The Elements of Friendship

by VioletHeart77

Welcome to Our Town

"My dear Starlight, as a wise mare once told me, there is more to a pony's life than studying. That's why I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Winter Night Festival in this year's location: the village of Our Town!"

" 'Our Town?' Is that the name of the village? What kind of a name is that?"

Wishful shrugged. "I don't know, it sounds kinda homey to me. Now, where was I?" He cleared his throat and resumed reading the letter from the princess: "And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!" Starlight rolled her eyes and groaned.

By this point, they had arrived at Our Town. It was a small village to say the least, with small cottages lined up in two straight rows along a single dirt street running up the middle. The houses and ground were covered with a thick layer of snow --- an odd sight, Starlight thought, considering that the surrounding area seemed to be all desert, save for the mountains in the distance.

"I think I see a library at the end of the street," Wishful observed. Starlight followed his gaze. Sure enough, a two-story building sat the far edge of the Town, with an open book sign hanging over its doorway.

Starlight brightened up. "That's great! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then go to the library to find proof of Sunflare Scorch's return!" With that, she began to trot into town.

Wishful ran to catch up with her. "But . . . when will you make friends like the princess said?"

"She said to check on the preparations. I'm her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making --- oof!" Suddenly, she walked straight into another pony and fell to the ground.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry . . . I should have been watching where I was going." She couldn't help but stare at the ground in her embarrassment, desperate not to make eye contact with the pony she'd so clumsily walked into.

"No, it's fine. Are you alri . . . Starlight?"

At the sound of her name, Starlight looked up, and her heart stopped as she found herself staring into the blue eyes of a handsome golden orange unicorn with a reddish mane and a white spot on his nose.

"Sunburst? . . . what . . . what are you doing here?"

"I live here. What are you doing here?"

Starlight's mind froze. "I . . . I . . . I'm here to supervise the preparations for the Winter Night Festival. Which I need to get to now!" With that, she turned around and took off down the street, only stopping when she ducked into a narrow alley between two buildings. Breathing heavily, she struggled to hold in the burning tears she felt forming in her eyes. No, she wouldn't let herself spiral out of control! Not now!

"Starlight! Starlight!"

Starlight began to panic, but a wave of relief washed over her as she saw that it was only Wishful.

"Starlight, what's wrong? Do you know that guy?"

"I . . . no . . . I mean yes . . . I mean, I used to." She took a deep breath and sighed. "I used to. But not anymore. He doesn't matter anymore. And even if he did, I don't have time to socialize. I've got preparations for the festival to check on. Come on, Wishful."

As they walked out of the alley, Starlight looked at the list that had been attached with the letter.

"Let's see . . . the first thing to check on is the weather . . ." She glanced up and saw that the sky was clear of clouds.

"Looks good! Alright, next is . . ."

THUD!

Starlight spat icy clumps of snow out of her mouth. "What the . . . ?"

"Whoops! Sorry about that!"

Starlight rubbed her eyes clear to see a navy pegasus with a wild white mane landing in front of her.

"I was aiming for my friend and didn't see you there. You alright?" Starlight wiped away the remaining bits of the snowball and nodded.

"Name's Night Glider. What's yours?"

Starlight regarded the pegasus uncertainly, unsure what to make of her upfront friendliness. "Um, I'm Starlight Glimmer, and I'm here from Ponyville to supervise the preparations for the Winter Night Festival. Just now I was checking on the weather . . ."

"Then you've got the right ponies!"

Starlight turned in the direction of the new voice and saw a white earth stallion with a purple scarf and a snow shovel walking towards them.

"This is Double Diamond," Night Glider explained, "the scamp who was supposed to get that snowball!"

"Not my fault your aim was off," Double Diamond laughed before turning to Starlight. "Night Glider just finished clearing the sky a few minutes ago, and right now I'm working on shoveling the extra snow out of the way."

"Isn't it awesome?" Night Glider extended her front legs as she fell backwards and began to make a snow angel. "We don't normally get snow around here except for in the mountains, but Cloudsdale brought in a whole shipment just for the Winter Night Festival!"

"Well, that's lovely!" Starlight interjected. "Well, it seems that you two have got the weather under control, so if you'll excuse me I have to move on." With that, she picked Wishful up, set him on her back, and turned to walk away.

"Nice meeting you, Starlight!" Double Diamond called after them. "Hope to see you at the festival tonight!"

"Well, that took longer than it should have," Starlight grumbled as they got further away.

Wishful turned to look at her. "What's the problem, Starlight? Those ponies seemed plenty friendly."

"Sure they're friendly, but we're burning daylight! We don't have time for friendliness! I have to get to the library to find out how to stop Sunflare Scorch from coming!" She sighed. "Hopefully our next stop will go more quickly."

The next preparation was the food, which the list said was being provided by Warm & Cozy Bakery. Starlight and Wishful entered and were greeted by the welcoming aroma of freshly-baked pastries. A pink unicorn with a curly mulberry mane sat behind the counter.

"Welcome to Warm & Cozy Bakery! My name is Sugar Belle. What can I get you?"

"Oh, uh, my name's Starlight Glimmer, and we're fine, actually." She slowly pulled a wide-eyed Wishful away from the display case of baked goods in front of them. "We're just here to check on the food for the Winter Night Festival."

"Oh, of course!" Sugar Belle replied. "It's right back here."

They followed her behind the counter into the kitchen, where mountains of muffins reached from the counter to the ceiling. "We have cranberry muffins, apple cinnamon muffins, s'mores muffins . . ."

"Excellent!" Starlight interrupted. "Now, if you'll excuse us . . ."

"What's that?" Wishful pointed at a lone pie sitting on the stove.

Sugar Belle smiled. "That's my newest recipe! It's filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream and peppermint dust. I call it a Snow Pie! I started with just one to see how it would turn out, would you like a slice?"

"Thanks, but . . ." Before Starlight could continue, Sugar Belle was already handing each of them a particularly generous slice.

"How is it?" she asked as they tasted it.

Wishful's eyes went wide. "It's amazing!" he exclaimed as best as he could with his mouth full.

Sugar Belle's smile widened. "Glad you like it!" She turned to Starlight. "So, where are you guys from?"

"Ponyville," Starlight answered succinctly. She was trying to eat quickly so they could move on.

"Really? I have friends who live there! Do you know Pinkie Pie?"

Starlight nearly choked on her pie from trying to stifle a laugh. "Do I know her? She's only the most hyperactive pony I've ever met!"

Sugar Belle giggled. "That's Pinkie, all right --- always there with smiles to share and songs to sing! So, what do you think of Ponyville?"

Starlight swallowed. "It's alright. It's quite a bit bigger than here, though, so it's a little more noisy. Always some sort of commotion going on, it seems."

Sugar Belle nodded. "Yes, Our Town is rather small. But the nice thing about it is that everyone knows everyone. You hardly ever see anypony alone because we're all friends." At that moment, she noticed that they had both finished their pie. "Would either of you like seconds?"

Starlight hurriedly covered Wishful's mouth before he could answer. "Thanks, but we're both stuffed. Besides, we have a lot more to check on before the Winter Night Festival, so we really need to get going."

"Alright then. See you tonight, Starlight!"

"I could have gone for another slice," Wishful muttered as they exited the bakery.

"Those pieces were huge, you've had plenty." Starlight wiped a glob of whipped cream off of his fur. "Because of you, that stop took at least twice as long as the last one! It's a good thing all we have left to check on is the decorations, though whoever's in charge must be slacking off because so far I haven't seen ---" Her rant ended only when she walked into a giant balloon star.

As she turned around, her eyes widened. Within the relatively short time that she and Wishful had been in the bakery, the town had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Shining blue and silver pennants hung across the street, and delicate icicle lights twinkled from the roof of every building. The most amazing thing, however, was the large number of intricate balloon snowflakes and stars scattered across the village.

"Excuse me."

Starlight turned and found herself face-to-face with a blue unicorn stallion with a curly mane.

"Would you mind holding this for me real quick?" He held out a tall, thin balloon.

"Um, sure." As Starlight took the balloon, the stallion began to blow up several shorter ones, which he then proceeded to knot to the first one.

"It can be a little tricky sometimes when you've got lots of balloons and only two hooves to work with," he commented. "I'm Party Favor, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Party Favor." Starlight leaned back a bit as the balloon she was holding began to bend towards her from Party Favor working with it. "I'm Starlight Glimmer."

"Nice to meet you too, Starlight. Are you new here?"

"Oh, no. I'm just visiting." The balloons were practically on top of her head now. "We're from Ponyville."

"Hey, I've been there! Do you ---"

"Yes, I know Pinkie Pie." Boy, that pony sure was popular!

"She's great, isn't she?" Party Favor stepped back. "There! The centerpiece is all done!" Indeed it was, and it was much larger than all of the other balloons. As he took the snowflake from her, his eyes widened. "Yikes! Looks like the static messed up your mane a little!"

Starlight looked up and saw that her mane was standing straight up like a forest of purple and green sticks.

"Here." Party Favor began to smooth her mane down with a soft cloth. "Sorry about that. I forget sometimes that balloons can do that to straight manes. Is that better?"

Starlight stroked her mane. It still felt a little frizzy, but she could brush it later. "Yes, much better. Well, Party Favor, the decorations seem to be taken care of, so I'd better be going."

"Great to meet you, Starlight! See you at the festival!" And before she could possibly run into another chatty local, she ran to the library and slammed the door.

Comments

[NobodieZ]

So far so good,

" 'Our Town?' Is that the name of the village? What kind of a name is that?"

Well you're the one you came up with the name.

"Sunburst? . . . what . . . what are you doing here?"

Do I detect a hint of shipping?

And I'm calling it now, Twilight Sparkle is Starlight's mentor and Sunset Shimmer is the villain.

Do you know Pinkie Pie?"
"Hey, I've been there! Do you ---"

"Yes, I know Pinkie Pie." Boy, that pony sure was popular!