That night as Twilight silently walked to the bakery; she noticed that hardly anything for the festival was complete; she wrote that down in her little notebook with a disapproving look on her face. She wondered what everyone was doing, it takes months for all the preparations to get completed and then there are also other things to consider as well, there was no time to dilly dally. Twilight noticed that they were getting close to the bakery so stuffed her little notebook into her purse and without skipping a beat, made her way inside.
The bakery was dark at first and Twilight had a hard time trying to find a light in the place but suddenly lights came on and she heard a loud yell of surprise; when her eyes finally adjusted from sudden dark to light, she looked and noticed a room full of people smiling; a banner that had welcome crudely written on it was hung behind the crowd; confetti was shot off when Twilight entered the room and it had started to rain down on everyone.
Twilight noticed all the people she had met were here and Spike ran off to the desert table not to be seen for the remainder of the night. Fluttershy was standing off to the side near the food table, smiling and clapping with the others, Pinkie was dead center in front of a massive cake, and Rarity was to the right of Pinkie, fiddling with some confetti that had fallen in her hair. Rarity smiled lightly as she flicked the confetti off her finger and smiled at Twilight.
“Surprise darling, this is us welcoming you to our small town…” she gently took Twilight’s hand and pulled her over to where the others were congregating. Twilight had a piece of cake on a paper plate shoved in her face by Pinkie, a very large grin on her face showing that she was proud of herself.
“When we met at the bakery this morning, I could tell that you were new so I got reeeeally excited and put this party together for you! Do you like it?” the pinked haired girl stared right at Twilight, her eyes big as saucers; it made Twilight feel slightly uncomfortable, she nodded anyway though to be polite to the girl, she did work to get this put together.
Pinkie jumped up and down, clapping her hands together melodiously cheering for her hard work being appreciated; she quickly took Twilight’s arm and dragged her to where a sliding door open and lead her outside to the back where even more people where. The outside seating area had a small gazebo where Octavia was playing her cello; she looked over at Twilight and gave her a small wink as she played. There were small lanterns hung from the trees that lit up the area; it was pretty to Twilight, it reminded her of Stars. Twilight never had anyone throw a party like this for her before, since she was from Canterlot; all the parties were very stuffy and scheduled. Twilight sat down and ate the cake Pinkie gave her; it was very sweet. The taste of the strawberries mixed well with the sweetness of the whipped icing and the breading having a spongy texture, she made a noise of approval. Pinkie giggled and twirled around once "I'm so glad you like it, have fun and enjoy the party!" she skipped back into the bakery.
Rarity walked past the door and Pinkie, noticing Twilight now outside sitting by herself and already finishing off the cake she was given; the designer chuckled and walked up behind her, leaning over Twilight’s shoulder so she could be seen. Twilight stopped to look over at Rarity and placed the cake down briefly.
“So Twilight darling, come and talk with some of the residents here in Oakville, I'd love to introduce you…” she smiled at Twilight who nodded and walked back in the bakery with her where people were devouring the cake Twilight was just eating. Rarity introduced Twilight to some more faces; the two bakery owners named Mr and Ms.Cake, the elementary school teacher Ms.Cheerilie who was at the time talking to three young girls and scolding them for knocking over some punch in their rush to get to the cake, a nurse named Redheart, who was still dressed in her nurses uniform and who spent a good amount of time talking to Fluttershy; Twilight assumed those two must know each other really well for Fluttershy to be so comfortable with her, two girls named Lyra and Bon Bon who were never separated from each other for even a moment and were always chatting and they seem to be talking about decorations or something right at that moment Twilight was being introduced.
Rarity looked around quickly, noticing some people missing, she bit her lip and groaned to herself “Well, I do hope those two plan to get here at SOME time tonight…” she turned away from the front door she looked at Twilight in a huff “I have to go and make a call dear, I do hope you’re having fun…” the designer walked away waving back at Twilight. Twilight nodded and wondered who Rarity was talking about; she let the thought die quickly and thought about going to speak to Octavia but she seemed busy and so she was left with nothing to do but lean against the punch table and watch as everyone got caught up in the festivities. The mage looked over at Spike who was stuffing his face full of rock candy and chocolate; she watched Rarity shout into her phone for someone named Rainbow Dash and she watched Octavia finish her piece to thunderous applause from onlookers and she couldn’t help but let a small smile creep on her face, everyone seemed really close knit here, unlike back home where everyone kept to themselves.
A middle aged woman wearing a peach pantsuit came in through the door and let her voice be heard “Hello every one, how is everyone doing?” the woman had a smile on her face and started shaking hands with the locals as she passed them. The woman noticed Twilight and made a beeline right for the mage; she took Twilight’s hand and gently shook it.
“So you must be Twilight, the representative from Canterlot, welcome to Oakville and I heard much about you from the princess; I'm the mayor of this city and you can call me Mary…some people just call me Mare.” She grinned and chuckled at the last bit, thinking she was so clever. Twilight nodded slowly and returned the handshake “Yes, I'm Twilight and I've come to help with the festival festivities, although..” she pushed her glasses up and recalled her adventures through the city “I didn’t see much being done in the ways of the summer festival…” she looked at the mayor who seemed unphased “Care to explain this? The festival is in a few short months and is one of the biggest festivals in Equestria; it takes months to fully prepare for...” she watched as the mayor disregarded Twilight’s concerns and fired back with a small chuckle.
“Think nothing of it Twilight we have everything under control, we will make sure this is greatest festival yet!” she said with full confidence. Twilight raised an eyebrow surprised by the response, her hands now on her hips “I see, alright then, well I’ll be overseeing things so do you mind if I review everyone’s work?” she watched as the mayor nodded without missing a beat and smile again, opening her binder and reading off what she had down “ Of course you can; we have Octavia and Vinyl in charge of the music; Pinkie, The Cakes, and Applejack are in charge of food and refreshments; Rarity, Lyra, Bon Bon, and the kids at the school with Ms.Cheerilie are in charge of décor and the summer lantern releasing; Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Caramel, and Matilda are working entertainment; Snowflake and Big Mac are in charge of all the heavy lifting; Fluttershy and Redheart are on emergency medical detail; and we have our very own Doctor Whovian and Derpy working with lighting and working behind the scenes …” she noticed that last bit and scratched her head “Maybe we should reassign the lighting to another pair…” she closed the binder and shook her head “No time, we just simply have to trust them. I take it this information is sufficient Ms.Twilight?” she received a nod from Twilight “Very good, now, if you will excuse me I see a slice of that delicious looking cake with my name on it!” she walked off towards the sweets table.
Twilight sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose; she saw Rarity come back and angrily shut her phone “It’s about time, the two I spoke of are finally on their way; Rainbow and Applejack are always late!” she grimaced as she shoved her phone in her jacket pocket. Twilight recognized those names from the names the mayor mentioned “Oh? Those two are mangers of the food and entertainment portions of the festival right?” she looked at her small notebook that she pulled out which had the names scribbled down. Rarity nodded and bit her lip slightly “Those two are good at managing their stations but they are almost always at each other’s throats and late…” she sighed and flicked her hair back behind her shoulder "No matter, I have no doubt they will get what they need done; I already discussed décor with Lyra Bon Bon and they will be..” she grinned in excitement “Faaaaaaaaabulous” she said in a singsong voice.
Twilight just chuckled at Rarity’s silly excitement and nodded “I’ll believe you, I would like to see what progress you made if you don’t mind..” she watched as Rarity disregarded her request “Oh come now darling, this is your party, enough of that talk until tomorrow, but just for the record, it’s the reason I suddenly had to leave the boutique when you visited me this morning!” she started to walk around with Twilight but was interrupted by a loud noise from outside at the front of the bakery; Rarity eye’s furrowed as she automatically knew what was going on “Oh those two again…” she hissed as she made haste to the front of the bakery, Twilight followed after her, wondering herself what was going on.
Two girls were arguing with each other in front of three cider filled barrels knocked over on their side, thankfully the contents were unharmed. There was a blonde haired girl who wore a tight looking brown buckled corset that had straps for her shoulders and brown jeans that had holes at the knees; she wore dirty boots and on her head was a cowgirl hat. The girl arguing with her was a strange looking girl; her spiky shoulder length hair was multi colored and she wore a bomber jacket with white fuzz on the color; a logo was plastered on the back of the jacket and she had a tank top with blue jeans on but the most noticeable of everything besides her hair was the rapier hooked to her side. The blonde girl spoke in a southern accent, glaring daggers at the multi colored haired girl
“Dang it Rainbow, you knocked the barrels over with your showing off!” the blonde girl voiced loudly, irritation in her voice and features; she went to pick up the barrels and put them back on the cart, glaring daggers at Rainbow as she did so. Rainbow just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes; not giving the southern girl’s protests any thought.
“Oh come off it Applejack, you said hurry up, I hurried up, not my fault…” she looked away from the fuming Applejack, uninterested in arguing with her any further. Applejack wouldn’t take that for an answer and she wasn’t about to let Rainbow just walk away from her like that; she grabbed Rainbow’s shoulder and leaned in close to her “Hey, the normal thing to do is say sorry and help pick everything up, got it Skittles?” she watched Rainbow turned around and lean in close; she mockingly cupped her hand over her ear “Eh? What was that? Didn’t quite understand you with that thick hick accent of yours you country bumpkin!” she grinned as she watched Applejack go red with anger; the air went silent for a moment.
Applejack lifted her right foot slightly off the ground and Rainbow grabbed the hilt of her sword; in almost a second, Applejack kicked at Rainbow with all the force of a sledgehammer and Rainbow parried the kick with swift movement with her rapier. With Applejack’s foot being blocked by Rainbow’s sword and neither wanting to back down, both were at a stalemate and grinning maliciously at each other. The fight didn’t last long though when the fist of an angry fashion designer whacked both Applejack and Rainbow in the back of the head. The moonlight shown behind Rarity’s form with a clear look of anger on her face, making her look very menacing; Applejack and Rainbow deflated a little, both not wanting to incur the wrath of Rarity.
“Will you two for the love of everything that is good, cease and desist? This is a party to welcome a new guest, show some decorum!” she glared Applejack and Rainbow down; making them both cower slightly under her cold glare. Rainbow was the first to respond and put her hands in her pockets “Whatever, I’m done anyway…” she walked towards the bakery and spotted Twilight beside the door, who watched the whole thing; she looked at Twilight and gave a quick wave “Yo!” she passed and entered the bakery. Applejack let out a sigh and grabbed two barrels of cider, putting them over her shoulders and walked towards the bakery as well.
Applejack stopped and nodded at the bemused Twilight with a smile “Hey there, sorry you had to see that, welcome to Oakville.” She watched Twilight nod slowly and mutter a thank you, satisfied with that she nodded and joined the party inside “Hey everyone” she bellowed as she entered the bakery “I have the good stuff so let’s party” Applejack’s voice boomed; some cheers could be heard from inside, most noticeably Pinkie’s. Rarity let out a small huff of aggravation and adjusted her jacket “Alright everyone, show is over, let’s all head back to the party” she made everyone disperse from the front and make their way to wherever; Twilight wondered what she had agreed to coming here. The remainder party went on without a hitch; Twilight talked with people about their plans for the festival and wrote down all she was told, all the while slightly enjoying herself. Pinkie danced to stereo music on the bakery counter with a lamp shade as a hat, Fluttershy and Redheart exchanged conversation about animals, Octavia played music out back with people enjoying the night sky, Applejack served cider and when done partied herself, Rainbow got drunk much to Applejack’s chagrin, and Rarity kept the party and Rainbow under control.
The party ended fairly late with the cakes shooing everyone out so they could clean their now messy bakery. Twilight took Spike home who had fallen asleep on her back; she looked back at her sleeping assistant and giggled lightly, glad her little friend had fun. Twilight stumbled around the house and found a light to walk around in; she placed Spike into bed and closed the door behind her.
Twilight felt completely drained after the party and just plopped herself in a chair and leaned back, letting her eyes get heavy. Twilight was about to drift off when she heard a thud, she quickly looked around and noticed a book had fallen off the shelf. Twilight lazily picked it up, looking at the title; she wondered why this of all books was the one that fell “The Princess In The Moon…” she opened the book with raised brow and skimmed the pages quickly but stopped when she got a certain part
“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal."
Twilight took a moment to process that part in but gave it some thought until it struck her “1000 years…” she quickly got up and grabbed The Tale Of Two Princesses again; she flipped through the book and looked at the date the book mentioned when the moon princess was locked away; the realization made Twilight go cold and weak in the knees “According to this, that day is only a few months away, the day of the summer festival” she shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thought but the lingering worry in her mind couldn’t let her drop it completely “No…this can’t be” she slowly closed the book; now having worry in her heart.