S2 Ch 5: Scheming
Twilight was already regretting her decision. Pinkie zoomed around the main dining hall like a unicorn suffering from three casts of Flash Dasher’s amazing super speedy dash spell, without the side effects of excessive hair loss, double vision or orange tongue. While they weren’t setting up the party yet, the pink mare had been all for throwing it once Twilight had told her.
Well, less told her. More the mare had seemingly appeared out of nowhere when she told Spike her plan(who had just given her a look.) The plan had been simple, her, Spike and Dancer would throw Nightmare Moon a surprise party. Now apparently it involved the whole castle and would be using the main dining hall. Twilight wanted to object to the whole notion, but Pinkie had unfortunately discovered her two greatest weaknesses.
Charts and lists.
Despite her expectations of the young pink pony, when it came to parties, the mare had a brilliance that… while it might not exceed Twilight’s, it at least gave it a run for its money. She couldn’t imagine anypony dedicating so much time and effort to such a thing. Even more importantly, there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.
She stared at the seating arrangement, trying to find out WHY or even HOW it worked. Pinkie had spent all of five minutes on it and, as best she could tell, there was no discernible pattern. Some tables had five guests, others had up to eight. Different races were mixed and matches, families were separated, ages mixed and matched. It was chaos.
And yet it was somehow perfect. She looked over the names and, if all these ponies did appear, she saw no reason they would object to sitting with their table mates. She had believed that the gala had been something the mare had dedicated her every fiber of being towards, that it was the most amazing she could do. Now she was beginning to see that that had been the norm for the mare. She didn’t seem to know the meaning of a bad party. “Pinkie, have you ever considered teaching a class?”
“On what?” the mare asked, glancing over.
“Throwing parties.”
The mare just giggled softly. “What? Why would I need to do that? This is all super easy! OHHH! Watermelon!” the mare yelled before running off.
“W-what? Watermelon? Why would-- Pinkie?” she called after her, but was seemingly ignored. She stared at the mare, at a loss, before glancing over to Spike. He was chewing on a bagel. “Where did you get that?”
“I missed breakfast,” he said with a shrug. “So I raided the kitchen.”
“… Do you think this is a bad idea?” she asked.
“Oh, I think it’s a horrible idea,” he said with a shrug.
“Really? You don’t think Nightmare Moon will like it?”
“Well, she’s like a few thousand years old, right? Don’t girls always get mad when you bring up their age?”
Twilight blinked a few times, before face hoofing. She then shook her head and turned back to the pink mare.
“Twilight? Darling? What is going on?” Rarity asked as she trotted into the dining hall. “I heard that Pinkie was here but...” She trailed off as she watched the mare race around. Then eyed the books and charts. “Is there another gala? I can’t deny I admire your initiative, but throwing another gala so soon after the last successful one would be a bit improper. Too much of a good thing, darling.”
Twilight shook her head. “No. We’re planning a birthday party for Nightmare Moon.” She paused. “Well, Pinkie is. I was. Now I’m not anymore, it seems. I don’t know.” She rubbed her head. “I’m getting a headache.”
“Oh dear,” Rarity said, patting her head. “Perhaps you should go and get some rest? I think Pinkie has-- wait. It’s Nightmare Moon’s birthday?!” she asked, her eyes going wide.
Twilight just sighed. “Maybe? I don’t know. Even if it’s not, we’re throwing her one. She’s been on the moon for a thousand years. She could probably use one. And hopefully it’ll help her calm down somehow.”
“Help who to calm down?” a voice said from behind them.
“You know, the--” Twilight froze, her blood almost freezing in her veins when she recognized the voice. She whipped her head around to see the ruler of Equestria. “Y-your highness!”
Nightmare Moon glowered. “Ah. Help us calm down. Tell us, bard. What is it that you are plotting? Perhaps another attempt to usurp our throne? Is there yet another powerful creature you have made contact with?”
“What? No! No no no!” Twilight said, shaking her head wildly. “No no! You see, umm...” She sighed. “It’s a surprise. And I swear it is in absolutely no danger to you, but if I tell you the whole surprise part will be ruined and I promise you will like it.”
Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened as suddenly Pinkie was on her head, making it sink down. “Of course, Moonie Moon! You’ll love it, trust me! I give you the Pinkie Pie guarantee!”
“Do not--” And her words were cut off by a sudden cupcake being stuffed into her mouth. “Mmpphhh!”
Twilight groaned, then did her best to smile to the princess. “It’s a surprise, your highness. One… one I’m certain you’ll love. I promise. If… you’d like you can cast a spell on me, to check I’m not lying?”
Nightmare Moon swallowed the cupcake and whipped around to scowl at Pinkie Pie. But the pink mare was already gone. She then glanced back to Twilight. She looked annoyed for a moment… then sighed. “Of course,” she mumbled. “There is no need.”
Twilight smiled, perhaps some trust had been salvaged--
“Whatever your plan is, will fail. We are no foal. Nor are we weak. The sooner you realize this, the sooner...” Nightmare Moon turned and trotted away, shaking her head.
Twilight watched the other mare leave. “Your… your highness… I...” she mumbled, then lowered her eyes. She watched the ruler of Equestria walk away and she felt nothing but… pity. Finally… She turned towards Rarity. “We need the others.”
“Pardon me?” Rarity asked.
“I want to throw a small, gentle party for her. Something… small. But appreciative. You, Applejack, everypony. And a few dozen nobles.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, darling. I mean, she might not--”
“She’s likely never had a birthday. At the very least, she hasn’t had one for a thousand years. And… even if she is kind of… nasty at times, she is still a pony. She deserves a little bit of affection. Besides, it might do a bunch to help her mental state. I know you ponies. I TRUST you ponies. So… there’s no one else I’d rather ask about this. So, will you help me?”
Rarity stared for a long moment. Then sighed. “Of course. I’ll always help you, darling. The others will too, I’m sure. Pinkie, of course, is happy to. Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack… well… they’ll likely be a bit… they may take some convincing. I’ll invite them to come talk with you. And… we can decide from that. May I have the guest list? I’d like to--” And suddenly it was in her hooves as a pink pony whooshed by. “Thank you.”
Twilight nodded, sighing. “Okay? And just… ask them to come. I’ll deal with the rest. Okay?”
“Okay, darling. Just don’t expect good results...”
------
“Yeah sure, why not?” Rainbow said with a shrug.
“Well… it is her first birthday. So… I mean. I-I don’t know how much help I’ll be. But, um, it’s for a good cause, right?” Fluttershy asked. “I’m in.”
“Ah don’t know how ah feel about all this,” Applejack said with a sigh. “Buuuuuut… ah owe yah after all yah did tah help. All the work for the farm an’ such. So… sure. ‘Sides, ah guess everypony deserves at least one good birthday party. So, when we havin’ this shin dig?”
Twilight blinked and stared. That was… oddly easy. She glanced down at the three inch tall stack of papers in front of her. “A-are you sure? I mean… I-I had a whole lecture planned on all the different ways--”
“Twilight, you’re awesome and all,” Rainbow said with a shake of her head. “But please, for the sake of my sanity. No more. We said we’d help, so we’re gonna help. So, what do you need us to do? Without the hour long speech.”
Twilight opened her mouth. Then blinked and closed it. She frowned and rubbed her chin. Then she gave a nervous chuckle. “I ummm… I actually… errr… spent… so long planning on how I was going to get you three to agree that… I forgot to… plan it. What we’d do. Pinkie has mostly been--”
“On it!” Pinkie said, suddenly between them, a big smile on her face. “Here’s the chart, everypony can sit here. Now, at the table of honor, Rainbow, could you get the Shadowbolts to come?”
“… For Nightmare Moon’s birthday bash? I’m sure,” she said with a snort. “We do, technically, work for her and all.”
“Good! Applejack, catering?”
“Might take a bit, but we can do it, no problem,” she said firmly. “The Apple’s ain’t never left a pony hungry.”
“Good! Fluttershy, can you get a bunch of song birds together to sing at the party?”
The pegasus blinked a few times. Then cocked her head to the side. “Sing? But… what about a band?”
“This isn’t a gala. It’s a small party, Only a dew dozen ponies!” Pinkie said excitedly.
Rarity coughed and glanced to Twilight. “Actually, I wanted to discuss that with you. Twilight? Are you certain this many ponies should be coming?”
“Huh? Why?” Twilight asked. “Every one of these nobles have--”
“I looked over the list. Do any of them really like Nightmare Moon? Does SHE like them? Does it bring any benefit to her?”
Twilight stared at the list. “I… guess not. But we can’t exclude them, it’d be a scandal. They--”
“It’s her FIRST ever birthday, yes? And after the gala, are they really missing much?” Rarity asked. “I am all for a high class event. But… you know the princess better than anypony. Are you certain this is what she’d like?”
Twilight sighed and glanced at the list. Finally, she nodded.. “You’re right. Small. Very small. How about… just the six of us.” Spike coughed. “Seven. And Moondancer.” She caught Pinkie deflating a little out of the corner of her eye. “With just the eight of us, it’ll be a smaller, but nicer party. We can have more decorations and more times for games. Pinkie, do you know a lot of games that the princess would like?”
The pink pony lit up. “Oh! I can think of a dozen! But… with only a few of us… Dashie, how do you feel about putting on a one pony show?”
The pegasus grinned wide. “Oh yeah. I can show off all my awesome moves. This’ll be easy.”
“And Fluttershy, would your birds be willing to come?”
“Well… with so few guests, I don’t think it’d be an issue.”
“Perfect!” Pinkie said with a wide grin. “We’ll make this amazing! Just you wait!”
Twilight blinked and then smiled. Right. They would do this. They could do this. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
On the nearby stained glass window, the draconequus started to move, a wide grin on his face. “A party?” he said softly, rubbing his chin. “My oh my. And I know just the gift.” He gave a snap of his fingers and was gone, leaving the ponies below to plot and scheme.
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Good to see this updating again! Twilight Glow's now learning the true meaning of a Pinkie Party... I wonder what Discord's planning...
wow, your alive.
IT'S A LIVE! Welcome back... T. G. Glow was missed...
I was just thinking about this story a couple days ago, glad to see it back! :)
Yay! Glad to see you're still here!
Oh, I'm glad this is being continued
I wait until things are finished to read them, and this one sounds so interesting! I was sad when I thought it was abandoned. Thank you for coming back!
Well hot damn, it must be my birthday!
That is not dead which can eternal write and with strange aeons even fics may rise.
IT"S ALIVE!
Incoming Pinkie Party in 3, 2-
FUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Happy to see you back. This story is freaking awesome!
Eyy, the great book earth pony is back in action! Well, delegating. Erm, on accident. Well she was involved!
Soon enough Friendship will worm back into Moonbutt, it just takes some time...
Keep going! ;)
Yaaaay! You are back!
Man, did I miss this story.
YAAAAAAAAAAAY YOU"RE BACK!!! I thought this fic had died but I'm super happy you've returned, and I'm eager to see how the party goes! But doggonit Twilight, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO JYNX IT?
Man, I need to go back and read this again, at least from the time of the Gala. I want to make sure I'm fresh and up to date as we go forward! :D Best of luck with your writing, can't wait to see what comes next!
8952928
No, silly! It’s Moon-Moon’s birthday!
8953227
Ha, I see what you did there. I didn't know the chapter was gonna be about Nightmare Moon's birthday when I posted that (although it was probably mentioned in the last chapter that I completely forgot about...)
Discord....it's been a year since this last updated; has Discord shown up before in this story? I'm inclined to think "no" but I honestly don't remember. In any case, I hope Twilight's birthday plan will go well. A little restored trust will go a long way after Celestia.
I’ll bet Luna’s birthday was the day Nightmare Moon banished Celestia to the sun.
*Deep Breath* yay!
It will be lovely to see how this goes. I hope that they can build enough trust to reach Luna under all the Nightmare.
Speaking of which, GODDAMIT DISCORD! Unless you provide something to bond over by causing problems, your help is not what we needed!
8953415
Yes, Discord escaped and then decided there was no point in being a villain since Nightmare Moon already had it covered. He also said he didn't have the power to confront her directly, but showed some meta-awareness of the alternate timeline. And then he got REALLY angry that Fluttershy was made into a vampire.
IT LIVES!
*moves story from Dead Fic Shelf to Awesome Reads*
You're not going to make us wait a year for the next chapter, are you?
Welcome back!
Welcome back and I love your new name
This is me after finally seeing a brand new chapter uploaded after so long...
I'm not gonna lie, I forgot this still existed! Its wonderful that you're back in action & I can't wait to see what Discord does to Luna's party!
Welcome back. It's a pleasure to see the story continue; I've been rather curious to see where it will go. And as someone who's also had a fic go a year without updating, you have my sympathy.
Welcome back!
no coffin can contain you
..... this is a really nice story
looking forward to reading even more
Interesting story you got here. I just started reading two days ago and have finally caught up. Looking forward to more.
Why did Luna call herself Nightmare Moon if she wanted ponies to Love her.
It's alive!
Oooh, I cannot wait to see Discord's present!
8975253
Play is a strong word. I mostly just fight people in the top lane and am all 'Mundo is strong' and stuff.
V happy you're back to writing this. I loved the first part. Looking forward to more
Okay, with Discord coming back, this has GOT to be interesting!
Though one has to wonder what Discord would consider to be the "Perfect" gift o.o
So glad this story is continuing!
8993941
Chaos.
The universe conspires.. AND Discord happened to be nearby
9725269
Oh no
...siiiigh.