Raven Mystery

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Raven Mystery groaned as piercing sunlight irritated her deep jungle green eyes enough to wake her. She grumbled and turned her head to look at her red alarm clock.

“Five to seven,” Raven complained, “I don’t need to show up at work until it’s nearly nine.”

Raven lowered her head into the pillows and tried to steal some more sleep. But her mind was becoming active already, plus her stomach rumbled for food. With a reluctant sigh, Raven rolled off her bed and onto her feet. A quick glance at the alarm clock made her snort in frustration that only one minute had passed since her first wake-up call.

Deciding she was up now, Raven yawned as she trotted down the stairs to the kitchen. Despite the early time, golden morning rays of sunshine already made her kitchen more bright and welcoming. Raven exchanged a brief smile that sunshine made her oak dining table look shiny and interesting as she passed it.

Then, she looked up and zapped a cupboard door handle above her head. With a faint light, blue aura of her magic, she opened the door and then let go of her spell for a second. A second later, she casted a simple levitation spell on a box of cereal and put it on the table. A minute later, she had gotten the milk out of the fridge and was eating breakfast.

“I don’t need to leave home for at least another ninety minutes,” Raven commented to herself as she knew her trot to work wasn’t a particularly long one. Raven crunched her cereal and thought about what to do with her free time. Then, strangely there was a pony knocking a hoof on her door.

“It’s quite early for post,” Raven mumbled as she trotted to the door.

“Who is it?” Raven called out before opening her front door.

“A pony told me it was your eighteenth birthday today and I agreed I would come over and make party arrangements with you,” spoke a rather fast speaking pony.

Raven yawned and struggled to make sense of what the pony said and took a couple of seconds to think about it.

“My eighteenth?” Raven asked confused, while she searched into her mind to remind herself whether it was in fact her birthday.

“That’s right!” exclaimed the pony outside in an excitable yell.

“Sorry, you must have the wrong address or the wrong pony,” Raven apologised with a slight yawn.

“Oh,” came an exasperated sigh, “Are you sure? I was told a Ms. Mystery lives here.”

Though, she couldn’t see the pony’s face, Raven had a feeling she had likely caused the pony outside her door to frown. She felt a bit guilty about that and then picked up on the fact the pony referred to her as Ms. Mystery.

“Yes, I’m the only Ms. Mystery in Appaloosa,” Raven confirmed, but still thought the pony outside had the wrong address. Still, she felt responsible for likely causing the pony to frown and in sympathy, she cracked the door open a bit.

“Oh, yippee! I found the right one!” an excitable yell came from a pink pony as she leapt for joy. Then, without warning, she barged past and into her house.

“You must be Raven, Braeburn let slip to Applejack that one of his friends in Appaloosa had a birthday coming up and I happened to overhear the conversation,” the chirpy pink pony did a small happy dance and then eyed her playfully with mischievous and wide blue eyes.

“Wait, I know you,” Raven paused and stared her deep jungle green eyes to the pink pony. Her wild, fluffy pink mane and paler pink coat along with her eyes did seem familiar from somewhere.

“Wait, were you on the Ponyville team in the recent buck-ball match?” Raven narrowed her view onto the pony.

“Yep!” the pink pony confirmed, “The name’s Pinkie Pie,” she flashed a mischievous grin.

“You made Braeburn upset,” Raven scowled and huffed and turned her back on Pinkie, “Please leave,” Raven turned again and pointed the way out of her house.

“Oh, only a little upset and a bit sour, maybe, but his pride recovered from his loss and he came by to visit Applejack, a week ago,” Pinkie tried to explain and revealed something Raven didn’t know. Plus, Raven noticed despite being told to leave, Pinkie hadn’t lost her smile.

“Well, today might be my birthday…” Raven began to construct a long sentence.

“So, today is your birthday! Well, happy, happy birthday, happy birthday to you, now you can be so happy that you can sing along with this tune,” Pinkie sang and jumped around Raven’s dining table with joyous laughter.

“Please don’t knock the table or the chairs, they’ve been in my family for two generations,” Raven sat on the floor and pouted.

“Aww, don’t be sad, today is your birthday, and I’ll be glad to go over arrangements,” Pinkie flashed a caring smile and then in a calmer fashion trotted over to her.

“I’m not so sure that a party planner is supposed to come to you,” Raven took a step back and thought about how parties were usually arranged. In her mind, she herself would had travelled to Ponyville and invited Pinkie herself if she really wanted a party, but she hadn’t.

“Oh, silly, I’m not known for an eye to look for parties for nothing,” Pinkie proudly boasted putting a hoof across her chest and stood still with confidence.

Her proud stance along with what Raven already had seen of mischievous behaviour, plus a friendly demeanour made Raven think. Maybe, she should hire a party planner for her 18th birthday. As would luck or extraordinary coincidence would have her believe, she had a party planner right in front of her.

Still, she barely knew Pinkie Pie. She had clouds of doubt about what sort of party Pinkie would arrange for her as she rubbed her forehead with stress.

“You know if it’s best for you, I could make all the arrangements for you and I know five besties, a few friendly faces and I’m at least acquainted with every pony in Equestria!” Pinkie chuckled as she made a playful offer.

Raven had a feeling despite her playful tone, Pinkie was serious about being at least acquainted with every pony in Equestria, though it seemed impossible.

“Uh… just keep it to Appaloosa locals,” Raven mumbled and thought she didn’t want a party full of strangers and at least in her home-town, she knew Braeburn, Sheriff Silver Star, his deputy, and a few other friendly faces.

“Aww,” Pinkie groaned, “So, you don’t want to exchange fashion tips with Rarity, or bob for apples in one of Applejack’s barrels. Even a quiet reading session with the famous Princess Twilight Sparkle is possible, if you let me invite them.”

“I suspect the Princess of Friendship is way too busy to read books with a lowly commoner like myself,” Raven laughed and thought no way was that possible.

“Oh, laughter,” Pinkie chuckled, “I take that means you’re interested.” Then, there was another brief flash of a smile and Pinkie bounced out of the door.

“Hang on, wait, I didn’t say I wanted to read books,” Raven called out and tried to rush after the bouncing Pinkie. However, Pinkie proved to be a fast bouncer and was soon out of sight.

Raven stopped in the street and pouted with worry. Now, she might have to be ready for an assortment of guests.

“So, what ya’ doing up and about in the streets so early, Raven?” Braeburn asked with a playful chortle. Raven sighed and rolled her eyes and felt he knew everything about Pinkie’s surprise visit. She almost fainted, but managed to sit down and become stressed instead.

Chapter 2

“Ya’ know don’t ya’?” Raven accused as she sat down and stared into Braeburn’s eyes.

“Know what?” Braeburn chuckled and again suggested he knew something was going on.

“You told Pinkie, it’s my birthday today, didn’t you?” Raven sighed and didn’t want her quiet abode mobbed by partying ponies.

“Uh… no, though I admit a visit to Applejack last week to settle a bit of a grudge. Suffice it to say, Applejack understood why I was a bit sour, but let me challenge her to a hoof wrestling match which I lost,” Braeburn admitted with an honest frown at him yet again losing to his Ponyville cousin.

“You lost a hoof wrestling match to Applejack?” Raven commented with surprise. She didn’t think Braeburn would let himself lose and therefore he was being honest about it.

“Applejack is one of my hardier and more stubborn cousins, though we share country believes and we both sometimes get our pride hurt,” Braeburn explained with a slight grimace across his face.

“Did you go easy on her?” Raven asked to confirm her suspicion that Braeburn had fairly tussled with Applejack and lost fair and square.

“Eenope,” Braeburn answered as if trying quite hard to copy the country accent of his cousin, Big Macintosh, who Raven knew was Applejack’s big brother and had a reputation for saying nope with a distinct country accent.

Raven exchanged a look at Braeburn’s face and noticed a little bit of sweat. She then knew Braeburn was trying too hard to sound like his pony cousin.

“But don’t ya’ worry about my pride. After losing the hoof wrestle and a feeling a bit sorry for mah’ self, Applejack invited me to pie and I remembered just what Granny Smith’s cooking is like when tantalising your taste buds, it sure cheered me up just fine,” Braeburn explained with a happier smile.

“Though, now you mention it, during a meal shared, Pinkie Pie came around in a joyful manner and said she had smelt the pie and wondered if she could have some. Applejack said sure, invited her in and I guess somewhere between eating and a light-heartened meal time chat, I might had said something about your upcoming birthday,” Braeburn continued with honesty, but stopped when he made himself look guilty for perhaps saying a little too much during that conversation.

“So, you did say something,” Raven stepped up closer to Braeburn and looked down his pistachio green eyes.

“All right, I admit I might had let something slip,” Braeburn admitted with a bit of awkwardness and took a step back away from Raven.

“But hay, I suspect your party tonight will be swell, Pinkie Pie has already given me an invite,” Braeburn then said with a smile and produced a pink envelope with a party invitation on the inside.

“Well, uh….” Raven paused for thought, but thought in the end, she didn’t particularly mind Braeburn showing up for her birthday party, she was much more concerned about other ponies showing up she didn’t know so well.

“You would be welcome anyway as well as Sheriff Silver Star and his deputy, I just prefer not to have too many guests,” Raven admitted and shivered in the thought of being surrounded by a lot of strangers.

“Oh, don’t ya’ fret, Pinkie is known for arranging the best parties in Equestria. She won’t let ya’ down and I suspect she’ll only invite ponies that are friendly, enjoy socialising and be happy to be part of a partying posse,” Braeburn smiled and tried to inspire some confidence in Raven.

“Let’s just hope that posse doesn’t turn into an outright crowded for space, wild raving hoe-down,” Raven flinched in a bit of shyness and was still worried.

“Well, I got to catch up with Golden Harvest at Buffalo Orchards, so I’ll crash into your party later,” Braeburn joked with a grin and left for the orchards.

“Oh, now wait do I do?” Raven asked herself as she had seen Pinkie’s speedy bouncing get away from her once already. She knew she couldn’t stop Pinkie from inviting ponies unless she re-encountered her again. Still, at her speed, she had likely already invited Sheriff Silver Star and his deputies. Maybe, she should head over to where Appaloosa held its rodeos where it was a good bet Pinkie Pie was trying to gather up more party guests. Raven thought this was likely as most Appaloosa locals passed by the rodeo staging area quite often. She immediately trotted with haste and got over there quite fast.

When she arrived, she was proved right about being a popular area to trot past as many locals trotted past and gossiped banter about the next upcoming rodeo, who they thought might win some prizes and who might not be so lucky. Though, some also exchanged happy chuckles about the entertainment of rodeo clowns too.

“Oh, hi, Raven,” called a voice. Raven turned and noticed Apple Cider waving to her. She was standing in front of a small fizzy apple cider stand and hoping to sell some cider to a couple of customers.

Raven trotted over with a bit of awkwardness. Though she knew who Apple Cider was as a member of Braeburn’s extended family, she didn’t know her that well.

“I just wanted to say thanks for the invite, Pinkie Pie invited me to your party tonight and who knew it was your eighteenth birthday,” Apple Cider exchanged an enthusiastic greeting grin.

“Pinkie Pie’s been here already,” Raven sighed and thought she had failed to intercept Pinkie.

“Yeah, but she didn’t stay to chat, she just hooved me an invite and said you’re welcome and I’ll see you later and bounced away,” Apple Cider commented and lowered her head slightly and sighed.

Raven thought Apple Cider was hoping Pinkie might had stopped for a few seconds to buy a fizzy cider or a quick chat, but it seemed the energetic mare was on a speedy mission.

Raven frowned and it was about ten minutes past seven by now. However, when she thought this, Raven thought Apple Cider was here on the street with a stall set up already, still a little early for any great number of potential customers to pass by.

“Whoa, you’re set up early,” Raven commented and stated a thought aloud.

“Heh, we Apples love our early morning wake up calls, Applejack told me she’s normally up as soon as the sun rises, so that can be as early as six or even half five in the morning in Ponyville,” Apple Cider shrugged it off, but let on a slight yawn.

“Ooh, I forgot, silly, silly me,” said Pinkie’s voice in a bit of a rush. Raven turned and couldn’t believe her luck to intercept Pinkie after all.

“I forgot you need an invite to your own party and by the way, are ya’ thinking of cooking up or preparing party grub or do you want me to pop back to Ponyville to see what I can whip up?” Pinkie asked in a hurried voice and panted a bit.

“Uh… I usually have something small and a quiet meal with…” Raven paused and thought about her last birthday. It was a bit of a lonely one. Both of her parents had passed away soon after her sixteenth birthday. It had been a particularly troubling time for her and she had her seventeenth birthday completely alone.

“I suppose it was just with myself last year,” Raven frowned and remembered through a tear or two of how lonely that had felt.

“Aww,” Pinkie said in sympathy.

“I’ll get Mr and Mrs. Cake to whip something up in Ponyville, Applejack probably won’t mind to contribute a few of her family’s famous apple pies and maybe even Rarity might take upon herself to design a most elegant and yummy cake,” Pinkie declared happily and seemed keen to bounce back to the train.

Raven thought that mighty kind of Pinkie and forgot to tell her about limiting the number of guests. She smiled at the thoughtful gesture.

“Then, it’s decided!” Pinkie bounced up and down once on the spot with joy and then bounced away to the train station.

“Huh? No, wait!” Raven remembered wanting to intercept Pinkie, but Pinkie had bounced away again.

“Oh, you might get an elegant cake designed by Rarity? I remember when I got a cake designed by her. The attention to detail on her frosting was exquisite, though I didn’t expect her to tell me to indulge myself like an animal possessed, she seemed so proud of her cake and its intent to induce an appetite, she seemed to forget about lecturing about cultured manners,” Apple Cider talked about when she had received a cake designed by Rarity and by her comments, Raven judged she had met Rarity and knew her to some small or bigger extent.

“So, you’ve met Rarity?” Raven asked, hoping for more info.

“Oh, right, she’s wasn’t part of the Ponyville team that came to Appaloosa and narrowly defeated our home team. I kinda thought that a little odd until I saw what the lucky unicorn that was on their team was capable of with catching any loose balls,” Apple Cider commented.

Raven thought back to the buck-ball match and then realised Apple Cider was right about an unfamiliar unicorn being on the Ponyville team. However, then she realised she was becoming distracted.

“Oh, maybe there’s a slim hope I can intercept Pinkie at the train station, I’ve gotta run!” Raven panicked and galloped to the train station.

“Good luck, the first train out of here leaves at half seven!” Apple Cider called out with encouragement. Afterwards, though she paused for thought and wondered how did Pinkie get to Appaloosa before the first train had left and had come back?

Chapter 3

Raven Mystery galloped fast toward the train station, she had to catch up to Pinkie before she hopped onto the train and left. Her dark cobalt blue mane and her raven black was swept back by a passing breeze, but Raven didn’t care.

“All aboard,” the train conductor pony called out to any passengers and a station attendant pony was already watching his pocket watch.

Raven looked ahead. She knew there was still some ground to cover before getting to the station. She didn’t want to give up, so she kept galloping.

“Wee! I get to go back to Ponyville, yippee!” Pinkie bounced onto the train.

Raven saw the station attendant look for other passengers, but he didn’t look in her direction as the train whistle went and the churning of the wheels began. Then, a small plume of steam came out and Raven arrived onto the station, but it was too late.

“I missed my chance,” Raven grimaced to herself as she watched the train gain speed and start to get further away.

“There will be another train at half nine,” the station attendant put a consoling hoof on her shoulder.

“But that’s two hours from now,” Raven whimpered a little as she knew there was little she could do to stop Pinkie from inviting a few strangers she had never met before who lived in Ponyville.

“Sorry, missy, but the train takes about an hour to get to Ponyville and about an hour to get back and in the short time in between, Steamer likes to take a break,” the station attendant informed her with an understanding frown.

Raven sighed and got out from under the consoling hoof and wondered what she would do.

“So, ya’ be back in two hours?” The station attendant asked as Raven started to trot away.

“No,” Raven Mystery said with quiet disappointment, she had missed the chance to intercept Pinkie and make the party an Appaloosa locals only party. The station attendant didn’t hear her and Raven returned to her house.

“Oh, I really don’t know any pony from Ponyville all that well,” Raven sobbed to herself, but felt just a little petty for doing so. She remembered what Braeburn said about Pinkie being the best for arranging parties and inviting only those who were friendly, liked to socialise and enjoy being part of the party scene. It was the part of their enjoyment of being in a party for her she was concerned about. They didn’t know her and she didn’t know them and while socialisation and being friendly might break the ice, what would they do when free to party worried her.

About five minutes later, post arrived through her door and signified it was about eight o’ clock. Raven let another sigh, but then noticed she had done nothing to her humble little abode to be ready for a party. A quiet dining table for one would never do, some of the walls could do with a scrub and the floor did need some light sweeping.

Deciding, there was nothing she could do to stop the party and she still had an hour before work, Raven put her mind on tasks to at least making her place more welcoming. So, she trotted to the closet under the stairs and retrieved a broom, a bucket and a few sponges and fixed her eyes on the dusty areas of the floor and the walls and set to work.

Having magic through her horn sure helped. Raven smiled as it eased her job of cleaning the walls with a wet sponge a bit. She wouldn’t need to scrub each section piece by piece in a slower fashion like an Earth pony would. Though, at that thought, her magic stopped.

“Sorry, Daddy,” Raven mumbled as she remembered her father, Dusty Cobbler had been a proud, hardworking Earth stallion that would gladly do the job with his hooves and still be cheerful about the finish despite he had no magic to help him.

Raven sat and decided to think. Her Dad was dead, but was it right to upset the morals he had taught her that hard work didn’t just involve around magic? Her mother’s influence was magic did have a habit of being useful in situations and speeding some chores and it too required steely concentration and work.

In conflict, she sat for about ten minutes. In the end, she decided though perhaps not through physical assertion of manipulating the sponge through hoof work, magically controlling it still required effort and focus. Therefore, she wasn’t cheating her father’s hardworking morals by using magic and she could continue. Plus, at least she wasn’t a shooting a magical cleaning spell at the walls that leave them all sparkly clean in one powerful spell and was still doing the job, piece by piece.

She began to hum as time passed by and as the spots of dirt, dust and grime disappeared. Plus, to truly show she was her father’s daughter, whenever her magic and mental focus strained a bit, she would stop and use practical work until she could feel the motivation of getting things clean to re-spark her magic again.

“Raven, Raven, are ya’ in there?” called a panicky voice from the door and some nervous pitter-pattering of hooves sounded from outside.

Raven looked toward the door and up from her work and noticed the kitchen clock. She panicked when it was five to nine.

“Ya’ going to make us both late for work,” stressed the voice outside as Raven zoomed to the door.

“All right, all right, I’m coming, just move aside a sec,” Raven called out, waited a second and opened the door.

“Oof, wait until I move out of the way next time,” complained the voice and Raven looked over to see who it was.

Apple Stars scowled, rubbed some desert sand off her light orchid coat and stood up again.

“Sorry,” Raven apologised, but she knew they both had very little time as she galloped to work.

Four minutes later, Raven hurried through the employee entrance just in time as the clock ticked the last minute before nine and made it nine o’ clock.

“Yeah, ya’ barely made it, Raven,” called out the enthusiastic voice of Apple Honey, who also exchanged a welcoming smile.

“Thanks,” Raven smiled and panted in relief as she slowly trotted to behind the counter.

“Ya’ late though, cos,” Raven heard Apple Honey say in an unhappy tone to Apple Stars.

Raven decided to avoid the conflict of being badgered to defend a late arriving colleague and tend to the customers as she flicked the closed sign around, so the customers could see the flower shop was now open.

“Look, I know we Apples have a rep for being awake early and always before or on time,” Apple Stars argued with Apple Honey in the back connecting corridor as Raven trotted to behind the counter.

Raven decided any customer wouldn’t want to hear two arguing mares and shut the door on them and looked toward the front door. However, half an hour went by and then three quarters and then a tumbleweed blew past the store. Raven was about to let out a reluctant sigh of boredom when the door behind her opened.

“So, any customers?” asked Apple Honey as she emerged to assist.

“No,” Raven put it bluntly as the tumbleweed rolled out of sight.

“Just as well, y’all, me and Stars had a proper country mare throw-down out the back, I guess you were wise to close the door on us just in case we did get a customer though,” Apple Honey cracked a smile.

Raven exchanged a quick look and huffed in shock that Apple Honey’s normally well-groomed, neat, and tidy pale gold mane had signs it had been through a scuffle.

“Apple Stars got so mad, she’s galloped off to join Braeburn and Golden Harvest in Buffalo Orchards and she might yet prove to be the smart one,” Apple Honey explained with a smidgen of humbleness and didn’t seem to mind her mane being a bit of a mess.

Raven slowly nodded in agreement and thought Apple Honey was right as there had been no customers for the flower shop so far.

“I’m sticking with ya’ and the shop though,” Apple Honey declared with a grin.

“I guess, I could rearrange some of the flower baskets,” Raven commented and noticed the displaying strategy at the shop window looked a little disorganised.

“Fine, it won’t take ya’ more than ten minutes, I’ll stand watch at the counter,” Apple Honey volunteered.

Raven nodded and spent a little time rearranging the flower baskets for tidiness and decided to water them too and went and fetched a water can and came back.

“Still eerily quiet,” Apple Honey chuckled as Raven passed her by with the water can and watered the dazzling purple and blue lilies, the dandelion and the sunflowers. Their Appaloosa shop sold cactuses too, but they wouldn’t need watering for ages.

Still, time ticked on by in eerie silence mostly as there was no customer activity all morning and Raven flicked the sign closed again with a heavy sigh.

After lunch, there was no difference until around half three when Apple Stars returned with a prideful grin on her face with a couple of pants of exhaustion too.

“The Buffalo Orchard harvested more than half of its supplies today and I made a ‘big’ contribution,” Apple Stars bragged and lit up her unicorn horn to show some happiness while she smiled.

“Ya’ know that such a ‘big’ harvest means ya’ not likely to be needed there tomorrow,” Apple Honey chuckled.

“Yeah, but there was a lot of ponies involved working the trees and collecting the apples, I suspect you two hardly had any passing customers,” Apple Stars chided with a playful smile.

Raven could see despite the chide, both mares were smiling and it didn’t look like a fight was going to break out again.

“Well, in honesty, I did explain to Braeburn, I would come here and help you two close up shop, so I could have a little more relaxing feeling on my hooves and not buck trees and collect apples ‘all day’” Apple Stars said and turned her attention to the display and end of the day tasks.

Raven sighed and decided to collect a broom from the supplies closet and give the floor a light sweep as her last job of the day.

“Oh, wait Raven, I…” Apple Stars began and Raven looked back and saw she was flashing a pink party invitation envelope and then Apple Honey flashed one too.

“I mean we…” Apple Stars stammered.

“Never got the chance to thank you for the invites,” they decided to say both together and flashed grateful grins.

Then, a thought raced through Raven’s mind, her chores for making what preparations she could had been interrupted by Apple Stars and a rush to work as she danced her feet up and down.

“Forgot something?” asked Apple Stars with a cheeky grin.

“Yes, I got to rush on home and complete the preparations,” Raven said in a panicky voice, dropped the broom, forgot there was still about twenty minutes before four, rushed out through the corridor and out the employee’s exit.

“And here I was feeling certain, she would say sorry for bungling me off her porch,” Apple Stars frowned.

Chapter 4

Raven Mystery raced home. Her desperate need to have her abode in good shape to hold a party was paramount to everything else. She was in such a hurry, she pushed the door open without realising she had forgot to lock it before going to work.

“Surprise!” Pinkie yelled out. Raven screeched her hooves to a halt and became alerted by a lot of ponies in her house. She barely had time to catch a glance at the multitude of ponies when a party cannon went off and decorated her living room floor with confetti.

Then, before she fully recovered from the shock of watching her hard work cleaning the floor disappearing in front of her eyes, a pony had climbed onto her shoulders.

“Come on, Raven, it’s your birthday! Lead the conga line!” Pinkie cheered from behind. There was a battle of conflicting thoughts for a couple of seconds as other ponies joined the line. One line of thought wanted to whine about her floor being messy again, but the other was noticing ponies expecting her to be part of the partying scene and not some whiny pony.

“Aww, come on, up there in front!” called a frustrated brash voice who wanted the conga line to start dancing and moving to get the party started.

Deciding not to be a party bopper, Raven let out a reluctant sigh. She was likely to work all through the night to scrub the floors clean again after the party finished and led the line. Conga dancing was not her speciality, but the line soon began to split up as other party goers thought about snacks, something fizzy to drink and to socialise with each other. Raven tried to sneak off using the other ponies talking to each other rather than to her to her advantage and climb up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Yo! Howdy up there!” called a southern accent a little familiar to Braeburn’s, but with a bit more culture to it.

Raven turned around to see Applejack standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her with a bright smile, but with curious sap green eyes.

“Are ya’ trying to make an escape? I wouldn’t do that if I were ya’, Pinkie Pie has yet to get ya’ to pin the pony tail on a picture and get some party games started,” Applejack said as she trotted up the stairs toward Raven.

“Well, I’ll come down later,” Raven kinda lied and thought she didn’t really intend to come down until the party was over and then only to clear up the mess every pony left behind. She also turned her head away from Applejack and focused her deep jungle green eyes on her bedroom door.

“Ah’ give it a chance, ya’ been enjoying yer’ self before the party’s over,” Applejack tried to call her back with an encouragement.

“I believe I said I’ll come down later!” Raven yelled as she slammed the bedroom door shut and her mind was still stuck on the fact, all of the confetti still littered her living room floor. Plus, as she whimpered, finally away from the commotion and partying atmosphere, she wondered if the confetti had spread from her living room to the kitchen and perhaps even to the dining room.

Her thoughts dwelled that she could live with her living room and kitchen being a bit messy at times, but the old, oak dining table was an inherited and valuable piece. It had passed through her grand-mare, her mother and then to her and she would go nuts if some pony accidentally destroyed it.

“So, what’s up, Applejack? Why you up here and not having a soda?” asked a loud brash voice from the other side of the door as Raven contemplated coming down tomorrow morning to see nothing but mess and ruin.

“I think our birthday mare has gotten upset about something, maybe she’s a bit concerned Pinkie Pie and the guests would wreck something precious to her,” Applejack talked back and expressed her honest opinion. Though, behind the door, Raven noticed Applejack’s assumption was spot on with how she was feeling.

“Oh, sure, Pinkie Pie gets a bit wild every now and then, but she doesn’t go out of her way to destroy things. If anything, sometimes her Pinkie sense saves things from being destroyed,” the brash voice answered back.

“Well, I still figure she could do with uh… small or smooth talk,” Applejack said and knocked on the bedroom door, “Umm… uhh… ah, shoot, this is always the hard part.”

“Well, let me help,” the brash voice interrupted and then added a harder knock on her bedroom.

“So, it’s Raven, right? Why don’t you open that door and join right back in, Applejack and I won’t tell any pony you skipped a few minutes and you can still have some wicked fun!” The brash voice encouraged.

Raven gave no immediate answer as she felt the encouragement was well-intended, but she didn’t want to be present if one of the party-goers did stumble into her old oak dining table and cause it to smash to pieces. She would lose her temper big time if that happened. After, no answer from Raven was forthcoming, there was a frustrated grunt.

“Hay, Rainbow Dash, don’t get yer’ self so hot headed, maybe being more polite will get Raven to come out,” Applejack suggested and Raven noticed her flimsy bedroom door provided very little sound resistance to their voices which meant they were both close to it on the other side.

“Oh, my gosh!” yelled an enthusiastic fancy tone from downstairs, “This old oak dining table must be at least a hundred years old!”

“Ugh, Rarity,” complained Applejack’s voice.

“Well, Raven with Rarity guarding your table and getting all mushy and fashion sensed about it, you don’t have to worry about it being destroyed anymore,” Rainbow Dash joked.

“Ha, ha, ya’ sure right about that, Dash, she’ll guard it against any pony who dares try to get near it unless they obey formal, strict codes of conduct,” Applejack chuckled along with Rainbow Dash.

Raven raised her head and thought if what Applejack and Rainbow Dash was saying was true, she could stop worrying about it and maybe re-join the party.

“Get back, you partying heathens! Have you no respect for antiquities?” bellowed Rarity’s voice, obviously not too happy about other more playful or more reckless ponies getting too close to the table.

Raven smiled and buzzed with confidence, her oak dining table was indeed safe from harm and while she felt good about that, she felt more ready to re-join the party and opened her bedroom door with a relieved breath from Applejack and a smile from Rainbow Dash.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash muttered and narrowed her cerise eyes onto Raven, “I’ve seen you before, which means…” she paused, “You know who I am! Right!? I’m the most awesomest flier you are ever likely to see!” Then, without warning, Rainbow Dash took off and did a small aerial flip in the small air space between the stairs and the ceiling.

Raven watched her in awe and did remember seeing Rainbow Dash just before the buck-ball match, but she hadn’t seen this level of aerobatic skill from her before. Plus, despite the small air space between the stairs and the ceiling, she didn’t bang her head.

“Dash! Ya’ did that inside a building here, ya’ could have hurt yer’ self,” Applejack complained.

“Pfft,” Rainbow Dash scoffed and dismissed by throwing her left hoof out, “I doubt it. Thanks to my Wonderbolt training and skills, doing that small flip in a tight space wasn’t hard.”

Raven was still surprised; Rainbow Dash had pulled off a small aerial flip in such a claustrophobic amount of space and said nothing.

“Ha! See, Raven likes it,” Rainbow Dash bragged with a smug grin.

“I have to admit, I am amazed,” Raven complimented and then thought about going to check on the other party guests. Upon passing Applejack, Raven noticed she looked as she about to criticise Dash some more, but she decided not to. Once downstairs, Pinkie hopped on past with playful energy.

“Oh, you’ve re-joined the party. Great! You’re just in time to play pin the pony tail,” Pinkie chuckled and led her toward the crowd.

Raven still felt a little reluctant to trot into a large crowd of ponies, but they were all smiling and though some were dancing, enjoying a drink, having a few party snacks, or just socialising, they had all made some space, so Raven could trot back in. As she did, she caught a glance at Rarity.

“Rarity, while I admire your values for protecting antiquities, I don’t think you need to yell and get all confrontational on the other party guests,” spoke an informed, calm, and refined voice that sounded like a leader from the dining room.

Raven was about to go and check it out when she was tapped on the shoulder by Pinkie and then spun around and around a few times and got a blindfold put onto her eyes. Raven took a wobbly step forward after Pinkie finished making her dizzy and then a pony hooved her something soft which was likely the pony tail.

“Um, Pinkie Pie, can I be Raven’s guide?” asked an unsure shy voice amongst the crowd.

“Of course, silly! But your voice is not the only one in the room, Raven’s going to need to concentrate on your voice and only your voice if she’s to succeed,” Pinkie chuckled.

“Ha! I could mess with her and lead her in the wrong direction,” Rainbow Dash laughed and tried to distract her.

Raven wanted to turn her head and make a scowl of discontent at Dash, but without her vision and needing to hear the shy voice again to given direction or the hot or cold responses, she kept her head forward.

“Good, now come forward three steps,” the shy voice called from the other side of the room and Raven followed it.

“Side step, three paces to the right!” Rainbow Dash laughed and tried to misguide her.

“No, don’t do that, take two side steps to the left instead,” instructed the shier and calmer voice.

Raven nodded and took two side steps to the left and noticed she could definitely hear the difference between Rainbow’s brash voice and the quieter voice.

“Oh, sorry, Pinkie, I had to resolve a little situation with Rarity, so what’s going on?” interrupted a question from a formal, curious, but not too brash or loud voice.

“Raven’s playing pin the tail!” Pinkie told the new voice.

“Oh,” came a quick understanding reply from the voice.

“Um… ignore them,” the kind, calm voice instructed, “You’re almost there and very warm.”

“Nah, you’re actually way off-course and very cold!” Rainbow Dash tried to interrupt again and get Raven to face away from the picture or at least make a move in error.

“Dash!” Applejack grunted.

“Now, take, half a pony step forward, and then a slight step to left and pin the tail on the picture,” the calmer voice of her guide managed to stay refined and not too bothered by other commotion.

Raven nodded and took a half step forward and a slight step to her left and raised the tail. She hoped she was in fact pinning the tail onto a picture and not onto an inattentive crowd member who was in the wrong place at the wrong time as she pushed the tail forward onto what she thought was the picture.

When, there was no yelp of pain, Raven sighed in relief and removed her blindfold to find out she had placed the pony tail onto the picture, but a little too low to be in the exact correct position.

“Whoa, that was mighty close, Raven,” Applejack complimented from behind.

“Ooh, I forgot to tell you to raise your hoof and where to pin the tail” commented the shy voice with just a hint of sad failure.

Despite being off the mark by a little, Raven still thought the shy voice was much more helpful than Dash’s attempts to distract her and looked around the room for the owner. Only to see another familiar looking face and a pony expressing the body language of trying to hide herself from attention.

Meanwhile, Pinkie bounced over to the shy yellow Pegasus with a light rose mane and rose her chin up, “Here, was your guide, Fluttershy.”

Then, upon getting a better look at her moderate cyan eyes, Raven remembered she had seen Fluttershy before too and that was at the buck-ball match.

“Hi,” Fluttershy waved with hesitance and put a small smile across her face.

Raven smiled back and thought about getting to know Fluttershy a little better at a later date. Then, Raven noticed another reserved pony with shier body languages than most of the other party guests near her. She appeared to have a small dilemma adapting to the party and Raven took it upon herself to approach her. Meanwhile, a few compliments about Fluttershy’s skills as a guide murmured amongst the party crowd as Raven made her way over.

“Howdy,” Raven greeted the pony in traditional Appaloosa country accent.

“Oh, uh… I still find these things a little awkward,” stuttered the voice of the awkward pony, “But I am Starlight Glimmer and you are?”

“Raven Mystery,” Raven decided to introduce herself with a warm, country smile. Though, in return from her smile, she only received a small, unsure one back from Starlight.

“Oh, I think Starlight might make a new friend!” Pinkie buzzed enthusiastically while talking to another pony.

“I’m getting used to that,” Starlight said and re-drew Raven’s attention with a small chuckle.

“So, do you like spa trips?” Starlight asked with awkwardness and hoped there would be a yes.

“Um… Appaloosa doesn’t have a spa,” Raven commented and knew it to be true. Though, deep down she had wanted to travel to a town or a city that did have a spa to have the experience of using one.

“Oh,” Starlight gave a dumbfounded look on her face, “Didn’t know that, so what do you do to uh… you know to look nice?”

“Uh, huh, keep going, ignore me,” interrupted a studying voice.

Raven thought this new pony was rather rude for studying their conversation, especially when there was a lot of other ponies about as the party was still ongoing. She turned her head and then leapt back in shock.

“Princess Twilight!” Raven shouted, cowered a bit and then bowed her head.

Starlight Glimmer face-hooved herself as Twilight had interrupted her attempts to get to know Raven, even if it was just with a studying remark.

“No need to bow,” Twilight said and gave a friendly smile, “And I’m here to enjoy another one of Pinkie’s parties on a non-formal assignment, so you could call me Twilight.” Then, she had an awkward blush on her cheeks as Raven’s shout had diverted almost every ponies’ attention to her.

“Oh, come on, every pony, the party’s still young!” Pinkie tried to revitalise the party atmosphere and spirit.

“The Princess is here,” murmured a few ponies and then assembled a line as they all seemed keen to meet and greet Twilight in an orderly fashion.

This only made Twilight feel more awkward, but she was unable to avoid the new amount of attention on her as she overcame a slight shiver and another awkward blush to put a small smile on her face and make her violet eyes and facial expressions appear eager to meet every pony that had lined up.

“Ooh, she’s actually wanting to write autographs,” another curious pony amongst the party called out and more ponies lined up.

“Aww, bummer,” Pinkie whined in defeat, “There goes the party.”

Meanwhile, now feeling guilty about causing this scenario to happen, Raven got out of the way of the ponies wanting to gain Twilight’s autograph and stood in a void of emptiness on the left side of her living room.

“Hmm, I actually thought Twilight got a lot of ponies done in her coronation rituals,” commented Rainbow Dash with a small frown as she noticed Twilight getting the attention.

“Well, Appaloosa is full of simple, country folk, maybe most of them couldn’t afford to make the journey to Twi’s coronation,” Applejack commented with glumness too.

Meanwhile, still with guilt for causing a party bust, Raven got to her stairs again and trotted to her bedroom. This time, Applejack and Rainbow Dash did not come to get her to re-join the party and Raven had a rough night feeling responsible for a terrible mix-up.