And Now For Something Exactly the Same

by Damaged

Chapter 4 and 1/2

Kneading dough. Kneading dough. Pinkie Pie made up a song on the spot and started humming it to herself as she worked the bread dough into shape and put it in pans and then put the pans in the big oven.

When she was done with the bread, Pinkie moved on to making the bakery treats that Sugarcube Corner was famous for. "Oh! Good morning, Mrs. Cake! Have a nice sleep-in?"

At mention of sleeping in, Cup Cake blushed a little but nodded readily. "Sure did, Pinkie Pie. Thank you for getting everything started today—you're such a great help." Taking in the state of her kitchen with a sweep of her eyes, Cup could tell exactly what was baking, what was rising, and what Pinkie was working on. "How are the new danishes going?"

"The pastry was a bit tricky, but I did it just how you showed me. Here, have a look." Setting the batter she'd been mixing down, Pinkie walked to the cooling rack and lifted down a still-warm spinach and feta danish. "Try this on for maximum cronch."

Biting into the danish, Cup let out a happy sigh as the flavor of the cheese and spinach enriched her palate. "Perfect, dear, but why did you make so much of everything?"

"I've got a hint that something big will happen today." Smiling, Pinkie remembered seeing Trixie setting up her stage.

"One of your Pinkie Senses?"

Pinkie just giggled at that. "Only if you call seeing an old friend setting up a stage in the town square Pinkie Sense."

Cup laughed aloud at the bit of humor. "Well, we can't have you stuck in here all day then, can we? I can take care of all this if you want to go and watch."

"Really? You're the best!" Pinkie rushed Cup and gave her a big hug—which got her a hug back from a now-flour-anointed Cup Cake. "I'll just go and get cleaned up then head over there!"

It didn't take Pinkie long to get herself washed and dried—mane all poofy and uncontrolable, as usual—and head out into the town with a cream-cheese bagel and a prancing stride. Pinkie had also equipped her most excited smile since she was going to be seeing an old friend.

When she reached the square, and was almost done with her bagel, Pinkie spotted a new friend first. "Rarity!"

Turning at the sound of her name, Rarity spotted Pinkie and immediately the slight frown she wore turned into a bright smile. It was like the whole day just got a little brighter and it was all radiating from her pink friend. "Pinkie Pie! Darling! Do you know what's going on with—"

"I dunno, Applejack, I saw her talking to Lyra yesterday. It can't be that bad," Rainbow Dash said as she and Applejack approached the stage. "Oh, there's Pinkie and Rarity."

Applejack reached up to the tip of her hat and touched it with a hoof. "Howdy y'all. What's goin' on?"

"Well," Pinkie began, "this is—"

"Come one! Come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie set off her stage's spring-loaded unfolding and used her illusion magic to conjure up a flash of sparkling white magic, then jumped out onto the stage. "And her assistant!"

Giggling, Pinkie Pie gestured at the stage. "I couldn't have put it better myself."

"A little over-the-top, ain't it?" Applejack asked.

With her cape spread out, Trixie set off the initial fireworks for her show with her magic. "Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" As she delivered her grand announcement, she could feel Scootaloo's hoofsteps coming from the stage behind her.

"My, my, my. What boasting?" Rarity's ears were folded back and her face turned from the loud and bright fireworks going off.

"Come on. Nopony's as magical as Twilight." It took Spike almost a quarter of a second to notice Rarity was the mare he was behind. The shock registered on his face before he shouted something and tried to get away from his idol as fast as possible before he made a fool of himself.

Twilight blushed for a second time that day at Spike's praise. "There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" All her friends' attention (and that of several members of the audience around them) was on her, and it only made her worry more about her own magic.

There was another pony who'd noticed the increasingly vehement conversation going on in the audience. Trixie despised hecklers, but it was Scootaloo who she was worried about. She scanned around surreptitiously, looking for the sources of the noise and marking their features in her mind.

At the same time she produced a bouquet of flowers, she also noticed two friends of hers in the audience. Pinkie, first and foremost, had her attention on Trixie. It was a relief that not everyone had been disrupted by the chatter. Lyra, however, was right behind the group being noisy.

That's when it came. Trixie's ears perked as one of the noisy group turned her way and called out, "Yeah! Magic-smagic! Booo!" It was the last straw for her.

When she saw Scootaloo retreat off stage, Trixie took it as her chance to nip the heckling in the bud. "Well-well-well, it seems we have some neighsayers in the audience!" She enjoyed using a little ironic horse noises—she felt it reflected back the noisy attitude of her hecklers nicely.

As Pinkie watched the scene unfold before her, she was hit with a sense of both dismay and anticipation at her friends having heckled Trixie, and whatever Trixie was going to do in response. "Dismipation." She giggled a little at the little portmanteau.

Watching in dismipation, Pinkie tried to hold back her giggles and whines as her friends made fools of themselves trying to do what they'd insulted Trixie for doing—and then getting shown up by Trixie for trying.

Having dispatched the hecklers, Trixie realized Scootaloo had left at some point. It stung her to admit that she should have dealt with the interruptions before it got too far, but nonetheless her show must go on. "Now the Great and Powerful Trixie needs an assistant from the audience!"

Glancing around the audience, Trixie spotted Lyra and Scootaloo. It ached her heart to see the look on the filly's face, but she couldn't let it show—she also couldn't call them up. That's when she spotted the perfect assistant. One that she'd worked with before. "Ah! This pony whom the Great and Powerful Trixie has never met before will do. What's your name, Pinkie Pie?"

Bouncing on all four legs, Pinkie vaulted onto the stage with ease and then turned to give a bow to the cheering audience.

Waiting for the crowd to simmer down from Pinkie's arrival, Trixie took her hat off and bowed to Pinkie. "Now, if you could—"

Pinkie grabbed Trixie's hat and tossed it on her own head as her mane twisted and reshaped into a perfect likeness of Trixie's. The crowd went wild, laughing and giggling—stomping their hooves in glee at a far more in-the-spirit takeover of Trixie's show.

"Hey! Give that back! Trixie demands her hat back from the—" When Pinkie liberated Trixie's cape, too, Trixie knew she'd been defeated in the best way possible. She might not be quite as great and powerful, but the sparkling eyes of every foal in the audience was enough for her.

"The Great and Powerful Pinkie—will now do a trick with her fantastic assistant, Trixie!" Gesturing at Trixie, Pinkie was not-at-all surprised when more fireworks went off. The laughter was music to Pinkie's ears and only encouraged her to greater feats. She only had a rough idea what the various props were for, but with her Assistant Trixie there, she could fudge experience well enough.

When Pinkie decided it was time to make her exit, she whispered from the corner of her mouth, "Make me disappear?" When she got a discrete nod, she cleared her throat. "Now, the Great and Powerful Pinkie will make her assistant disappear!"

Wheeling out a wardrobe with a trapdoor, Trixie made a show of swinging it around on stage while she precisely placed it over a matching trapdoor in the stage itself. When Pinkie gestured at her to get in the closet, however, Trixie spun her around and pushed Pinkie in instead.

"Um, Trixie?" Pinkie shouted through the door of the wardrobe while knocking on it. When the trapdoor opened under her, she slipped down through the hole and then left Trixie's hat and cape in the bottom of the closet.

Humming again, Pinkie slipped out the back of the stage and then put on her disguise—a pair of glasses with a fake moustache and cigar—and walked casually around the crowd and up to Lyra and Scootaloo. "Hi, guys! Who was that amazing pink pony before?"

After laughing along with everypony nearby, Lyra took Pinkie's silly glasses off with her magic and booped her on the nose. "Hey, Pinkie, you're friends with Twilight and all them, right?"

Slinging a foreleg around Scootaloo, Pinkie felt a real frown trying to force its way onto her face. "Not today I'm not. What was with all that?" When Scootaloo shifted, Pinkie sat down and flung both forelegs at the stage.

"Trixie was just getting warmed up and then Spike starts going on and on about how much Twilight was better than her at magic, and then Applejack and Rainbow start arguing about it, then—" Pinkie grabbed a double-hoofful of her mane and almost screamed. "Well, you saw how it turned out."

Biting her lower lip, Lyra tried to work out a way of talking about things that wouldn't make it look like she was just belittling Pinkie's friends. Then she just gave up. "Do you want to have a word with Twilight, or should I?"

With a suffering sigh, Pinkie lowered her head. "I'll do it. I think she'll take it more seriously if I deliver the scalding. What is it with ponies when they get into a group and go bonkers?" Lifting a hoof, she made the classic crazy gesture at the side of her head.

"Maybe I'll talk Fluttershy into coming too. Nopony confronts you on how terrible you've been like she does." That's when Pinkie remembered something and peered so close at Scootaloo that she pushed her snout right under Scootaloo's. "Hey. Weren't you on stage with Trixie?"

"Y-Yeah. We were supposed to do a bunch of tricks together. We even rehearsed last night and earlier today. But then—then Rainbow Dash started—and I couldn't—"

Pinkie could feel the filly trying to get away and hide from the interrogation. When she spotted dried tears on Scootaloo's cheeks, she realized how much this emotionally had hit the filly. "Whoah. Okay, now they're all going to get their plots kicked, but first there's something I need to show you."

There was only one thing for it, Pinkie Pie realized. She had to make Lyra and Scootaloo smile, then she had to go kick plot. Not kicking plot physically, but she had some friends to talk to about their treating a potential friend as an enemy.

So, to satisfy the first problem Pinkie had to deal with, she grabbed Scootaloo and Lyra and plowed all her earth pony power into speed and strength. Magic, whether it's in an earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn, will flex and grow like muscles—the more you use it, the more you get. Pinkie had been flexing her earth pony magic since she was a tiny filly as she struggled to keep up with her big sisters.

There was more to Pinkie Pie than having almost supernatural earth pony magic heft—she also had a cutie mark and special talent based around making ponies happy. Getting Lyra and Scootaloo to Sugarcube Corner was, therefore, an act of a pony working within the purview of her special talent. All bets were off.

"This should be a good start. Is there anything else I can get you? I am great and powerful, you know," Pinkie said when she had the pair in a booth at Sugarcube Corner, just as she materialized a cake and a pair of milkshakes as well.

Lyra muttered something under her breath, but then raised her voice. "Thanks, Pinkie, I think we can take it from here. Could you tell Trixie we're going home after this?"

"Sure!" Pinkie bounced on all four legs toward the door. "Bye bye!"

Like Twilight, Pinkie Pie worked with lists a lot. She had birthday lists, friendship lists, all kinds of lists. Most of Pinkie's lists lived in her head—unlike Twilight's—and that meant they were easier to get confused but also easier to adjust. Talk to Trixie appeared at the top of Pinkie's current to-do list, with a list of her friends she had to talk to about what had happened coming in a close second.

With the memory of Scootaloo and Lyra having some cake and milkshakes to buoy her spirits, Pinkie set all four legs to maximum bounciness and pronked back to the town square.

"Now, where would I be if I were Trixie?" Pinkie looked around the square and spotted a blue wagon. "Right, her home!"

Having had enough excitement for a whole year—and having vowed never to return to Ponyville without an army at her back—Trixie was slumped against the inside wall of her wagon. The world outside could just go away, in her view, though the knocking at her door seemed to make that unlikely. "What is it?"

"I came to apologize for my friends' behavior." Pinkie and her well-honed Pinkie Sense could feel the distress of Trixie.

"Pinkie Pie, you are the last pony who needs to apologize." Knowing that she would never get peace so long as Pinkie was worried about her, Trixie stood up and used her magic to open the top half of her Dutch door. "I'd go on to say that your help was likely the high point of my day."

"Aww." Pinkie quickly ran through her lists and remembered exactly why she was there. "Lyra said she and Scootaloo will be heading home after they have some cake at Sugarcube Corner."

It was obviously an invite, but Trixie wasn't feeling too social. "Thanks, Pinkie. I think I just need some time to recover from this one. I've been heckled before—plenty of times—but I could hear Scootaloo's sobbing from the stage. I might just pack up and move on in the morning."

"Did you see who started it? When I arrived, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack were already talking, and then Spike joined in too." Tapping her chin, Pinkie tried to remember the exact order of events. "Lyra seemed to think it was Spike's doing. I mean, sure he's a bit young to be in such conversations, but I never thought everypony'd let him rile them up. I guess this is a bit more complicated than any of us thought."

"Well, I'm glad they're your friends and not mine. I doubt I'll ever come back to Ponyville after this. Talk about a bad impression." Trixie blew at part of her mane that had flopped forward over her face.

"They're really nice—usually. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Pinkie asked.

"I'll survive. I still have my wagon, all my tricks, and I have a little side project to work on, thanks to Lyra." Turning and looking back into her wagon, Trixie realized she'd have to make at least one more of the snakes so that the Guard artificers could make copies of it. "Thank you for the concern, Pinkie."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pinkie raised an eyebrow in question.

"Sure I'm sure."

"If you ever need help—and don't want to come to Ponyville for it—there's a rock farm near Stonecrop. Ask after the Pie family and somepony will show you where to go. Tell them Pinkie sent you and you'll have somewhere to stay, something to eat, and some work to do."

"Pinkie, I doubt I'd ever need to—but thank you."

"I gotta go get to the bottom of this, but if you need help, Pinkie is always here." Turning, Pinkie prepared her powerful pronkers and propelled herself away. In her head, she shuffled around lists and put Twilight and Rarity on one, then Applejack and Rainbow after them. With a little more thought, she shoved Rarity on top. "Now all I gotta do is hope she managed to fix her mane."

When Pinkie carefully opened the door to Carousel Boutique, she was worried she'd hear crying, wailing, or another noise coming from the owner. Instead she heard Rarity humming a tune. "Rarity?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie! It's always a pleasure to see you—" When Rarity turned and looked at her visitor, she saw an almost unbelievably serious expression on Pinkie's face. "Whatever's the matter, darling?"

"Your mane's okay?" Pinkie could see that Rarity's mane looked fine, but she knew that looks could be deceiving.

And that was when Rarity rolled her eyes. "That charlatan only used a simple illusion spell on it. Can you believe that? I thought she'd gone and dumped some kind of dye all over me. Why are you looking so angry?"

"That 'charlatan' is my friend." It was a most un-Pinkie tone for her to use, mostly because is had a heavy dose of accusation in it. "And you ruined her show!"

"I—What do you mean? She was making all kinds of boasts. It was ridiculous. She shouldn't have been lying like that if she—" Cutting short her bravado when Pinkie stomped closer and got in her personal space, Rarity leaned her head back a bit. "What?"

"She's an illusionist, Rarity. Showing off and making wild claims she can only see-through with tricks is her job. If I tell you a knock-knock joke, I'm not saying my name really is the joke name."

Rarity thought that over for a moment, her stern expression melting a little as Pinkie's logic started to settle in. "I may have—now you put it like that—overstepped my mark a little. I still don't think she should have been claiming she was the best unicorn in town."

"You and I—and everypony—knows Twilight is the best unicorn in town when it comes to casting spells. Trixie claimed she was the best in all Equestria—how would anypony believe that?" Having said her piece, Pinkie backed away and turned. "You can find her in the town square if you want to apologize. Last thing I heard from her, she considers Ponyville the worst town in all Equestria."

Left staring at Pinkie as her normally cheerful friend seemed truly upset, Rarity was about to say something when Pinkie paused.

"Oh, and you might not have noticed, since you were all so busy heckling, but Scootaloo was supposed to be Trixie's assistant. They'd practiced all day for the show, and the filly ran off and cried after your little fun." Pinkie had had to turn away from Rarity so her friend couldn't see the tears in her eyes at having to berate a friend.

Safely outside Rarity's home and business, Pinkie closed the door and reached up to wipe her eyes dry. "Pinkamena, that wasn't nice." She started walking away from the boutique, her hooves naturally taking her closer and closer to the town's library. Running the conversation through her head over and over, Pinkie realized what it was that had infuriated her—Rarity had required the clues to be drummed in, rather than just listening.

"Pinkie?" Twilight's voice was loaded with concern. "What's the matter?" She'd never seen her new friend in this state before. "Wait, come inside and then we'll talk. I'll make us some tea."

Grateful to not have to stand at the door and work up the courage to knock, Pinkie followed Twilight back inside the library. "Thanks, Twilight."

When Pinkie was settled in the library's kitchen at a little table, and with a cup of tea in front of her, she finally let loose. "I just went to see Rarity to find out what her problem was at Trixie's show earlier."

Twilight's shoulders slumped, her mane became limp, and she hung her head. "That was so embarrassing. I didn't know what to do or how to stop it. Spike was egging the others on, and Rarity—I don't know what she thought she was doing. We'd had plays in Canterlot, and nopony ever did that at one."

"Rarity still thought she was right. I can't believe I had to explain theater to her, of all ponies. Isn't she meant to be all well-to-do and so well-traveled?" Pinkie splatted her snout into the teacup and slurped up every drop of it.

Nodding, Twilight tilted her head up and stared at the ceiling, silently begging something interesting to happen and break up this awkward conversation. "I was just so—so flabbergasted at what they were doing that I didn't think to grab Spike and break them up until it dawned on me they were jeering at Trixie for just saying she was the best magic user in Ponyville. Not that we don't have other amazing unicorns here. Do you know Lyra Heartstrings?"

Jerking her head up, Pinkie could only stare at Twilight for several seconds. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"What?" Twilight could only stare.

"We went to school together. We practically grew up through the hardest year of our lives together. And Trixie! Lyra helped get Trixie into Princess Celestia's school."

Staring, dumbfounded, Twilight couldn't get her head around what Pinkie was saying. "Wait, you and Lyra were in school together? When?"

"Before she came to Equestria. We attended school in Cowwarr and Stonecrop. We got our cutie marks at the same time, Twilight." Slumping back in her chair, Pinkie was all wrung out now.

"Oh my goodness." Twilight couldn't even see Pinkie or the library now. Her mind was focused on the earlier events, turning them over and over in her head. "She attended Princess Celestia's school as well?"

"Yes, Twilight."

"So her magic probably is better than most unicorns in most towns like Ponyville."

"Yes, Twilight."

"Wait, and Lyra's living in town too. What's she been doing with her life since school? She was going to be teaching, I thought." Feeling like there was a huge part of her life suddenly missing, Twilight got up and started pacing.

"Lyra spent some time helping Princess Celestia with various problems, then she started working with the Guard full-time. She said she's been instructing new recruits on how to use magic. Some gossip I heard was that she's planning something new for the princess." Pinkie looked down into her teacup and sighed, regretting inhaling it a moment earlier.

"M-Maybe I'm not the most powerful unicorn in town, then?"

"I try to pay more attention to smiles and happiness than horn-measuring contests, Twilight." Winking, Pinkie stood up. "Maybe you should have a talk to Spike about what happened?"

"Or maybe we could all meet up tomorrow and discuss all this. I mean all of us. Applejack and Rainbow weren't much better than Rarity." Twilight levitated Pinkie's cup from the table and to the sink. "If I remember correctly, Ponyville has seen a growth spurt lately—maybe Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow just aren't used to dealing with bigger-town events?"

"Well, that's probably better than me stomping around to their houses and getting angry at them, too," Pinkie Pie said.

"Then you have time for another cup of tea." Smiling to her friend, and being relieved to see Pinkie smiling again too, Twilight started brewing another cup each for them.

"Trixie will be in town until morning. I tried to convince her to stay, but not too much."

Twilight nodded and poured the boiling water into her teapot again. "That's understandable. I gather she doesn't get heckled like this in most places?"

"Oh, no. Heckling she's used to. It was Scootaloo that hurt her, I think." At Twilight's dumbfounded look, Pinkie continued, "Apparently everypony was too busy dealing with their own problems to see that Scootaloo was on stage with Trixie. I take it you were, too?"

"Scootaloo? Who—? Oh! Young filly, right? Goes to school in town." Twilight tapped her chin trying to remember in more detail. "Pegasus…"

"Lyra's foster-daughter." Pinkie had gotten to see so many variations of shock on Twilight's face. "She's got a bad case of hero-worship for Rainbow. When Rainbow started heckling—without even looking at the stage—she ran off in tears."

Twilight's ears wilted and folded back at the news. "I let my own fears and worries get the better of me."

Even as Twilight tried to lower her head to the table and cover it with her hooves, she was stopped by a hug.

"If you think I'll let you wallow in this, you're wrong—silly billy. What do you do whenever you learn a new thing about friendship?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Relaxing in Pinkie's hug, Twilight eventually reached out to hug her friend back. "Write a friendship report to Princess Celestia."

Letting go, Pinkie circled back around and sat down on her own side of the table again. "Want some help?"

"Of course, Pinkie." Floating over a scroll, a quill, an inkwell, and a blotter, Twilight was just about two write Dear Princess Celestia when Spike's voice could be heard from the main floor of the library. "Or I could deal with another inferno first. What is it with this town and yelling?"

"Mostly all the Equestria-destroying disasters that happen. Did you hear about the Yara-ma-whats-its-face that was here a bit ago? Lyra, Sweetie, and a squad of Guardponies dealt with it." Waving a hoof in the air, Pinkie used the moment to give Spike time to find them.

Twilight froze, her train of concentration broken. "Rarity's little sister?"

"No, silly. Sweetie Drops—Lyra's wife."

"Twilight! You've gotta come! Quick!" Spike barely got the words out before he tried to run off and lead the way back to the apocalypse-in-progress, but a soft, white-purple glow grabbed his tail and held him in place. "Twilight!"

"Spike, explain the problem first, then we can rush off and deal with it. After that, we'll have a talk about what we both did wrong today." Cautiously releasing his tail, Twilight looked longingly at her tea—then decided to take another sip of it.

"Snips and Snails wanted to see Trixie defeat an ursa major, so they went to the woods and found one and led it back to town—" Spike stopped when Twilight unloaded her mouthful of tea. "You have to do something!"

Seeing that Pinkie had pulled out an umbrella in time to block her mother-of-all-spittakes, Twilight reached a hoof up to her forehead and rubbed her temple. "First thing, it can't be an ursa major. If they'd brought one of them to town—well, there wouldn't be half the town anymore. Let's go take a look. Who knows, maybe Lyra or Trixie dealt with it already."

"Wha—?" Spike shook his head and stared at Twilight. "But you're the best—"

"Spike, I am good with magic, but you know what? Trixie and Lyra both went to Princess Celestia's school too." Standing slowly, Twilight wanted to hide how worried she actually was. She assumed they'd found a normal bear and led it to town. "Fluttershy could probably solve this one, truth be told."

Pinkie finished her own tea and followed Twilight down the stairs. They were just about at the front door when a ground-shaking roar shattered the evening quiet of Ponyville. "I think we might want to hurry, Twilight."

The rush outside, finding the ursa minor, and dealing with it strained Twilight, but she still had more energy in her tank, so to speak. She spotted Lyra in the crowd watching her take care of the spectral bear, but decided talking to her school-friend could wait until later. She looked around her friends and sighed. "We need to talk about today."

Author's Note:

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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Comments

[Damaged]

I talked to my commissioner and they agreed this needed to be retold. Events didn't change from the last chapter, you just get a different viewpoint that's a little wider in scope than somepony right in the thick of it and too young to understand everything going on.

[Booster Spice]

Good thing the Ursa Major didnt come looking for the baby.

[Venerable Ro]

"M-Maybe I'm not the most powerful unicorn in town, then?"

Well it depends. For sheer throw-weight you can't be beat. But there's a lot of gifted ponies in this town. Rarity's fine control, Trixie's improvisation, Lyra's guard-trained refinement, in their own particular ways they're all better than you.

Gotta step up your game Twilight, you're slacking.

10506553

Yes, thank you, this needed another perspective, and Pinkie slid right in without missing a beat. We need the follow-up too, Rainbow and Scootaloo, and Trixie and all. Big nasty mess this, but that's life sometimes. Maybe we can head off that Mare-do-well nonsense too while we're at it.

Say Trixie, ever figure out the illusion that your horn isn't lit? Verra useful that one...

[harts fire]

face meat reality , bet that slap heart a bit.

[redmar]

This was a great chapter and the different perspective improved things greatly. The talk between Twilight and Pinkie was good too and nothing like I feared it might be. It's also perfectly in-character for Twilight not to know Trixie attended Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and to not know about the friendship between Lyra and Pinkie.
It also makes sense that Twilight doesn't really know much about Scootaloo since they haven't spoken at all since this is before the CMC were founded. The decision that they should all talk about it together was a good one too. Of course Snips and Snails must be punished for their incredible stupidity too.

[Damaged]

10507072 Snips and Snails' parents need to be clipped around the ears.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Some much-needed additional context that does a fantastic job of alleviating the previous chapter's issues. I do have to appreciate how the fireworks literally blinded the hecklers to Scootaloo's presence. I know your assistant isn't supposed to upstage you, Trixie, but that's no excuse for flashbanging the audience until they can't register her existence.

Rarity still thought she was right. I can't believe I had to explain theater to her, of all ponies. Isn't she meant to be all well-to-do and so well-traveled?

To say nothing of her own bouts of melodrama. Really showing your small-town roots there, Rarity.

Now to see the aftermath of this debacle...

[Javarod]

Hmmm, mostly good, although is it me, or is there something missing when Pinkie goes to the library from the boutique? She seems to go from planning what to say to talking to Twilight without arriving at the library.

Aside from that, I am enjoying this.

[tsaukpaetra]

Good. They are made to realize the shape of the idiot ball they held.