Diplomatic Troubles

Twilight could hardly imagine her day going any better. The sun was bright, the air was warm but not too humid, everyone seemed satisfied enough with the festival's events. There didn't seem to be a speck of trouble on the map that was Ponyville's newest festival.

And best of all, she was sharing it with someone that she adored affectionately - and one that returned such affection. She was almost in disbelief how smoothly things were going, Nothing seemed out of place, nothing seemed to be conspicuously (or otherwise) planning against her, and nothing seemed to have any desire of making her day a nightmare.

She gave a sigh of contentedness and peered happily towards Applejack. "This is magnificent," Twilight claimed with a small, grateful smile.

"Ain't it? I reckon I could afford to go to plenty of these, would they have 'em more often," Applejack replied.

"It's odd, though.. I can't shake the feeling that today is going too perfectly," Twilight admitted, waving her hoof slightly for emphasis of the notion.

"Careful, now," Applejack warned, squinting her eyes over-dramatically in mock-dread, "you'll jinx it." She gave a small chuckle immediately after saying so, and Twilight couldn't help but give a giggle of her own. Perhaps she was just being a bit over-anxious about the whole situation.

In fact, she may have over-estimated Mayor Mare's job completely. While she understood it to be stressful, the only exhausting part of the job so far was the paperwork, and she had done that with very little effort at all, thanks to the help of her draconian assistant and her magic. Not to mention the tidying up that Applejack assisted her with, which she now saw as a beginning of something delightful in and of itself.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. No need to worry over nothing," Twilight confessed, relaxing visibly as she let go of her worries.

Unfortunately for her, someone was there to catch those worries, and bring them right back into her attention.

"Twilight!" she heard a shrill voice call from a distance. Twilight turned slowly, still in her blissful state of peace, to find a very worried-looking Pinkie Pie galloping towards her, Rainbow Dash in tow just behind her. After wondering how Pinkie Pie was keeping up with Rainbow Dash - or rather, overtaking her speed completely - Twilight realized something was not quite right.

Pinkie had a habit of running, yes. She had a slightly irritating habit of yelling, as well; nothing was wrong there. What drew her out of her happy state of mind was the fact that her voice had the slightest hint of sadness - no, not sadness, but worry - in it.

"Ah, shucks.. Told ya you'd jinx it," Twilight heard Applejack mumble from behind her swiveled head.

Pinkie came to a screeching halt - quite literally. The ground beneath her hooves uncharacteristically made a sound similar to something being scraped across stone, even though it was clearly dirt. Luckily for her and her sanity, Twilight had learned not to question Pinkie's constant abnormal state of physics, and moved on from this fact.

"Twilight we need your help and I know this is supposed to be a fun day for you and Applejack - Hi, Applejack! - but I really think you should see this because you're kinda the mayor but not really but still you really need to se-" Pinkie began, still galloping in place nervously. She had managed to say all of that before pausing to catch her breath.

"Slow down there, girl," Applejack suggested, then inquired towards her worried state, "What in tarnations has got you all flustered and whatnot?"

Rainbow Dash spoke up, deciding now was as good a time to jump into the conversation as any. "She isn't kidding, Twilight," Rainbow confirmed, turning her gaze towards the purple unicorn with an unwavering stare that beckoned for Twilight's full attention.

"What happened, Rainbow?" Twilight asked, stress now leeching away her state of tranquility with every passing moment spent in the unknown territory that is Pinkie's stress.

"Looks like somepony decided to skip out on their jobs," Rainbow explained, emphasizing her point with a roll of her eyes, "and now a whole section of the festival is short on staff. Vendors and stall-ponies are galloping around trying to attend to everyone that showed up today."

"Oh no. OH NO, no, no. This isn't part of the plan! Today was supposed to be a good day! I had everything checked and double-checked! How could this have happened?" Twilight asked to nopony in particular, turning her gaze towards the ground beneath her feet.

"I don't think it was your fault, Twilight," Rainbow reassured her, noticing the worried grimace that had replaced her satisfied grin only moments ago.

"Yeah! We all know how hard you worked to make this all right, and we're not gonna let you down! You need our help? you've GOT our help!" Pinkie said this as she moved in one quick motion to sit on her hind legs and salute, looking as official as she could muster. Her expression was that of a loyal soldier, and Twilight couldn't help but admire how well she pulled off her element. A smile crawled back onto her face as she blinked back the beginning of tears.

"Thank you, Pinkie. I think I'm going to need all the help I can get if we're going to get this running smoothly again," Twilight said. With a hopeful expression upon her face, she turned to face a ready Applejack, who gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm with ya," Applejack said with a confident smile and a tipping of her hat that was now perched rightfully upon her head.

Twilight gave a small but very appreciative grin of gratitude at how well Applejack seemed to understand her, and how loyal all her friends were to her when she needed them.

"Well, then, let's get to it. We've got no time to waste!" Twilight claimed, and turned to Rainbow Dash in order to ask for directions. "Which section is having problems, exactly?"

"Section 4-B. Follow me, I'll take you there," Rainbow said with a large flapping of her wings, visibly excited to get to work.

Twilight did as she was told, and ran after the energetic pegasus. To her left, Applejack galloped beside her with a determined look upon her face. Catching her gaze, Applejack gave her a sweet-but-serious smile that she believed only Applejack could pull off correctly. To her right, Pinkie Pie bounced excitedly, keeping pace with Twilight and the others with unpracticed ease.

This would be the challenge Twilight expected from the job, it seems. And it was only then that she felt a bit guilty at having thought Mayor Mare's job was easy. She'd have to thank her when she returned - that is, if she wasn't shunned for having messed up the festival.

Pushing such thoughts aside before they depressed her to a dangerous degree, Twilight pushed on towards the problem. She could do this. She would do this. And she would do it with the help of her friends.