Diplomatic Troubles

Twilight found herself trotting at a brisk pace through the market, looking in and out of shops in search of the small purple dragon.

"Spike?" she called out in slight worry, but to no avail. Becoming panicked, Twilight began running at a steady pace, going to places she thought he'd be: the ice cream parlor, the cake shop, the candy shop.

She was looking from side to side, hardly paying attention to what was in front of her, when she bumped into someone. "Sorry," she heard a soft voice say apologetically. She looked up to see Fluttershy getting to her feet and offering a hoof to help Twilight up.

"Oh I'm sorry Twilight, I didn't see you there," Fluttershy apologized once again, before Twilight could say anything. She opened her mouth to speak, but Fluttershy interjected saying, "I was watching some birds teaching their little one how to fly, and I didn't notice you running here." She shrunk away, hiding her face behind her pink hair, as was her habit when she felt guilty or scared. "Are you mad at me? I'm sorry," she said, her voice getting more quiet.

Twilight couldn't help but smile at Fluttershy's kindness as she accepted the help up off of the ground. "No, no. It was my fault. I didn't see where I was going. I have no reason to be mad at you!"

Fluttershy smiled and emerged from behind her hair looking innocent. "Oh good," she said with a sigh of relief, as if she'd expected Twilight to be furious.

Twilight suddenly snapped her attention back to what she was doing, and she gasped. "Fluttershy!" she exclaimed, to which the yellow pegasus jumped, startled. "Yes?" Fluttershy asked softly. "Have you seen Spike?" Twilight said more out of worry than of anger. She'd come to realize over the past few years that if Spike was missing, he usually had a good reason for doing so.

Fluttershy perked up, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, yes I did!" she exclaimed in her soft manner of voice. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a smaller bag. Twilight levitated it in front of her, opening it to discover it was filled with quills, possibly twenty.

"Wow! Where'd you get these?" Twilight asked, looking at Fluttershy with a surprised expression painted on her face.

"I was in the market looking for some carrots to feed Angel when I saw Spike. He looked like he was in a hurry, and he said to give you those," Fluttershy explained with a smile. "He said he'd be buying some inkwells to bring back to your library, so you could probably find him there."

Twilight couldn't help but smile at Spike's intentions. Her worries drained away from her in an instant and she turned her attention to the town clock. It was nearly one o'clock, and she decided to get moving before it got too late to accomplish much. She still had a few things she wanted to do before her new job.

With the thought of the new position, she shuddered, but not as much as she had before. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I should be heading back home. Shouldn't keep Spike waiting too long, huh?"

Fluttershy nodded and replied, "Oh, yes. Tell him I said hello!"

"Will do," Twilight responded, before the two went trotting their separate ways. On the way home Twilight considered what the job would entail. She'd most likely have to sign papers, and take care of some small issues for sure. But then there was the Farmer's Festival, she remembered. She had only been there twice, and as a spectator.

From what he understood, all of the farmers from five different regions would get together and host a large festival to celebrate the prosperity of their work. It ranged from apples to grapes, and ponies of all kind would attend. It just so happened to be that Twilight must be the mayor of Ponyville the three days it would be initiated.

By the time Twilight got to the library, she was grinding her teeth subconsciously, and she could feel worry crawling into her mind once again. She startled Spike when she entered. He was reorganizing a few books that looked as if they had fallen off of the shelves.

"Woah!" Spike said as he wobbled on the stepladder, startled by the sudden break in silence within the library. Twilight noticed she had been grinding her teeth together, and manually stopped herself, concentrating on discontinuing the action. Instead, she began pacing back and forth slowly as Spike explained the situation.

"Sorry about the mess Twilight," he said nervously, pressing two fingers together. He climbed down carefully off of the ladder and gestured to three books on the table. "I decided that since neither of us have much experience in the Farmer's Festival, I'd find some books to help us understand it."

Twilight was both surprised and proud that Spike had thought of it. It was typically something she would have done, and it put her mind somewhat at ease that Spike was planning so far ahead. "Fluttershy told me that the Festival would be pretty big this year, so I wanted to make sure we were ready. But when I reached for one of the books, I accidentally tipped over some others. The rest just came tumbling down."

He hurried over to the books to begin his work again as he said, "But don't worry! I'll get this cleaned up in a flash!"

Twilight stopped pacing and levitated the dragon over to her, nuzzling him gently. When she put him down she saw the confused look on Spike's face. "What was that for?" he asked.

She rubbed the top of his head and aid, "For being my number one assistant!"

Spike beamed with pride and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh. I guess the idea was pretty smart of me, huh?" Twilight grinned and nudged him softly. "Come on," she said. "Let's get this cleaned up before we start reading."