Partyin’ with the Sun
By: Evil Weevil
A light breeze whistled through the trees, bright shining apples swaying somewhat before returning to their original places, undisturbed. The wind carried on it energy, love, happiness, and the joy of being alive. It moved past barns, houses, shacks and bridges, rushing against the soft streams that littered the countryside. Finally, it made it’s way to the center of the popular and bustling Ponyville as the sound of bird songs filled the morning air. A small clutter of healthy green leaves were caught up in the soft swirl, and they travelled down the worn cobblestone, seemingly never at rest now that they flowed in the air. Finally, the wind died down, allowing the leaves to rest peacefully upon the doorstep of the town bakery. Not a moment too soon, as the pinkest pony in Ponyville burst from the door.
“Goooood morning Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie cried out, the widest grin on her face as her ears shot straight up on her head, giggling happily. “And what a morning it is!”
However, it appeared that nopony was in earshot to hear the her declaration. If she was at all disappointed, Pinkie didn’t show it. No, not one bit! Falling into her daily energetic hop, she moved around the center of town, giggling like a mad mare - of course, it wasn’t exactly odd to anypony who had been in Ponyville any long amount of time, and certainly not to those who knew Pinkie personally.
“Risssse and shine you sleepy heads!” She shouted, her eyes shutting for a moment before bursting wide open, her blue eyes glistening in the bright sunlight.
One pony in particular, a certain purple pupil to the most powerful and only winged unicorn in the land, blinked in confusion as she attempted to register with her brain just who exactly was causing all the ruckus. Her eyes lidded as she yawned, a little groggy still.
“Oh Pinkie Pie...”, Twilight Sparkle mumbled, a smile ghosting her lips. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, hey Twilight!” Pinkie grinned widely once more, pausing in her straight line of hopping to bounce around the purple unicorn. “I’m just making sure everypony wakes up today!”
“Why is today so special, Pinkie?” Twilight questioned, her head tilting lightly to the side as she tried her best to keep up with the hyper-active antics of the pink pony.
In response, the pony paused in mid-hop, her eyes wide as a loud gasp was heard, “Why am I doing it? You of all ponies should know, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie replied as if it were the most matter-of-fact thing to know. “Today’s the day Princess Celestia is visiting Ponyville! It’s been months since the Grand Galloping Gala, and I think you specifically requested it!”
Twilight blinked, at a loss to say anything - to be fair, it must have taken her a moment to realize that she even heard the words coming out of that silly mouth.
“Princess Celestia is coming today...” Her eyes go wide as she jumped into the air, shock written all over her face as her body shuddered in sheer terror. “Oh flank! I totally forgot! I... I need to get going!”
The Princess’s prized pupil galloped off right past Pinkie, who had been amused enough to cease her hopping to sit on her rump, watching as the unicorn sped off. Not ten moments passed before Twilight came racing back.
“My-house’s-this-way!” Was all she had time to say.
Pinkie Pie blinked, her head tilting slowly to the right after a moment before she suddenly burst out into giggling and laughter.
“Oh Twilight,” the partying pony grinned from ear-to-ear. “I hope she doesn’t run into Fluttershy like she did the last time I told her Celestia was coming...”
A pause is observed as she considers the arrival of the white, winged unicorn.
“You know Pinkie,” she mused, raising herself to all four hooves as she began to walk towards the bakery. “I bet the Princess would just love something for the occasion! What to bake, what to bake... oh, it’ll be great! I know it!”
With a beaming face, a slight twitch and a giggle-snort, the pink pony clopped onwards, resolute and confident in her surprise baked treat for the lovely Princess. This would most certainly be a day to speak about in Ponyville for months! Well... maybe a few days, but Pinkie certainly hoped it’d be months!
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Princess Celestia smiled joyously as she strode through the relatively empty country pathway, her immaculate hooves making soft clopping noises. It was a lovely summer morning, and as all ponies in Equestria knew, that was when the sun was at it’s peak of power, love and glory. Celestia herself imitated this fact to it’s full extent, her radiant pelt of fur seemingly even more glorious than before. Her long, multi-colored hair flowed smoothly behind herself, the end of which nearly hit the tip of one of her guards’ helmets, and in response he simply gave a slight snort. To some surprise and inward groaning from her personal royal guards, Celestia had opted to walk the majority of the way to Ponyville.
There had been many outcries of course, and not just from her contingent of guards, ranging from the fact that She-of-the-Glorious-Light should not have to walk around on all four hooves like some common pony; others were worried that passing dragons, swarms of rampaging parasprites, or even the occasional bandit would try and impede the princess. Celestia merely smiled however, proclaiming that her guards could use the extra training and to brush up on their skills, which led to many blank stares - most ponies never really understood Celestia’s sense of humor.
A sad smile coursed across the princess’s snout as she recalled leaving the adamant-on-coming Luna behind - they were still in the process of getting to know one another, and while Celestia adored the time they spent together, she had far too many pressing engagements to do in the land of Equestria. Making sure the lasting peace accord in Appleloosa would stay between the settler ponies and the native buffalo, the occasional parasprite outbreak - Celestia had on multiple occasions attempted to seize one or two for another royal pet, but her guards would not allow it - and making sure other dangers to her kingdom were kept at a reasonable level. Her musing face spread into a knowing smirk as she thought of her most prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle and the multiple adventures she and her friends went on had actually taken care of a great deal of ‘problems’.
Useful girl, the Princess thought with a slight giggle aloud. She and her friends always seem to get the job done well enough on their own. Maybe I should hire them to guard me, rather than these dour guards...
As if on cue, the lead guard in charge looked abruptly from the left to stare towards the Princess, his voice gruff but not too unpleasant.
“My lady, it will not be too much longer until we reach the outskirts of Ponyville.”
The Princess smiled all knowingly and nodded, bowing her head once in respect, “Of course,” she paused for a moment, allowing her acknowledgment to sink in before she added more. “My compliments to your well attuned sense of direction, Sir Iron Hoof.”
The guard captain nodded, seemingly taking it all in stride, but Celestia didn’t miss the slight proud swagger in his leg movements, nor how his chest puffed out slightly. She suppressed a light giggle. She of course knew exactly how far they were from the small but popular-of-late town, but she knew that the key to keeping a happy population - which included her guards - was allowing a little leeway for advances and insights to be made without her own intervention. Being expected to rule, one had to have the best intentions and knowledge to make one’s kingdom prosperous and happy, but Celestia believed that if worse came to worse, like with the somewhat recent Nightmare Moon debacle, more ponies had to be able to take leadership into their own hands. If it meant downplaying her own thousand year-old intellect to make one of her guards a little more proud, she was more than happy to oblige.
Warm shafts of sunlight shot through the canopy of green and brown above the small group as the only real constant sound were hoof clops and the slight jangle of golden armor-plates. Minutes passed by as they rounded through the well worn path, Celestia further musing to herself as her angelic wings made slight fluttering motions, not fully extended and merely keeping to her sides. That had also been another source of argument against her walking - at the very least, surely Celestia could fly some of the way! Alas, the mere idea was quickly rejected and declared absurd - the general consensus was that if Celestia didn’t use her carriage to travel about, then she would not fly at all, period. A wide grin plastered that white furred face - ponies could be so silly sometimes. Even if her body wasn’t perfectly athletic to the extent where she could easily fly from one side of Equestria to another in a single day without becoming fatigued, then a quick magical spell would cure any exhaustion. Let them rabble on with their silly debates though, it kept their minds and wits sharp.
She must have rambled on for an excessive amount of time in her mind, for when she considered yet another thing to keep herself occupied, a loud clear voice rang out from none other than Sir Iron Hoof.
“My lady Celestia, we have arrived!” he affirmed with a slight snort, his front left metal hoof clanging upon stone as he kept a vigil watch towards the quaint town.
“Oh! My thanks, Sir Iron Hoof,” She giggled lightly. “I must have lost track of the time!” The only response from her retinue was a slight blink, their faces rigid and stone hard. Celestia frowned, but only out of good sport. She needed to get that one spunky little pegasus, Rainbow Dash to come to the barracks one of these days; if anypony could get a laugh out of these hard working stallions, it was that one.
With a warm smile very much like the glowing sun itself, the princess nodded to her group.
“Well, my fair guards,” Celestia began, looking to each in turn before gesturing with an immaculate hoof. “Shall we?”
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As Princess Celestia and her guards stepped into Ponyville, they were greeted by a cheering throng of happy ponies. Multi-colored streamers flew this way and that, peppering the air and ground with a dazzling display of joy and festivity. The sound of music could be heard in the background, a fanfare of sorts helping welcome in the princess. It appeared that every pony in Ponyville had come to celebrate the arrival of their most cherished leader, and if their loud voices were any indication, they were pretty excited to boot! Magical displays were shot off here and there from the smaller amount of unicorns in the crowded throng, showing their own display and love of the festive atmosphere that had broke out in the town. Even a small amount of pegasi flew about, most idling in the air but some happily doing rolls and aerial twists in the clear blue sky, which elicted a cheerful laugh from Princess Celestia. She truly was loved, and here was the proof!
After a few minutes of greeting her loyal subjects and nodding, she made it to the center of town, where it seemed the crowd of ponies she left behind followed right on up, although not straying too close thanks to the watchful eye of Iron Hoof and his stallions. Celestia strode forwards to a small waiting group of ponies, which included the Mayor of Ponyville and several of Twilight Sparkle’s own little circle of close friends, although not all were present.
“Princess Celestia,” the Mayor began once the cheering had dropped down to a reasonably tolerable audible level. “On behalf of all of Ponyville, I happily welcome you on this warm summer day!”
A loud cheer from the town ponies was heard, before Celestia quietly nodded.
“Thank you so much,” she looked from head to head in the crowd before resting upon the smaller group in front of her. “For all that you have done. I can always count on Ponyville for throwing some of the best parties in all of Equestria.”
Her violet eyes look to the ponies ahead of her, noticing a pink haired and generally shy pony staring right back, a slight embarrassed mumble and smile creasing her face, giving her a sheepish but cute appearance. It was Fluttershy, of course. To Fluttershy’s left was a pony with well groomed purple hair and white fur, along with a lovely example of a horn jutting out from her forehead. Rarity, that was the name! Finally, to the right of Fluttershy and somewhat behind the Mayor was an orange furred one with a well worn but none-the-less stylish hat, an amiable grin spread across her face - Applejack. All of these were a part of Twilight’s group, but she noticed the apparent lack of her pupil, along with Rainbow Dash and that most curious pink one - one she recalled most for having a ravenous appetite for delicious sweets and candies.
“If I may ask-,” Celestia began, but was soon silenced by the wheeling sound of something moving from behind a large building.
There was some commotion as a part of the throng had moved to step aside, and revealed to all was simply put one of the most amazing displays of culinary art ever crafted. Wheeled in by a large golden cart with spiral designs etched onto it’s sides had to be at least a two-foot tall crafted vanilla-white cake. Turquoise frosting edged around the spiraling circles of the cake and dotted swirling marks on the sides as well. Also of note were the violet colored candy pegasus wings lodged every two inches on all sides of the cake, a surprising amount of detail carved into each. At last, to top it all of - quite literally at that - was a carefully built yellow marble candy statuette of the princess herself which had her posed in regal position, sitting at the very top of the spiraled cake. To put it lightly, Princess Celestia was at a near loss of words.
“Princess Celestia,” began a flying blue blur which raced to float idly in front of the cake, Rainbow Dash grinning from head to toe down at the princess and the large crowd of town goers. “Might I present to you... your cake, in honour of... well, you!”
A massive cheer erupted from the crowd as Celestia clopped forward to inspect it, her eyes wide and instantaneously taking every nook, cranny and swirl of the large treat.
“Who...,” she began, almost still unbelieving. “...who made this?”
“That would be meeeeeeeee,” a loud and cheerful voice echoed out as Pinkie Pie hopped towards one side of the cart, a slightly exhausted Twilight Sparkle following suite on the other end. “Do ya’ like it? Me and Twilight worked reallly hard on it!”
Celestia’s gaze fell onto Twilight as the purple unicorn nodded, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead with a hoof, “Yes, it’s true Princess...” she mumbled, a little tired smile on her face. “While I did assist with getting it out of the bakery and some overly physical work with my magic, Pinkie Pie here was the main reason it turned out so well.”
The princess quietly clopped over, still in a rather large amount of awe towards the spectacle as she looked over to Pinkie.
“May I...?”
The pony giggled a fit as she nodded, head bobbing up and down at an extremely fast rate, “Oh don’t be silly Princess,” Pinkie grinned. “You are the main reason I made it, of course!”
With a slight nod, the princess moved to grab the cake slicer which sat on a small plate with the use of her magic, that large horn glowing. With a faint audible shimmer and humming noise, she cut a decent triangular slice of it out. Dropping the knife, her magical aura moved to wrap about the slice, every breath silent and eye watching as the cake slice moved into an awaiting royal mouth. A few moments of chewing were heard, before a happy nod was affirmed. It was Celestia approved. A loud roar of happy delight echoed all across the center of town, and with that, every filly and her mare moved to get in a piece of the action.
As the ravenous crowd chowed down and anxiously awaited their turn, Celestia smiled to her student, bowing her head. “Your magical skills are to be commended for helping your friend Pinkie with this extraordinary cake, Twilight,” she praised. “You certainly have been keeping up with your studies I see!”
“Well princess... I do certainly try.” Twilight replied with more than a touch of exhaustion in her voice.
A warm smile encompassed the princess’s face. “You should rest up, my faithful student,” another light nod was issued. “Go on. To my knowledge, I am to stay here for several days on end. There is also to be a large week-wide festival that also correlates with my stay, so you’ll have plenty of time to catch up with me.”
A weary Twilight Sparkle nods as she moves to trot off away from the pressing crowd, whom were chatting away, chomping down and generally having a blast. The princess turned her gaze to the ever grinning Pinkamena, who simply stared right back.
“As for you, Pinkie Pie... I have never in all my years tasted such a grand treat! You must tell me what your secret was.”
The pink pony blinked once, staring before stating as if it were the most matter-of-fact thing in the world, “Why, it was you Princess Celestia! I wanted to make a really, really, really really REALLY good cake... so I thought of how pretty you were! Twilight always goes on about you so I didn’t find it too hard to get inspiration!” A little hop topped off her quickly spouted explanation.
Celestia blinked some, her eyes wide as a slight blush crept onto her white cheeks. “Oh... well... thank you, Pinkie. That means a lot to me.”
Noticing the sudden frown on the princess’s face, and worrying now being etched onto her own, the pink pony trotted up to her side, looking up.
“Awh, I didn’t make you sad, did I princess? Rainbow Dash says I need to be quiet a lot more, but I say patooey to that! We ponies were meant to talk, else why would we have mouths?”
A slight warm smile is seen on Celestia’s snout as she nodded, “Wise words Pinkie Pie. I could learn a thing or two from you.” She pauses, before looking slightly off to the side, her voice tinged with... regret? Or was it something else?
“I have lived for thousands and thousands of years... my sister Luna’s imprisonment onto the moon was... harsh, I admit. It was perhaps overly so. In all those long years, I... I tried not to dwell too much upon it,” a slight chuckle is heard in remembrance of something she thought was amusing. “For all those years, my one and only priority was to keep Equestria safe. Never a sparing moment for myself, not that I ever thought I needed one. But... but you, Pinkie Pie... you reminded me... that I should maybe do it more often.”
“Me?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in astonishment. “Why me? I just baked you a really delicious, super amazing and fantabulous cake! That’s what I always do.”
Celestia smiled, and moved to affectionately nudge forward against the pink pony’s cheek with her snout. “That is exactly why. Your motives, intents... they were for the benefit and celebration of me. A ruler needs to learn to appreciate herself more, and not dwell too much on past mistakes or regrets. Your simple and pure cause reminded me that I should not be so harsh on myself.”
Pinkie blinked a little in confusion. Well, she didn’t really try to do that, and wasn’t sure if that made a ton of sense, but hey, if it made the Princess feel better, then she was all for it!
“Don’t you worry, Princess! Pinkie Pie is here to make things all-right!” A mock rigid stance, and the pink pony was on two hooves, saluting Celestia instantly.
In response the ruler of all Equestria burst out into a happy, smiling giggle, her eyes lidding some as she truly began to appreciate the energetic, feisty little pony before her.
“I am sure I can count on that from you, Miss Pinkie,” A pause is registered, before the Princess moved down to bestow a slight kiss upon the pony’s forehead, which causes her pink cheeks to darken somewhat, although she isn’t quite sure as to why they’re even doing that - funny little things! “I would really like to talk with you more about your cake later... if you’re interested, that is.” The winged unicorn added in a slightly hasty last minute remark. Pinkie bobbled her head rapidly up and down, showing her enthusiasm for such an occasion.
“Well... I’m going to go now, get... get myself ready for the day’s events. I think Sir Iron Hoof is setting up my own personal tent.” The princess had turned around, but paused before looking back towards the pink pony, “I’ll see you then, I hope?”
Pinkie grinned and nodded, “Yeppers yep! I’ll be there! Just gotta make sure all the food and stuff is served out...”
The princess nods, before catching her eyes. Blue and violet meet in a quiet, inaudible spark that only the two can register, each blushing somewhat at the intensity of such a gaze. Celestia then slowly moves her gaze forward as she moves quietly off into the throng of worshipping and celebrating ponies, two guards right on her flank. The pinkest pony in all of Ponyville is left to sit on her rump, blinking slowly as a front hoof moves to her forehead, rubbing at the spot where she was kissed, actually kissed by the princess! What did all of this mean? And why did her cheeks keep burning when she thought of it now? With a little shake of the head, Pinkie slowly moved to sit right up, and turned around, off to the bakery. With the preparation of food, came the process of thinkings... and food. Still more of that, of course.