud shop. It wasn't long till they reached the ground where their friends were waiting. Once they landed Fluttershy had to keep the cloud filly held up high because of the pink party pony rushing to them.
"So, what did ya' get Twilight? A book about weather? A magic cloak that turns you invisible like Pony Potter? Oh! I know! A giant cloud that will rain her favorite drink!"
"Nope just a cloud named Night Star."
Rainbow Dash motioned the yellow pegasus to come closer allowing the rest of the group see the cloud filly. They ooed and awed at her. The little filly looked at the group surrounding her, her eyes changed from black circles to yellow eyes a regular filly would have.
"Cool! She can change colors!" (Pinkie)
"This is real interesting magic, dear. Where did you get her?" (Rarity)
"From the dark cloud, as my mom called it." (Rainbow)
"She's quite a cutey. Rainbow, is she the secret gift you've been planning for weeks?" (Applejack)
"Yep. Me and Fluttershy have been pulling our money together for her. Though the shop owner gave her to us for free. It was very......." (Rainbow)
"Strange?" (Fluttershy)
"Yeah. Strange." (Rainbow)
"Well, while we were waiting for you two, we went with Pinkie Pie to get this." (Rarity)
The pristine unicorn pulled out a purple bandana with red stripes. It was very large for Twilight's size and would be a small blanket instead.
"It was strange too! It took forever to get the shop lady to sell it to us! 'It is important to my family!' 'But it's for my friend!' 'I don't care!' She was a real meanie!" (Pinkie)
"Wow Pinkie that didn't seem so nice." (Fluttershy)
"I'm sorry, but she was real mean." (Pinkie)
"She was very rude about it after we convinced her it was an item on sale." (Rarity)
"She glared at me when I tried to reach for it! Like my hooves were gonna break it to pieces!" (Applejack)
"Applejack this 'bandana' is made from silk! Highest quality in the world, probably made by changelings as a gift. Remember what your friend told us?" (Rarity)
"Of course ah do! But my hooves are no more brittle than a pegasus. No offense girls." (Applejack)
"None taken, Jacky." (Rainbow)
"Well, to change the subject, it's near noon and Twilight promised to join us for lunch, but we never told her where." (Rarity)
"Maybe Spike can send her a message." (Pinkie)
"Good idea, Pinkie. Where is Spike anyways?" (Applejack)
"He was here when we left." (Fluttershy)
"Spike!" (Rarity)
The purple dragon was inside a jewelry shop, biting down on a pair of emerald earrings. Rarity rushed inside the shop and snatched the priceless jewels away from the little lizard.
"Spike! These are earrings, not a snack. I know you are hungry, but we must wait for Twilight at the restaurant."
"I'm sorry, Rarity. It's just.........I'm SO hungry!"
"All right then. I will buy these and you can finish the damage you caused."
She trotted to the counter and payed for the emeralds with the money left over from her gift to Twilight. Then she pulled the dragon out by the ear-fin and joined the rest of the group.
"Spike what were ya' thinking?" (Applejack)
"With his stomach." (Rainbow)
The baby dragon rocked back and forth on his feet while the others scolded him about the earrings. Finally when they stopped, they remembered why they needed the dragon in the first place.
"Spike can you send a letter to Twilight about the location for our lunch get-together? Please." (Rarity)
"Anything for you Rarity." (Spike)
After scribbling down the location and a few greetings from the mares, he held it out and set the letter on fire. It swirled as green smoke and flew off in the direction of the castle. Then the group proceeded to the location of the lunch get-together. Minnie's Munchies.
They couldn't see it, but the smoke cloud changed direction and headed towards the park.