The morning after the welcoming celebration, Morning Glory set off towards Ponyville from Sweet Apple Acres, a slight skip in her trot. The evening had gone better than she had expected. She had gained a strong bond with that hyper pink pony and gained a new respect for the blue pegasus that her cousin was clearly in love with.
A giggle escaped her as she thought of the party last night. She had felt more at home in Ponyville than she ever had. She couldn't wait to get her life started in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had offered her a job at Sugarcube Corner as well, which stirred her heart joyfully. As much as she loved living with her family, she was eager to live on her own and expand her life.
Lyra and Bon-Bon, the couple from last night, greeted her warmly and Morning flashed them a warm smile, content that she was welcomed.
Her eyes moved to the lovely sun above her and her smile grew. "Princess Celestia sure does a good job with makin' the sky so beautiful," she said in awe.
"Thank you, Morning Glory," a glorious and musical voice sounded behind her, causing the pony to jump and spin around, eyes wide in surprise.
Before her stood the princess herself, smiling sweetly down at the little pony. A gasp escaped Morning. "Pr-Princess!"
"Twilight Sparkle wrote to me yesterday of your arrival to Ponyville. I hope all of the girls made you feel welcome here," Celestia said.
"Of course they did! I've never felt more welcome before," Morning replied with an awed smile.
Celestia chuckled and nodded to her. "I was just on my way to speak to Twilight. Have a wonderful day, Morning," she said as she appeared to float past the still-awed pony.
It took a few moments before Morning could move. The Princess had spoke to her! She knew that AJ was relatively close to the Princess through Twilight, but to be known by the Princess was just a strange thing that made her heart flutter.
With even more of a skip in her trot, Morning made her way to Sugarcube Corner.
She heard a ruckus inside and hesitated before she heard a mare's voice. "Pinkie Pie! We're leaving!"
The door opened and a couple with two little foals on their backs appeared in front of her. The mare's eyes widened. "Oh! Hello there, dear. You must be Morning Glory that Pinkie was telling us about."
The stallion nudged his wife. "Dear, we really must go or your mother will wring our necks for being late."
"Of course, dear. Go ahead and go inside, Morning. Pinkie's inside waiting for you," the mare said as they quickly trotted off.
Morning vaguely felt that the family was always rushing, but thought nothing of it as she trotted inside. "Pinkie! You in here?"
Suddenly, a pink blur rushed out of the kitchen to meet her. "Morning! I was hoping you'd come! Well, I knew you'd come, but I still was hoping you'd come sooner. Not that I was in a hurry or anything, I was just excited to see you again. The Cakes are going to be out of town for a week so I'm taking care of business for them because Mrs. Cake's mom wants to see the little babies. They're so adorable! I mean, who wouldn't want to see them-"
"Pinkie, breathe, girl," Morning said with a laugh, giggling even more when Pinkie inhaled deeply and held it. "C'mon. We gotta get to work here."
Pinkie lead her into the kitchen, hopping around. "We gotta make a big ol' cake for Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding anniversary next week. I think we need balloons made out of frosting on it, and streamer candles!"
Morning giggled, remembering reading about the day in jealousy. "I think Princess Cadence would like that, Pinkie. C'mon. Let's get this done."
After a few hours- and a cake batter fight later, the two ponies lay on the floor, giggling as the cakes baked in the oven. Morning had batter in her mane, frosting on her tail and dye in her fur. Pinkie had about the same damage as they leaned on each other, standing up, still giggling.
"If working like this is what I could look forward to every day, count me in," Morning said as they began to clean everything up.
Pinkie hopped around as she cleaned the floors. "Oh, it's not always this fun! Only when I'm workin' here. Mr. and Mrs. Cake don't like me to get so messy in here cause they think I won't clean it up. Which is silly, cause of course I would! I watch their babies AND cook all the time!"
As Pinkie continued her rant, Morning giggled and happily listened, throwing in responses as quickly as she could before the two of them began chatting about other things, the kitchen becoming clean faster than Pinkie could talk- which Morning had no doubt believing could be incredibly fast.
As they began decorating the cake, Morning glanced at Pinkie. "Hey, Pinkie?"
"Yesh Mornin'?" Pinkie replied, a spatula in her mouth.
"Thanks for everything. For the talk last night, for talking the Cakes into letting me work here... Just... Thanks."
Pinkie had dropped the spatula and wrapped her forelegs around Morning in a hug before she could even register what was going on. "Aw, Morning! You're welcome. You're an awesome pony. You're always welcome here!"
Morning smiled and wrapped her forelegs around her back. "Aww... Thanks Pinkie Pie."
"Mornin'!" A familiar voice called.
"I'm in the kitchen AJ!" Morning shouted back.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash trotted in. "Wow. The kitchen is actually in one piece," Rainbow said in playful awe.
Morning stuck her tongue out at her, causing AJ to giggle. "Aww, Dashie. Give 'em some slack. Mornin' is good at cleanin' things when she has to."
Rainbow shook her head. "Smells good in here, though."
"Thanks, Rainbow," Morning said with a beam.
"We wanted to see if y'all wanted to join Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and us to a picnic with Princess Celestia," AJ said with a nod.
"Oh! Is that what Princess Celestia wanted?" Morning asked, tilting her head.
The three fillies looked at her in surprise. "Uh, yeah, I reckon so. How did you-?"
"Oh! I ran into Princess Celestia on the way over here. She welcomed me to Ponyville," Morning said nonchalantly.
Pinkie began to hop up and down. "C'mon! Enough chat! I'm hungry!"
Morning giggled. "Yeah, it was tough work making that cake. Let's get this cake to the train and we'll meet you by the library."
The couple nodded before walking off, a chattering Pinkie Pie pleasantly instructing Morning on the best kind of sandwich to make out of pickles, tomatoes and sunflowers that stacked a mile high.