“So
here you go.” Pinkie presented her with one of the oat muffins that Twilight
had smelled from upstairs. “There’s more in the basket if you want them, I
brought milk too.” The bright pink pony looked worried as she turned to Spike,
“I didn’t know there was a dragon though…I’d have found a gem to bring if I
had.”
“It’s
okay.” Spike smiled reassuringly back as Twilight tucked into her muffin and
let out a sound of appreciation, “I mostly eat what Twilight eats, gems are a
snack, not a necessity.” He took a bite of an oat muffin, “Ooh that’s good.”
“I
can introduce you to Rarity.” Pinkie beamed at him, pleased that her baked
goods were going down well. “She knows where to get all the best gems and she’s
the one decorating for the celebration tomorrow.”
Twilight
blinked at her, realising that knowing the bright pink pony could be an asset.
She would be much less likely to get lost while looking for everyone she was
supposed to be talking too if she had a guide, “Really? Do you know the ponies
of Sweet Apple Acres too? I’m here to check on the preparations and...”
“I
know every pony in Ponyville.” Pinkie nodded, “And I plan the best parties so
I’ve been helping out with everything.”
That
was fantastic news. The filly, whose cutie mark on closer inspection was a trio
of balloons, would know everything Twilight needed to know about the ponies she
was going to meet. Not only that but she had helped with everything so she
already knew what the celebrations was going to be like.
“I
don’t suppose you’d like to help me?” Twilight asked hopefully, “I don’t know
Ponyville very well, but...”
“Sure!”
Pinkie bounced across the room happily, reminding Twilight of a foal just
informed that they could eat the entire cake by themselves. “We could start at
Sweet Apple Acres and...” Twilight’s stomach rumbled again and the earth pony
filly laughed, “Have some more, I made them for you.”
“Thank
you.” Twilight let the earth pony filly babble away happily to Spike as she
helped herself to a second muffin. They really were good and she was lucky to
have run into someone like Pinkie, even if she was a little loud for Twilight’s
tastes. As she ate the pink filly gave her a rough outline of what as in the
works for the festival tomorrow morning.
It
sounded pretty much like everything was on track, but Twilight was not just
going to take her word for it. She knew she was being a perfectionist but
relying on Pinkie Pie’s sense of ‘nearly ready’ felt like cheating. She was
supposed to be overseeing the preparations, not relying on someone to do it for
her.
“I
have a list.” Twilight told her companions before she licked her lips clean of
crumbs, “Of places to visit and ponies I need to speak to. Sweet Apple Acres is
first on the list, it apparently belongs to the Apple family.”
“Yeap,
you’ll want to speak to Applejack, she’s in charge.” Pinkie nodded rapidly. “She’s
got a lot of her family over at the moment to help. They’re making lots and
lots of food and it’s all so good. Applejack sometimes comes over and helps me
in Sugarcube Corner when I’m making things with her apples and…”
Pinkie
was off again and Twilight knew she should not tune her out like she was, but
as she prepared to leave, she could not help it. The bright pink filly was a
lot like a couple of her classmates, if you aimed her in a direction she would
quite happily start babbling on that subject and end up several pages away on a
completely different topic.
For
some reason it did not bother Twilight as much here as it had in the classroom,
possibly because here it did not matter as much. They were not supposed to be
learning anything and she found that with the right question here or there, she
could quite easily redirect Pinkie onto the topic of conversation she wanted.
Then
Pinkie saw Spike strap his deck belt on and she let out a delighted gasp and
bounced over, pulling her own deck out of Celestia only knew where and letting
the baby dragon see it as she babbled about the local Duellists. Spike handed
his over in exchange, distracting Pinkie from the fact Twilight was using her
magic to buckle her own deck pouch on to her front left leg.
She
was still not entirely comfortable wearing it like she used to. The poor cards
had once been dragged around everywhere with her, they had even been put under
her pillow at night, but after White Lightning’s accident she had barely
touched them. Playing him again, for the first time since that day, had
reminded her of her love of the game, but it had not entirely fixed the
problem. Still she remembered her brother’s words. Duel Monsters was obviously
popular here and could be the ice breaker she needed to pass the Princess’s
test, so on went the deck holster.
“You
play too, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, putting her deck away as the unicorn came
over to them and passed the list to Spike who carefully holstered his deck and
took it, along with the quill she offered him.
“Yes
and no…” Twilight tried not to wince, “I gave up playing for a while but I kept
my deck up to date. I only played my first proper game with this deck recently.”
“Don’t
worry, there’s plenty of people to practise on in Ponyville. Almost everyone
our age duels.” Pinkie thought she was reassuring Twilight, but she actually
made the unicorn more nervous. Just because she was good in Canterlot, it did
not mean that she would be able to win here like she could there.
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