The Party Girl

by Godslittleprincess

Chapter 18: Surprises

One week later...

“Yes!” Flash cheered as he returned the last coin into the money sack as he counted his days wages. “We finally have enough!”

“That’s great!” his younger brother cheered along with him before his face dropped. The change in First Base’s expression and demeanor did not go unnoticed by those present.

“Hey, kid, don’t worry,” Shining Armor assured him. “Your brother will come right back as soon as he finds out what happened to your friends, and while he’s away, he’ll write to us as often as he can. My family and I will take good care of you while he’s gone.”

“Oh, it’s not that, Shining Armor. It’s just,” Base trailed off before turning towards his brother and then to Twilight and back again. “Doesn’t Twilight have something to say?”

Everyone turned towards Twilight, and Twilight one by one looked everyone in the eyes although her gaze lingered a bit when she met Flash’s.

“I think what Base means is,” Flash interrupted, “uh, how’s my reading, writing, and figuring coming along, Twilight?”

“Oh, uh,” Twilight replied, stuttering nervously, “they’ve been coming along quite well.”

“Are you satisfied with my, uh, what was that word you used again, uh, lit-lit-literacy? Yeah, that’s it. Are you satisfied with my literacy?”

“Oh, yes, yes. I’m quite satisfied.”

“So, with that out of the way, isn’t there something you want to tell everyone?” Flash eyed her knowingly. Twilight chewed on her bottom lip as she looked away from him.

“There is,” she admitted before resolutely facing everyone. “This isn’t easy for me to say, but I think it’s time I said it. So, as you all know, I have not hidden my absolute disdain for this place and have been wanting to leave it for a while now.”

“If by ‘a while’ you mean ‘ever since we got here’, then, yes, yes, we know,” Shining Armor ribbed.

“Shiny, let your sister finish,” Cadance lovingly scolded.

“Well, after thinking about it, I realized that,” Twilight paused before blurting out, “I’m not ready to leave yet.”

“What?!” Flash and Base cried in surprise.

“I, I just can’t explain it,” Twilight continued, her voice hitching a bit. “It’s like, it’s like I’ve finally seen this town for what it is and what it could be, and, and I understand why you wanted to come here in the first place, and for the first time ever, I want to be a part of it. That’s why I can’t leave yet.”

“Twily, the fact that you’ve added the word yet to that sentence implies that you’re thinking about leaving someday,” her mother pointed out knowingly.

“Well, someday, I’ll be old enough to enroll into the Teacher’s Academy in Paardenstad, and I can’t go there and stay here at the same time, can’t I?” Twilight replied with a cheeky smile.

“The Teacher’s Academy? My dear, are you thinking about being a teacher?” Postman Night Light exclaimed with a proud twinkle in his eye.

“But of course, and maybe someday, I can make half as big a difference as all of you and Flash and Pinkie Pie made here.”

“Wait. Does you-know-who know about all this?” Flash interrupted.

“I told him this morning.”

“And what did he say?”

---

Earlier that morning...

“Have you completely lost your mind?!” Timber screamed at her.

“Come on, Timber,” Twilight pleaded. “You live right in the middle of the town. Can’t you see how it’s changed?”

“And because of that you want to stay here and be content living in this town full of crazy people?!”

“Timber,” Twilight continued, silently begging for him to understand her, “what if we were wrong about the people here? I mean, I know they were awful before, but what if all everyone here needed was someone to bring out the good in them? And that’s exactly what Flash and Pinkie did, and I can’t help but want to help them keep doing just that.”

“Well, the three of you are wasting your time,” Timber snapped. “Whatever is going on with the townspeople, I can guarantee you that it’s not going to last. Someone, namely Lord Tirek and Lady Chrysalis, will find a way to keep the feud going and bury whatever it is those idiots brought out. Mark my words.”

“So, you’re just going to stand back and let that happen instead of at least TRYING to do something to stop it?”

“Why not?” Timber scoffed. “What happens here has nothing to do with me, and last I checked, it has nothing to do with you either. Why do you care all of a sudden?”

That question struck Twilight like a slap to the face. Why did she start caring about the town anyway, and when did it happen? Twilight searched inside herself for the answers but found that she could not answer the question, not with words anyway. No, her answers came in the form of memories and feelings, the smiles on her family’s faces that slowly replaced their hopelessness and resignation as they gathered around the dinner table, Pinkie Pie’s infectious joy shining through her eyes and her smile making every day feel like a holiday, the children’s laughter as they played with each other regardless of what clan they came from. At the forefront of all those memories and feelings was Flash, a boy who literally drifted into this cold, dreary place with next to nothing yet shared whatever he had with an open heart and an open hand. The more time Twilight spent with him, the more she found her own heart opening towards him and towards everyone else she had previously shut out, not that she’d ever say so out loud.

“I don’t know,” Twilight answered. Timber’s eyes widened as he stared at her in horror.

“Wha-what did you say?” he gasped.

“I don’t know why I started caring,” Twilight repeated. “Shocking, I know, but all I know is that I don’t ever want to go back to not caring, and that's why I can't leave yet.”

“Yet?”

“I’m thinking about going to the Teacher's Academy when I'm older,” Twilight explained. “I might even come back if this place still needs teachers.”

“So, you’re leaving Griepsburg but not any time soon and not permanently? Gosh, and I thought you were supposed to be smart.” With that, Timber turned away from her and stormed off, leaving Twilight staring at his back dumbfoundedly.

---

“I think I’m starting to see why my family thought he’d be a bad influence on me,” Twilight said before looking towards the floor sadly. “I just don’t understand. When I first met him, I thought the two of us were so similar. How could we have ended up so different?”

“Oh, Twilight,” Cadance replied, putting an arm around her sister-in-law in an attempt to comfort her. “Maybe, maybe it’s not about how much you and Timber Spruce are alike. Maybe your similarities just didn’t come together in a way that made everything else work.”

“Maybe,” Twilight wistfully agreed before realizing, “Wait. How did you know Flash and I were talking about Timber?”

“Who else could you have been talking about?” Shining pointed out. “He was the only person you bothered actually talking to for the last five years, and the only one who would care about you changing your mind about staying here.”

Twilight bit her lip guiltily before hesitantly saying, “Yeah, about that, I’m so sorry that I haven’t been a very good daughter or sister these last five years, especially since you all worked so hard just to try to give me what I thought I wanted.”

“Oh, we’re just glad that you’re not shutting us out anymore, dear,” said Velvet, pulling her daughter into a hug.

“Wait, but if Twilight doesn’t want to leave anymore, then that means,” First Base started before trailing off.

“That means our deal is off, and you and Flash don’t have to pay for anyone to go to Paardenstad other than yourselves,” Twilight finished for him.

“Hold on a minute,” Shining Armor demanded. “What deal?”

Before either Flash or Twilight could answer him, Pinkie Pie’s now recognizable pounding was heard on the door.

“What could she be doing here this late at night?” Twilight wondered as she got up to open the door. Twilight opened the door, and before she could even greet her friend, Pinkie burst in and tackled her to the ground.

“Twilight!” Pinkie screamed, bringing her face uncomfortably close to Twilight’s. “We need to get ready!”

“Uh, for what?” Twilight asked. “And if you don’t mind, a little personal space please.”

“Oh, sorry,” Pinkie apologized as she got up and helped her friend to her feet. “You’re about to get a surprise visitor!”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I always get the back shivers whenever a surprise visitor is about to arrive, and this time, my back shivers are extra shiver-y. That means this surprise visitor is going to be extra, super-duper surprise-y,” Pinkie explained rapidly.

Noticing the look of growing confusion on Twilight’s face, Flash stepped in and explained, “I don’t know how, but she’s somehow able to predict vague and random stuff happening, and as far as I know, she’s never been wrong. It’s probably best not to question it. I don’t think the answer is going to be worth losing your mind over.”

Twilight looked from Pinkie to Flash and back again, trying to process everything they had just told her. Judging by her lopsided frown and wrinkled forehead, Flash’s explanation had done little to alleviate her confusion. It did, however, encourage her to put her confusion in the back of her mind in favor of actually listening to Pinkie.

“So, we’re getting surprise visitors?” Twilight asked her excitable pink friend.

“Yeah,” Pinkie affirmed, “but I don’t know when they’re going to be coming. They can be here anywhere between the next hour to tomorrow morning.”

“That is a frighteningly wide range of time,” Night Light noted. “So, is that all you came to tell us?”

“Is that all I came to tell you?” Pinkie repeated incredulously. “Of course not! I also came because I’m going to need your help again. We need to get the town decorated. We can’t welcome surprise visitors without at least putting up some decorations.”

Twilight can’t help but wonder who these surprise visitors could be, assuming that they were actually real and not just a creation of Pinkie Pie’s scattered and overexcited mind. Additionally, even if she was right about the visitors, Twilight felt as if she was making a fuss over nothing. Then again, despite what her wild and perky personality would suggest, Pinkie did take numerous things seriously often more so than the next person, and two of them were hospitality and celebrations.

“What do you need us to do?” Twilight answered.

---

Lady Chrysalis and Lord Tirek watched from Lord Tirek’s window as Pinkie, Flash, Twilight, and their families put up signs and decorations all through the town. Many of the townspeople from both clans had come out of their homes to help them.

“Ugh, now, our clans are even welcoming outsiders,” Tirek grumbled. “Once upon a time, we used to chase them away.”

“All the more reason why we need a solution to the problem,” Chrysalis replied.

“Well, how are we supposed to get rid of that pink girl and the boy who started this mess in the first place?” Tirek retorted. “Of course, there’s nothing stopping us from just shooting them, but if we did that, the people could riot.”

Lady Chrysalis frowned as she continued to watch everyone put up decorations. After thinking deeply about the town’s current situation, she suddenly smirked deviously.

“Our problem is about to become our solution,” she said ominously.

---

By the time everyone finished decorating, it became clear to everyone that Pinkie’s surprise visitors weren’t going to be arriving until the morning. However, when everyone went to bed that night, Pinkie insisted on camping out by the docks so that she could be the first person to welcome the visitors to town. Her parents and Limestone refused to let her stay out by herself, so Twilight ended up volunteering to spend the night with her. Limestone still wasn’t satisfied by Twilight’s offer and ended up staying out with them because of it.

“Why did I agree to this?” Limestone grumbled as she, Pinkie, and Twilight huddled around a campfire.

“Because you didn’t trust me enough to let Pinkie stay out here with just me,” Twilight replied bluntly.

“Heck, yeah, I don’t trust you. Look at those twigs you have for arms. If someone tried to attack you two, you wouldn’t be able to protect yourself, let alone my sister.”

“Aww, you worry too much, Limestone,” Pinkie scoffed. “No one is going to attack us in the middle of the night.”

“Actually, Pinkie, I have to agree with Limestone that what we’re doing right now is utter foolishness,” Twilight countered. “If my family wasn’t close by, I would have never offered to do this.”

“Pinkie, you can’t—” Limestone began before Pinkie interrupted her.

“Fix everything wrong in the world by throwing parties and making people smile,” Pinkie finished in an exasperated tone. “There are actual bad people out there who know they’re doing bad things and don’t care, and blah blah blah. I know that, Limestone. You only tell me that a million times. Before you start again, I know that you’re not just making that up to scare me and keep me at home. I know that you’re right. I also know that you’re not totally right.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I know spreading joy and laughter can’t fix everything, but it can fix a lot. I know that bad people are out there, but that doesn’t mean every person I meet is going to be one of them.”

Pinkie Pie’s logic was sound. Twilight will admit that much. Furthermore, her argument showed that she wasn’t AS childishly naïve as Twilight first thought she was. However, the issue had one small but glaring detail that Pinkie seemed to overlook almost willfully.

“So, what are you going to do when you run into a problem that parties and friendship can’t fix or run into a genuinely horrible person?” asked Twilight.

“She doesn’t know because she just leaves it for someone else, namely me, to worry about,” Limestone interrupted with an angry growl, “and I really wish she’d stop doing that because I’m not always going to be around to worry about that for her.”

“Well, then stop worrying about it and go to sleep already!” Pinkie snapped, proving to Twilight that it was, in fact, possible to make Pinkie Pie angry.

Limestone huffed before getting up and angrily stuffing herself inside her bedroll. As soon as she left the campfire, Pinkie sighed and looked to the floor sadly.

“Twilight, am I wrong?” Pinkie asked the bespectacled girl sitting next to her.

“Wrong? About what?” Twilight replied.

“Am I wrong for wanting to just focus on the bright side of everything and avoiding thinking about the dark stuff as much as possible?”

“I, I don’t think that you’re wrong for being an optimist,” Twilight stammered as she carefully weighed her words, “but...”

“Oh, come on! Why is there always a ‘but’?!”

“But Limestone is right about how she and your family can’t keep protecting you from all the brokenness of the world. That being said, I think she was wrong for wanting to squash your idealism and positivity.”

Pinkie stared at Twilight, confused. “I don’t think I’m following.”

“Limestone is right that the world can be a pretty dark and broken place, and not even all the parties in the world can change that, but I think, I think because it’s so dark and broken that it needs people like you. Without people like you, it’d be even more dark and broken. I see that now,” Twilight explained.

“Aww, that’s probably the sweetest, deeply philosophical thing anyone has ever said to me,” Pinkie exclaimed. “Come on. Give me a hug. Bring it in, bring it in.”

Twilight smiled as she and Pinkie shared their hug. She didn’t think two people as different as her and Pinkie could ever be friends, yet here they were, exposed to the elements with a campfire and their friendship as their only source of warmth. Oddly enough, Twilight was okay with that.

---

Pinkie Pie was the first one up the next morning, and she woke up just in time to see Cranky’s ferry pulling into the docks. She gasped in excitement when she saw four passengers on board the ferry.

“Twilight!” she cheered excitedly as she shook her friend awake. “They’re here! They’re here!”

Twilight rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes and got out from her bedroll. She turned to the direction Pinkie was pointing and saw four boys, two about her age and two about Flash’s brother’s age, disembarking from Cranky’s ferry. Wow! Pinkie Pie was right about the surprise visitors. Speaking of Flash, why did she feel as if she needed to run and get him all of a sudden?

Before Twilight had time to answer herself, Pinkie had already run towards the docks with all her musical instruments on her person. Where had she even been keeping all that?

“Hello!” Pinkie greeted the visitors. “I’m Pinkie Pie. Welcome to Griepsburg.” She broke into her welcome song oblivious to the growing confusion on their faces.

When she finished her song, the young, ginger-haired boy turned to the older one wearing glasses and asked, “Are we at the right Griepsburg?”

The noise from Pinkie’s instruments woke Limestone, and she angrily stormed up to her sister. “Pinkie, why didn’t you wake me up?!”

“Oh, good morning, Limestone. The visitors are here,” Pinkie replied cheerfully.

“Hi,” Limestone said to the visitors curtly. “What do you want?”

The boy in the glasses stepped forward and answered, “Ma’am, my name is Micro Chips. My friends and I used to work on a ship owned by Jet and Fancy Trading, and we were wondering if any sailors washed up here in the last two or three months.”

“Sailors? Last two to three months?” Twilight muttered to herself before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh my gosh! Wait right here. I have to get someone.”

---

While Twilight and the two Pie sisters were greeting the surprise visitors, the postman’s family along with Flash and First Base were gathering around the table for breakfast. Ms. Velvet had packed a basket of food to bring to the girls, and Flash had volunteered to bring it to them.

Flash had just stepped out the front door with the basket in hand when he saw Twilight running up towards the cottage. Seeing that Twilight was looking rather winded from her sprint, he ran forward to meet her.

“Twilight, what is it?” Flash asked her. He waited for her to catch her breath and answer him.

“Get your brother and get to the docks now,” Twilight managed to say between breaths.

Although confused by Twilight’s instructions, Flash handed the basket off to her and did as she told him. He got Base from the cottage and went down to the docks with him. When the two of them reached the docks, they stopped in their tracks at the sight of four familiar faces.

“Oh my gosh!” Flash gasped, his joy threatening to spill out from his eyes. The four visitors seemed just as stunned yet overjoyed at the sight of him and First Base.

“Base!” Button Mash cried as he darted forward followed by Pipsqueak. The three younger boys pulled each other into a hug, and the older boys quickly followed suit.

“It’s so great to see you all,” Flash cheered as he, Micro Chips, and Sandalwood broke their hug.

“Same,” Sandalwood agreed before asking, “is there anyone else from the ship here?”

“No. Base and I were the only ones who drifted here. What about you? Were you able to find any other survivors?”

“We’ve looked everywhere else they could have possibly ended up,” Micro Chips replied, “but it looks like it’s just us.”

Flash’s face fell when Micro uttered that sentence, a realization dawning on him.

He turned to Button Mash and Pipsqueak and said, “That means that the captain and the shantyman...”

“Didn’t make it,” Micro finished.

“Oh, Button, Pip, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Button reassured him. “Our dads knew the dangers that came with a life at sea. We all did.”

“At least we still have our mums to go home to,” Pip added. “Speaking of our mums, when we told them that some of the lads on the ship don’t have families to go back to, they offered to take in and help as many of you lot as they can.”

“In other words, you’ll have somewhere to go when you go back to Paardenstad with us,” Micro explained.

Flash and First Base shared a look with each other. Finding and seeing their friends again was everything they had hoped and worked for the whole time they were stuck in Griepsburg, so why did the idea of leaving Griepsburg with them hurt so much? Flash looked back at Micro Chips unsure what to say. Thankfully, Pinkie obliviously interrupted them before Flash could formulate a response.

“Wait. You’re leaving already, and you’re taking Flash and First Base with you?” she cried, her eyes beginning to glisten pleadingly. “Bu-bu-but you didn’t even get to see the welcome party the town helped me put up for you, and I haven’t had time to plan Flash and Base’s good-bye party yet.”

“Wait. How did she know we were coming?” Sandal noted.

“Pinkie sense.”

Everyone turned and gave Flash questioning looks, but Flash could only reply with, “It’s Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it.”

“And the party?” asked Button Mash, still confused.

“Let’s just say this place has really changed in the last few months, and I can’t wait to show you what it’s like now.”

Author's Note:

I know I haven't been leaving a ton of author's notes with this story. That's because I honestly don't have much to say about my writing process this time around. I honestly felt as if I had just written this on autopilot or something. I hope it still came out good despite that.

Comments

[SuperSonicHeroes]

“I think I’m starting to see why my family thought he’d be a bad influence on me,” Twilight said before looking towards the floor sadly.

Finally!

[Ro994]

About time Twilight finally begun to open her eyes! Also WOW, the gang is there already? That was much sooner than expected, but I ain't complaining