//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Friendly Meetings Part 1 // Story: Chernobyl = Everfree // by Piece Bot //------------------------------// 10 Years Before Present Day When the plane touched down and coasted to a stop, both Twilight and Spike blinked at how fast they got to the town. “We’re here already? It hasn’t even been half an hour!” Twilight exclaimed as she gazed in awe at the town. “Well, there was that sonic boom. Maybe that had something to do with it?” Spike asked, getting up out of his seat and stretching. “Probably.” Twilight mumbled and sighed. She couldn’t believe the Princess told her to make friends. She was perfectly fine with just Spike. She didn’t need any other friends. “May as well get this over with.” Twilight said. She got up and followed Spike out the plane. When they walked off the runway and into the town proper, a girl with pink, poofy hair walked by. It looked like she was wearing a light pink T-shirt with a light yellow skirt that had an imprint of different coloured balloons on it. Spike, seeing an opportunity for Twilight to make a friend, grinned and tapped repeatedly on Twilight’s elbow. “Twilight, see that girl? She seems about your age. Why don’t you say hi?” Spike asked, gesturing to the pink-haired girl. Twilight gulped and nervously looked at her. “You sure Spike?” She asked hesitantly. With an encouraging nod, Twilight cleared her throat.  She walked quickly to catch up with her. “Hi. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” Twilight asked once she was in ear shot. The girl stopped walking and turned around to look at Twilight. When she opened her mouth to say something else, the girl gasped and ran off to who knows where. Twilight turned to glare at Spike but found him looking at a girl with a slender white dress that hugged her figure. When Twilight squinted a bit to get the glare out of her eyes, she saw that she had purple wavy hair and that she was trying to pin up some sort of banner on the side of a building. Twilight pulled out the scroll that Princess Celestia gave her out of her pocket and unfurled it. Raising her eyebrow, she found a small note scrawled at the bottom of the page. It looked like it was from the Princess. ‘Twilight, my most faithful student, if you feel like it, you can go ahead and oversee these functions in any particular order that takes your fancy. Your teacher, Princess Celestia.’ Twilight thought about the note. There wasn’t any harm in tackling the orders in whichever way she pleased. Seeing that the first order of business was decorations, she figured that she may as well get it over with. She sighed when she realised that Spike was already walking towards the girl in the white dress. ‘Right. May as well get this over with.’ Twilight thought and walked after Spike. She smiled nervously as she drew nearer. “Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m here to oversee the festivities and to make sure everything is working out smoothly. I assume you’re the decorator?” Twilight said curiously, looking at the girl pointedly. The purple-haired girl looked over to Twilight and slowly climbed down the ladder. She smoothed out her dress once she reached the bottom and smiled. “Yes, that I am, darling. My name is Rarity and oh? Who’s this?” Rarity questioned when she noticed a boy in a purple hood standing next to Twilight. . Twilight blinked and looked down next to her at Spike. “This? Oh. This is Spike. He’s my … friend.” Twilight said hesitantly, unsure whether to tell Rarity he was her adopted brother or not. “Uh huh. As you can see,” Rarity didn’t sound entirely convinced by Twilight’s description of Spike but she waved her arm towards the decorations on the outside of the town hall anyway. “The decorations are up and spread out nicely.” Rarity said primly and beckoned Twilight to follow her inside the hall. Before doing so, Twilight looked at the decorations and was glad to see that they went well with what she had in mind for the celebration. Feeling pleased, she followed Rarity into the hall to see it even more grandly decorated. There were pleasant hues of orange and yellow ribbons hung about the exposed rafters. Looking towards the many windows, Twilight found subtle various shades of white in the many curtains. Unfurling the scroll, she ticked off decorations and looked around for Spike so that they can head to the next item on the list. Seeing he was near Rarity, she walked over to them and smiled. “The decorations look lovely Rarity. I’m sure the Princess will be pleased with them. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to check how the food is coming along.” Twilight said, not wanting to stay any longer than she had to. Rarity turned around from where she was fixing up a tapestry to see Twilight inching back slowly to the door. "Leaving so soon? It would have been nice to chat to someone while I worked but I understand you have to check on the other things going on for the celebration. Don't let me stand in your way then." Rarity sighed and turned back only to spin around and smile at her. "It was nice meeting you. We should meet again sometime." She added and continued fixing up the tapestry only to have it rip slightly. "Oh shoot." Rarity muttered. She pulled out a thread and needle from her sewing kit and began to repair the tapestry. "Yeah, sorry. Thanks for understanding." Twilight said and smiled when Rarity mentioned it was nice meeting her. "It was nice meeting you too." Twilight said back and closed the door behind her, making sure that Spike was following. "What did you think of the decorations Spike?" Twilight asked her assistant only to find him still having a lovey-dovey look on his face. "Spike?" Twilight repeated, waving a hand in front of his face. She saw Spike shake his head and look up at her. "Wha-what? You need something Twilight?" Spike asked confusedly. He saw Twilight sigh and look at him carefully. “I asked what you thought about the decorations but clearly you were too busy making googly eyes at Rarity.” Twilight said. She saw him scratch his head in embarrassment and all she could do was sigh. “What am I going to do with you? At any rate, the decorations check out. The next thing to see is food. Any idea where that would be?” Twilight asked him. “When you were talking to that pink-haired girl, I overheard a couple of people saying that the food was being prepared by the Apple family so, I’m guessing it’s at a farm.” Spike replied, pleased with his answer. Twilight looked at him quizzically for a moment before heading in the direction of the local farm. “How did you come to the conclusion it was a farm? It could be a bakery for all we know.” Twilight said, thinking he was probably jumping to the wrong conclusion. “Well, before we met up with … the decorator,” Spike said hesitantly, not wanting to mention Rarity’s name in case he fell into a love stupor again, “the same people also said that it was made by a LOT of family members and that the family had a farm nearby?” Spike asked, unsure if he was making it up on the spot or not. Twilight gave a small frown but went with the conclusion anyway. “Okay, let’s just hope that you heard about the right place.” Twilight said and quickened her pace.