Friendship's End

by Thought Prism

Chapter 1

As the light of Celestia's dawn filtered through the window, Twilight Sparkle awoke. It was a fairly ordinary Tuesday morning, but Twilight knew that she wanted to make the most of it. Thanks to the incredibly thoughtful actions of her friends, she no longer felt unease upon getting out of bed to see her new, more regal place of residence.

She trotted over to the bathroom to brush both her mane and her teeth before going to eat breakfast with Spike. He greeted her with a wave as she entered the unnecessarily huge dining room.

"Good morning, Twilight!" he said as he leapt out of his seat and ran for the kitchen. He returned a moment later carrying a plate in each claw. "Guess who made waffles!"

She eyeballed the strawberry-topped confections as Spike set them down at the table. "Yum! Thanks, Spike!"

"Don't mention it."

Using her levitated silverware, she cut herself a piece, savoring the sweetness. Spike just set his plate down at the edge of the table and shoved the waffles progressively closer as he dug in with abandon.

Once breakfast was over, Twilight washed the dishes and then went upstairs to grab her saddlebag. This was a new one which Rarity had made for her, colored magenta to match the highlights in her mane. "A princess needs to looks stylish at all times," she'd said.

As she was about to leave, she turned to Spike, who was currently in the process of tickling Owlowicious with one of her quills. The bird was unresponsive.

"I'm heading out to run a few errands, I should be back before too long. And stop that, please."

He snapped to attention. "Loud and clear, princess!" Twilight rolled her eyes as she opened the castle doors with her magic.

Ponyville was as lively as ever, with everypony out and about for some reason or other. Bulk Biceps was one of them, and he waved a hello as he entered the spa for his shift at work. Waving back, Twilight was making her way towards the flower stand to buy snacks for later, but before she could arrive, she was intercepted by Fluttershy, who looked even more distressed than usual.

"What's the matter, Fluttershy?"

"Well, umm, something's gone terribly wrong!" she exclaimed, matching Twilight's volume.

"What is it?"

"So, you know how I have a tea party with Discord every Sunday?"

Twilight immediately recognized the implications that came with such a question, placing a forehoof on her shoulder. "Did he hurt your feelings somehow?"

Fluttershy slinked backwards and began pawing the ground. "Oh, no, nothing like that. He just didn't show up. I'm worried what could have happened to him."

"He didn't get to your place on time?"

She shook her head. "Well, being the kind of person he is, Discord never poofs in at the same time twice. I always set the table the night before, and he comes by on Sundays whenever he feels up for it. But this week, he didn't show up at all! I waited all day yesterday, just in case he was feeling especially chaotic this week, but he still never arrived."

That was odd, Twilight thought. Fluttershy was Discord's only real friend, he wouldn't risk upsetting her. Not after he proved himself as truly reformed during the Tirek debacle. Which means...

"You're right, Fluttershy! I'll go tell Princess Celestia! Don't worry, we'll find him in one piece, more or less."

"Oh thank you, Twilight."

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Twilight opted for the fast approach, and simply teleported directly to Canterlot castle. Appearing out of this air at the foot of some marble steps, she asked the royal guards stationed at the huge castle gate where Celestia was, and they told her that she was on the tower balcony, overlooking her ponies.

Celestia shifted her gaze down as Twilight flew un-majestically towards her at speed, wondering what could be so urgent as to have brought her here.

"Princess, Discord is missing!" Twilight shouted frantically as she landed on the ornately decorated balcony.

Ignoring the use of her title by a close friend, she quickly understood the dire nature of this news, and the concern that Twilight and the others must be feeling. "I'd go look for him personally, being more experienced in wrangling him, but I was just about to start on a very important matter myself, and Luna is also occupied with a crisis at the moment."

Twilight's eyes widened, expectant. "The trains scheduled to return to Equestria from the Crystal Empire have mysteriously stopped coming recently. The group of ponies sent over to check as to why also seem to have vanished. Sensing danger ahoof, Luna took it upon herself to see what the problem was," Celestia added.

She gasped. "Are Cadence and my brother ok?"

"I don't know, she left last night, and I have yet to hear back from her or her escorts."

Though crestfallen, Twilight managed to remain in peak mental form. "I could take over whatever it is you were going to do. Even though my new duties don't usually involve such things, I should get more experience with traditional royal matters. Unless banners are involved."

She chuckled at that. "Well, organizing the census does seem like something you would be adept at, Twilight."

Her eyes lit up. How could she forget about the Equestrian census? Every ten years, the guard was marshaled to catalog the names, cutie marks, and residences of everypony who lived here, among other details. "Perfect! You can count on me, Princess!"

"Excellent, I have full faith in you."

Twilight smiled briefly before she remembered what exactly the alicorn sisters were doing. "Good luck."

Celestia turned to the guards who had been standing alert where the terrace met the tower. "Did you hear all that?" Upon observing their conformational nods, she vanished and began her search.

* * *

Confident in her abilities, as well as those of her mentor's, Twilight had returned to Ponyville to relay the news to her friends. First up was Fluttershy, who was sure to be thrilled upon hearing that Celestia herself had everything under control. But, before she could even get close to her cottage, a bubbly face suddenly sprang up in front of her.

She flinched and backpedaled a few steps, still not used to Pinkie's sudden appearances. "Hiya, Twilight!" she said, bouncing up and down.

"Hi, Pinkie. What's up?"

"I was gonna ask you that! Something amazing just happened to you, I can feeeel it," she added, leading closer with a quizzical expression.

"Well, if you must know," she said, straitening herself out, "I was just put in charge of the census by Princess Celestia!"

Clearly pondering something, she replied. "Isn't that when all the guard ponies barge into your house and make you fill out a bunch of forms?"

"Yes, isn't that exciting!" Twilight beamed.

She tilted her head sideways. "But, that sounds to me like it would be waaaay boring." Then, Pinkie's eyes almost seemed to double in size as she inhaled deeply, mouth agape. "What if... we turned it into a party! For everypony ever!"

"What?"

"Like, instead of what usually happens, we invite all of Equestria to Canterlot for the Biggest. Bash. In. History!" Pinkie yelled in glee while spinning around on her back hoof.

Twilight shook her head. "As fun as that sounds, it would be way too much work to plan a party for that many ponies. Besides, we've conducted the census the same way for years. You know what they say: if it isn't broken, don't fix it."

Pinkie slumped down to the ground in front of Twilight, staring upwards with teary eyes and whimpering cutely.

Twilight sighed in resignation. "We'll need all the hooves we can get if we're going to pull this off."

Pinkie squee'd in delight. "Don't worry, Twilight, I'll marshal all the perfectly performing party ponies to help!" With that, she ran off in an instant, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

This would certainly be an epic undertaking, Twilight mused, but nothing she couldn't handle. It was just a little bureaucracy.

"Well, then," she said to herself. "Time to spread the word."

Now with two pieces of good news to share, Twilight made her way over to Fluttershy's cottage at the edge of the woods. After a curt knock, and an announcement of her arrival, Fluttershy peeked out from behind the door.

"Hi, Twilight. Did you find Discord?"

"No, but now Celestia herself on the case!"

"Oh, really? That's wonderful," she said, hovering into the air.

Twilight nodded. "That's not all, Fluttershy. As of now, I'm going to be preparing for Equestria's first ever census party!"

"Census party?"

"Pinkie's idea. Instead of sending out the guards to talk to everypony, everypony will come to Canterlot for a party!"

She sunk back to the floor. "Oh, I don't know about that. It sounds like far, far too many people in one place for me to go, but you can have plenty of fun for the both of us."

"It's also the census, Fluttershy, so attendance will probably be mandatory. And it's not like we'll be cramming the whole of Equestria into the castle, we'll use the whole city. You can even hide in an alley if the scene gets too overwhelming for you."

She sighed in relief. "Oh, good. That sounds nice. Have you told the others yet?"

"Nope. Come on," Twilight said, waving a hoof. "We can tell them together!"

After a short trot, they arrived at Carousel Boutique. The two mares found Rarity inside, stitching small emeralds onto a strapless green dress. "Why hello, darlings! What brings you here on this fine day?"

"We stopped by to let you know that Equestria is going to have its first census party in Canterlot soon! It's the census, but everypony gets together for a great time!" Twilight said, beaming.

Rarity's eyes glistened, possibilities buzzing in her head. "Why, that's simply marvelous news! It's the perfect chance for me to showcase my designs!"

Then, the opened the door with her magic and began ushering the two out with her hooves. "Leave me be, girls! I simply must prepare the most divine ensemble to wear! There's no time to lose!"

Once out, the door slammed behind them, leaving them standing around, confused. Twilight shrugged, and Fluttershy giggled in response.

Next, they flew off to find Rainbow Dash, who wasn't home. They found her napping on a small cloud hovering leisurely above Quills and Sofas.

"Umm, Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy softly as she poked her flank gently with a hoof. "Sorry to wake you, but we have some big news."

Rainbow dash opened a single eye and looked at her quizzically. "Well?"

"Right, well, there's going to be a party in Canterlot soon, and everypony needs to go."

"Lame," she replied, rolling over onto her other side. "Not interested. We can hang out later, that would be way cooler."

Twilight chimed in. "You do realize that 'everypony' includes the Wonderbolts, right?"

Suddenly, Rainbow leapt off of the cloud with such force that it broke to pieces. "Then count me in!" she exclaimed, now talking quite quickly. "When is it? I hope it's tomorrow, then I could show them my new moves and then we could drink cider and talk and -"

"It's not for a while," Twilight interrupted. "I just started planning earlier today."

She started gesturing wildly. "Then what are you waiting for? Go! Make this thing happen ASAP!"

"Not until we tell Applejack."

"Fine..."

Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres at roughly the same time (Rainbow had trouble forcing herself to slow down), they saw Applejack immediately. Standing atop a ladder, she was covering the sign above the gate with a fresh coat of shiny lacquer.

Rainbow Dash practically divebombed her. "AJ, AJ, AJ!"

"Woah there!" flailing her hooves, she lost her balance, almost falling to the ground. "What's got you so riled up?"

"Twilight and Fluttershy told me that there's gonna be this HUGE party in Canterlot for the whole country!" The mares in question, now behind the excited Rainbow, nodded in confirmation.

"Well now, cover me in butter and call me Buiscuit, that is 'citing!" She hopped off of the ladder. "Ah better go tell the kin-folk! We've got a whole heap of fritters in our future, if'n everypony's mighty hungry at this here party."

Twilight agreed. "Good idea!"

As Applejack galloped off to her house, she turned to the others. "I need to go tell, Spike, not to mention actually organize the census party."

"Ok," said Fluttershy. "I'll leave you to it then."

"See ya!" Rainbow waved, rocketing off into the distance.

* * *

~ 4 Days Later ~

Twilight hovered in the skies above Canterlot, admiring her hoofiwork. It had been a lot of work getting everything set up on such short notice, but through the power of delegation, she had pulled it off.

Pinkie kept her word, returning to Ponyville with dozens of other party ponies. A few, such as Cheese Sandwich and Party Favor, she had met previously, but she had never seen any of the others before, and had no clue where Pinkie had managed to find them all.

The whole lot of them had broken into a catchy musical number earlier today as they set up the final touches to the catering, decor, and events. It was something about how if 'everypony pitches in, then everypony is sure to grin'. But Twilight hadn't been paying much attention, as she had been setting up a huge entrance checkpoint with the guards just outside the city limits.

Now, ponies of all shapes and sizes arriving for the party were each standing in one of the many lines in order to fill out their census forms and enter the city. Inside, ponies were already packing the streets. Mothers showcased their newborn foals to eachother. Fillies and colts ran around excitedly, making new friends. Businessponies traded stories of success and failure with rivals from all over. Many others sampled the many available local snacks from places they'd never visited. The nobles, well, they mostly kept to themselves. But other than that, thought Twilight, things seemed to be going great.

She returned to the earth at the edge of the city's Mane Thoroughfare, where her friends were already waiting. The whole place was adorned in all manner of balloons, ribbons, and confetti. Upon her arrival, the five began showering her with assorted praises for a job well done. Twilight smiled at each of them in turn, noting the extravagant gown that Rarity had donned. Truly, this was a magical day for Equestria.

After wandering around for a while, enjoying the festivities for themselves, a shower of indigo glitter, sparkling with an almost magical beauty, formed over Canterlot. Everypony looked upwards, marveling in the spectacle. Twilight wondered which of the party ponies had planned this.

But as the impromptu storm rained down, she noticed something was wrong. Ponies all around her were looking rather groggy all of a sudden. Soon, she too could barely keep her eyes open.

Then, everything went black.

Comments

[Twilight Shine]

Its a great idea but u really need a(n) editor. Everything is all over the place and I was really confused what was going on. But as what i typed before it is a really great idea.