Diplomatic Troubles

It was the day of the festival. Ponies, gryphons, creatures from afar, and even a few dragons showed up to attend the event. It was the time of year that creatures seemingly got along well - and if they didn't, they pretended to for the sake of appearance.

Applejack, being a veteran of the event, was unfazed by the turn-out of creatures attending the festival so early. Twilight, however, had never attended the event before. Either she was too enthralled by her studies, or she simply lacked the interest to go to it for whatever reason she happened to have at the time.

"Woah," she said astoundingly. Her eyes widened and a grin grew upon her face as she said, "I don't think I've seen this many creatures in one place before!"

"Really, now?" Applejack said, turning towards her friend with her eyebrows raised. "The Princess's own little star 'n' you've never seen somethin' like this? Would'a never guessed."

"I've seen a lot of things, yes," Twilight admitted as she turned her gaze upwards, where a few dragons were flying in circles above the fairgrounds, "but never anything like this! It's simply amazing!"

"Well trust me," Applejack said just as they entered the fairgrounds, "there's plenty more to see. It's still just after sunrise, after all."

As if pulled from a trance, Twilight's gaze turned to that familiarly bright orb cresting over the rooftops on its way upwards. She noticed that, despite the already bustling Fairgrounds, that Applejack was indeed correct. The day had only begun, and that thought sent a shiver of excitement along her back and adrenalin through her veins.

She trotted uncharacteristically in place for a moment excitedly as she thought of all the possibilities that she could do with her friend. When a thought struck her upside the head like a brick, she stopped immediately and turned to the grinning Applejack questioningly.

"Now that we're, well," Twilight paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts and calm her already-energetic nerves to the point were she wouldn't stutter, "together.. What do I call you?"

"Well for starters, my name is Applejack. Nice to meet ya," her friend jested, the humor relieving a bit of tension. "But to answer ya.. I s'pose you could just go with the classic title. Mare-friend, that is."

The thought of having such a companion sent an almost euphoric signal throughout Twilight's mind. Fighting off the instinctual blush, Her pupils now shrunken in surprise, Twilight managed to quickly speak in a manner that resembled Fluttershy's natural tone, "Okay!"

"Come on," Applejack said, beckoning for Twilight to follow her as she moved into the Fairgrounds.

As she followed suit, Twilight's sense of smell was pleasantly treated to the scent of assorted candies and other sugary treats. She found herself drawn to a brightly decorated tent that was selling cupcakes. Surprisingly it was not the bubbly pink earth pony behind the counter as Twilight had expected, but rather a pink and yellow pegasus.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, hello girls," the timid pegasus greeted them in a heartwarmingly friendly manner.

"What're you doin' here, Fluttershy? I was willin' to bet my bits that Pinkie would be in charge of the whole cupcakes situation, bein' the baker she is," Applejack commented as she crossed her forelegs in a casual manner, seemingly just as surprised as Twilight.

"Oh, I'm not in charge of the cupcakes," Fluttershy quickly corrected her. "I would never try to replace Pinkie Pie as Chief Baker. She simply asked me to watch the stand for her while she was away, and I was happy to help."

"Well that's mighty sweet of ya, Fluttershy. Ya need anything, y'only have to ask. You know that, right?" Applejack affirmed with a tip of her hat.

"Yes, I know, but that won't be necessary. I don't want to bothe-" her shy friend began, but Twilight boldly stepped in to interrupt.

"As acting mayor of Ponyville, it is my duty to tend to all concerns of the town's citizens. It is not a bother, Fluttershy," she said kindly, but with a stern overtone that made Applejack nod confidently.

"You heard the lady," Applejack said with a slight smirk.

With a compliant smile, Fluttershy agreed to their remarks. "Okay," she said softly, with a gentle nod.

Applejack looked around curiously for a moment before turning to Fluttershy and asking, "You said Pinkie needed you to watch the stall while she was gone, right?"

"Yes," Fluttershy confirmed, accompanying her answer with an affirming nod.

"Then where is she?" Applejack furthered her question.

"I think she-" Fluttershy began but was interrupted by a shrill, "Hello!"

The pegasus flinched away from the pink blur of motion that was Pinkie Pie, making her usual grand entrance of total randomness and excitement. She reached over and hugged the still-shocked pegasus tightly, thanking her for her assistance.

"Thanks so much for helping me out, Fluttershy! Who knows what could have happened if you weren't here to watch the stand? A pony could have come along and said, 'Oh, boy! These treats sure do look tasty!' but there'd be nopony at the stall so he'd feel confused and wonder where the merchant was and the-" she spoke at near-incomprehensible speeds before the shy pegasus interrupted her kindly.

"Um, Pinkie?" she said softly, which was apparently enough to divert all of Pinkie's attention to her.

"Yes?" the bubbling pony replied, a cheshire grin painted onto her face.

"You're welcome," Fluttershy said simply, her soft eyes seeming to amplify her sincerity.

After Pinkie Pie fell silent for a moment or two, her brain seemed to kick back into high gear. She thanked Fluttershy once more, then turned to face Twilight and Applejack, who were looking at the scene with both confusion and familiarity. They had come to expect Pinkie Pie to be random and misunderstood at most times. When she wasn't, there was usually something on her mind that bothered her.

"Hi, you two! What brings you two here?" Pinkie asked curiously, but then immediately corrected herself. "Though I suppose you came because it was going to be totally fun! And who doesn't like fun? Except Cranky - but even he likes to have fun with Metilda around!"

"Actually, Twilight is still a mayor for the day," Applejack said, glancing over to Twilight, who seemed to be studying the proportions of Pinkie's cupcakes. "So we figured that we'd take a lil' tour of the Fairgrounds. Get 'er used to everything so she can take care of business an' all."

"That sounds like a great idea! Oh it'll be so much fun for you, Twilight! There's games, and balloons, and tents, and ponies, dragons, gryphons, probably even a few timberwolves, too!" Pinkie commented, her excitement visibly raising with each passing moment.

With a laugh, Applejack said, "Well we ain't gonna be seein' much of anything if we stand around chattin' all day, I s'pose."

"I believe Applejack is correct. We'll meet up some other time?" Twilight offered hopefully, trying to shy away from offending Fluttershy and Pinkie.

"That would be nice," Fluttershy agreed, her lips forming a small smile of agreement.

"Oh, yes! I'll have to throw a You-Were-The-Mayor-And-Disaster-Didn't-Strike party!" Pinkie cheered.

"Well it's a bit early to tell that yet," Twilight joked with a short laugh.

"We can always throw a Disaster-Struck-But-We're-Okay party, too!" her friend offered with unfading joy.

"We'll have to see 'bout that one," Applejack said, turning to Twilight with a smirk. "I got dibs on partying with Twi'."

"Oh, that's wonderfu-" Fluttershy began, obviously having caught on to Applejack's remark from the way Twilight smiled sheepishly. Pinkie, however, seemed only to hear the word "party."

As per her nature, she began going over all of the ways the two could party together, and went into a solo-discussion about the different methods and scenarios before snapping back to the two and saying, "Alright, but you'll have to tell me what you did! I wanna know how you two managed to pull it off!"

"Will do, Pinkie. Take care, y'all," Applejack said as she turned to walk away.

"Oh! Oh! Take this! It's a good-luck cupcake!" Pinkie called after Twilight as she turned to follow her friend.

"Huh?" she mumbled as she turned to see Pinkie Pie sliding towards her a cupcake with bright blue, swirling icing that seemed to be perfectly distributed atop the cupcake. How Pinkie had managed to do so to nearly everything she baked was beyond the unicorn, as she never truly got to study Pinkie's methods.

"It will give you good luck at the fair! I promise!" Pinkie said, pushing the cupcake a bit further.

Though skeptical, Twilight levitated the cupcake off of the table and said, "Alright, then. Thank you, Pinkie."

"Don't mention it! Or do! Either way, you're welcome!" Pinkie replied happily, turning to chat with Fluttershy as Twilight took her place besides Applejack, who patiently awaited her a few steps away.

"A good-luck cupcake, 'eh?" Applejack commented, admiring the sugary treat.

"That's what she said," Twilight shrugged, then noticed Applejack's expression. "Would you like to share it now?" she asked politely.

After a bit of contemplation, Applejack shook her head and said, "Nah. Let's wait until we get some lunch, then we can dig in to our 'magical cupcake'."

Giggling softly at the overtone of Applejack's words, Twilight levitated the cupcake into her saddlebags carefully, and formed a protective layer of magic over it to preserve its integrity.

"Alright, then. Where are we off to next?" Twilight asked, eager to undertake the day's activities.