“Hurry up, I don’t want us to be late,” Velvet Dawn chided her husband, Crescent Dusk, as they walked through the outskirts of Ponyville towards Sweet Apple Acres. “If only half of what Twilight told us in her letters is true, this is a meal that we do not want to miss.”
Crescent rolled his eyes, following alongside Velvet. “Well, if somepony hadn’t spent so long getting ready this morning, we wouldn’t be in such a rush…” he trailed off, gulping slightly at the glare she was giving him. “And I really, really doubt that they would invite us to breakfast and not save us some food if we were to run a little late, love.”
Velvet sighed, leaning into him slightly as the first trees of the orchard came into view. “I suppose you’re right… I’m just still a little stressed about yesterday.” Her eyes briefly closed as she recollected the events that had occurred not even a day ago. “At least there should be a good breakfast before we figure out what to do to cheer our Twilight up.”
Mirroring her sigh, he briefly nuzzled Velvet. “Yes, I don’t think that this is something that her favorite chocolates and a few books will solve this time, but,” he chuckled, a small smile on his face, “I’m sure that between all of us we’ll be able to think of something. After all, our filly is a strong one.” Crescent could not help but sigh again as he leaned into Velvet’s side.
They remained silent for the remaining duration of their trot, the distance between them and the farmhouse rapidly dwindling. Slowing down as they reached the door, Crescent raised his hoof and soundly knocked on it three times in quick succession, then patiently sat back and waited.
The sound of hoofsteps grew louder as somepony approached the door. It swung open, revealing Applejack. “Morning,” she cheerily greeted, waving a hoof. “Ah just finished makin’ the last bit of breakfast, so y’all got here just in time.” They followed her inside, walking through an expansive living room into the dining room.
Quiet chatter and the aroma of cooked apples greeted their senses as they saw the overly large dining table. Atop its surface were plates upon plates of baked goods and breakfast foods, as well as numerous pitchers of drinks. Of more interest to the new arrivals, however, were the ponies already seated around the table engaged in idle chatter.
Shining Armor was seated next to Cadance, cradling a cup of coffee as if his life depended on it. She was busy sipping at a cup of her own, filled to the brim with tea. To their left sat Rainbow Dash, who was wrapped up in trying to catch up on some sleep, her head slumped against the edge of the table. There was an empty chair between Dash and Fluttershy, the latter of which was busy staring at her hooves, her head jerking up as they entered the room. Pinkie sat to her other side, eying the closest platter of pastries with a glimmer in her eye. Last was Rarity, who was also enjoying tea, small, dark bags visible underneath her eyes.
“Good morning, everypony,” Velvet and Crescent exchanged greetings with each individual in the room as they took a seat between Dash and their children. Velvet’s eyes lit up at the veritable feast laid out on the table’s surface as her mouth began to water. He turned towards Applejack, smiling. “Thanks again for inviting us over.” He nudged his wife before continuing. “Velvet here has been waiting to taste some of your cooking for the last few years after how much Twilight has talked about it.”
Applejack took her seat at the last available chair, chuckling. “It’s no problem at all. ‘Sides this way we can all come up with ways to help cheer up Twilight. Ah know Ah’m speaking for all of us when Ah say she’s pretty darn important to all of us here.” Ponies around the table nodded their assent, various murmurs of agreement sounding out.
“We were always so glad to see that Twilight had ended up with such wonderful friends here,” Velvet began, removing her attention from the food. “We were concerned when she first moved to Ponyville, but once we started to get letters from her about you all, we knew that she was in good hooves.” Her eyes closed as she dropped her head. “I just hope that she’ll forgive us…”
Crescent gently rubbed Velvet’s back reassuringly as Pinkie chimed in. “Oh, don’t worry; Twilight won’t be a silly filly for too long!” She never once removed her gaze from the apple turnover in front of her. “All we’ve got to do is turn that frown upside down, and everypony knows a good party can do that!”
“Uuugh, too loud, Pinkie,” Dash grumbled, lifting her head up. She took a deep whiff of the food, her stomach growling in response. “Can we, like, eat first, and then take care of the important stuff?” Everypony was silent for a few seconds before breaking into laughter following a second thundering growl from Dash’s direction.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy demurely remarked after the laughter in the room died down. A small smile on her face, she looked over the gathered food. “That actually sounds like a good idea.” Fluttershy paused, a thoughtful look on her face. “I believe that one thinks better on a full stomach, that is.”
Food began to move around the room as everypony left the challenging issues for after breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toast, grits, and various dishes containing apples shuffled around the table. Plates were rapidly filled with food, and then cleared as rumbling stomachs were sated. Idle chatter filled the air between the clattering sounds of silverware hitting dishes and glasses being set down.
Once everypony was thoroughly full, Velvet and Rarity worked together to clear the table, the dishes marching in sync to an inaudible tune as they filled the sink. Once it was cleared, a brief silence hung over the room.
“Well,” Rarity began, mussing with her mane subconsciously, “that was worth getting up absurdly early, dear Applejack. A most delectable breakfast indeed, thank you.” She took another sip of her tea, a small smile present on her face.
Velvet nodded her assent. “Indeed, it was everything our Twilight said it would be, and then some. I think the only thing that might compare is her favorite donut shop back in Canterlot,” pausing, a far-off look came to her eyes. “We would take her there almost every weekend, even after moving to the castle.” Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she sadly smiled and looked at the gathered ponies. “So, might as well move on to the more pressing matter… our Twilight. I know that she’s taking all of this hard.”
Shining cleared his throat, gaining everypony’s attention. “Well, we haven’t heard any explosions, there’s nothing rampaging through the town last we checked, and everything seems quiet still, so I think it’ll be manageable for us.” Grinning at first, as he turned towards his mom his expression relaxed into a reassuring smile. “Mom, please relax. It’s not really you and Dad’s fault for us not knowing the truth. There’s really no way to overcome a geas, and you two did try to tell her the truth, and even went to Celestia herself to have her tell Twily the truth. So please, don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“Honestly,” Cadance began, resting her head on Shining’s shoulder, “I have a feeling that nopony is to blame, really. However, we do need to hear Aunt’s side of the story first, but I have a feeling she was afraid more than anything else.” She sadly chuckled once, sighing. “It’s silly to think of, really, but to think that after all she’s been through, she was simply afraid.”
Dash harrumphed, crossing her forelegs as she rolled her eyes. “Yeah right, like I’d believe somepony like Princess Celestia could be scared of anything. I mean, come on!” Dash threw her hooves in the air out of frustration. “I mean, she’s like thousands of years old. How the buck can she be afraid of anything?!”
“Well, umm, I would think that she is still a pony, even if she is that old,” Fluttershy remarked, staring at Dash. “I mean, I think that there will always be something that somepony is afraid of. Why, Dash, I still remember that one class in flight school when—“
“Shh, don’t say anything else!” Dash exclaimed as she scrambled over Applejack in her haste to reach Fluttershy, her face flushing crimson. “I thought you promised not to tell anypony about that, ever! It’s so totally not cool.” Dash grunted as Applejack forced her back into the seat, a glare directed her way.
Fluttershy giggled behind a hoof, a wide smile on her face. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of telling them, Rainbow, but I just wanted to make a point is all.” Dash glowered for a moment before sighing in defeat. She returned the look with a smile, placating her within moments.
“Darlings, I do think that we’re getting off-base here,” Rarity began, looking approvingly towards Fluttershy for a moment. “The more important thing here is how to best cheer up Twilight, after all. The Princess’ reason really is not important at the moment. Now, besides Pinkie’s favorite approach, does anypony have any ideas?”
Pinkie bounced up and down in her seat, her hoof raised and waving back and forth. “Oooh, oooh, pick me pick me!” she exclaimed, drawing looks of amusement from everypony. “I’ve got the bestest best idea, ever!”
“Now calm on down there, Pinkie, we all know you wanna throw a party to get Twilight feelin’ better. Let’s try and come up with somethin’ a little less wild first, okay?” Applejack interjected, causing Pinkie to drop her hoof down into her lap and zip her mouth closed. “Now, Ah was thinkin’ that we could have a small, quiet get-together here on the farm. Just like we used to do before we started meetin’ up at Twilight’s. We could chip in together and get her something from all of us…” she trailed off, looking around the gathered ponies questioningly.
“Pft, bo-ring!” Dash waved her hoof, dismissing the idea. “Seriously, what she needs is some adrenaline. What better way than to go to the Wonderbolt Derby in Cloudsdale next week?” she questioned, a large grin plastered on her face.
Shining raised a hoof to support his chin, a pensive look on his face while Applejack chided Dash for calling her idea boring. He lightly hummed to himself, thinking on the best approach to cheer up Twilight. The conversation continued in the background, undulating with each new idea that was shot down by another, only to be replaced with one of their own.
A rather odd idea brought the majority of his focus back to the ongoing conversation. The mention of a pajama party caused him to explode with laughter, drawing confused looks from everypony gathered. “What?” he asked as the laughter finally became controllable. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with any of these ideas, they’re just… silly.” Shining finished somewhat lamely, shrugging his shoulders.
Before Shining could continue elaborating, Pinkie finally exploded from her seat, her mouth opening wide. “You’re all so silly! I know exactly what we can do for Twilight to make her all happy again,” Pinkie stated, smiling wide as she looked around the room, ignoring the eye rolls.
“We just need to be ourselves, duh! I mean, it’s pretty obvious, right?” Pinkie queried with a slightly confused tone in her words. “Twilight is probably concerned that everything is going to change, so we need to make sure we show her that it doesn’t matter to us to help her out, right?”
Chuckling filled the air, heads nodding at Pinkie’s simple statement that nopony else had thought of. “That’s actually… very smart,” Rarity nodded as a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “As a matter of fact, I have just the thing in mind.” She got off her seat and pushed the chair flush with the table. “I really need to go and get this put down on paper before I lose this idea, darlings, so I wish you all the best.” Pausing at the room’s entrance, she looked over and shoulder. “I’ll be expecting an invitation from you sometime soon, Pinkie.”
As Rarity disappeared from everypony’s sight, Fluttershy turned towards Pinkie, speaking quietly. “Umm, Pinkie, could you maybe come over and help me with my animals? I didn’t get a chance to feed them this morning, and I’m going to be behind I’m afraid… if you don’t mind of course, that is.” She quietly finished with a smile on her face.
Pinkie wrapped her hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulder and leaned in. “Sure thing, Fluttershy! Just need to do one… little… thing.” Pinkie reached behind her back with her free forehoof and pulled out a small stack of envelopes, one for each pony present in the room. “Everypony here is officially invited to a party for Twilight!” Deftly, she flicked each invitation across the table, every one landing neatly in front of its intended recipient.
As Fluttershy and Pinkie opened the door, Spike tumbled into the house. “Ah!” he exclaimed, rolling once before stopping against Pinkie’s side. He jumped to his feet, shaking his head. Spike noticed the duo right in front of him, as well as those gathered at the table. “Ah ha, found you all! I need you all to come over to—”
Pinkie giggled and cut Spike off. “Sorry, we’ve got things to do and stuff to plan!” She grabbed Fluttershy and dashed out the open door, a large smile plastered on her face. Spike stood there dazed, looking down a few moments later to find an envelope impaled on his smallest claw. “Huh… okay then.” He carefully removed it and walked into the dining room. “Hey there, everypony.”
“‘Sup, Spike?” Dash casually greeted as she stood up and stretched. Turning, she addressed everypony else in the room. “I’d stick around, but I gotta jet. Clouds need busting, tricks need designing. Trust me, it’ll be totally cool, I’ll let you all know when it’s ready.” She blew past Spike and out the door, an afterimage temporarily left in her wake.
“Okay then…” Spike muttered, turning towards everypony else. “So, Luna said I should come and bring you all to the library. She said that she’d like to have some of you close by,” he paused and raised a claw as Shining’s mouth opened, “and no, Twilight was not doing so good this morning, but she might be better by now thanks to Luna. It kind of took a bit of time to track you all down.”
Applejack got out of her seat as everypony else moved to Spike’s side. “Y’all go on ahead without me. Ah gotta take care of stuff ‘round here, Mac can’t buck the orchard on his own.” She paused as she passed Spike, briefly patting him on the shoulder. "Ah'm sure it'll all turn out right as rain. Ah'll probably swing by tonight with some fresh apple pies." Applejack addressed the rest of her words to everypony else. "Feel free to go ahead and show yourselves on out, it was a real pleasure having y'all over for breakfast." With a smile on her face, she walked out of the room.
Cadance nudged Shining, noticing a look of concern that had been on his face since Spike's arrival. "Relax, love. I'm sure she'll be just fine... besides, Auntie Luna is with her right now." Raising her voice, she looked towards her parents. "Mom, Dad, shall we get going? I just know that she'll love to see us all."
"That sounds like a good idea, Cadance," Crescent replied, moving to hold the door open for Velvet. "I'd really like a chance to talk with Twily and make sure this doesn't get out of hoof. Knowing her, things might just escalate pretty quick if we don't," he chuckled, passing out the door behind his wife.
Spike held out a claw as Shining and Cadance went to leave out the door. "Hey, Luna wanted me to pass a message along from Princess Celestia." He watched as a puzzled look crossed their faces and shrugged in return. "I have no clue, Luna just asked me to let you know that she was really, really hoping you two would go to Canterlot sometime soon. I think it has to do with Twilight, but Luna really didn't tell me much more."
Shining looked over to Cadance, holding her eyes with his for a few moments. A myriad of expressions crossed their face before he turned back to Spike and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose we could. Thanks a lot, Spike." Using his magic, Shining opened the door. "Well, let's get moving. I also want to talk to Twily a bit now that she's hopefully a bit calmer than yesterday."
Crescent and Velvet were waiting for them just a few steps away from the porch, their gaze on the orchard as the rhythmic sound of hooves hitting trees echoed in the distance. Applejack noticed the five of them and gave a final wave before heading out into the orchard, and they left the farm, their destination barely visible in the distance.