Shining in the Darkness

“Hold still, Rainbow Dash! You’ll tear the seams!”

“Rarity, why do I have to try on these dresses? They’re so girly!”

This argument could be heard by ponies who were passing by Carousel Boutique, where the owner of the shop, a white, purple-maned unicorn named Rarity, was trying to get her friend Rainbow Dash to try on her new dresses.

“What are these even for, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked while pulling on the collar of the frilly pink dress she was currently wearing.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?” Rarity said sweetly as she looked for her measuring tape. “As of today, it’s been exactly two years since our friend, Twilight Sparkle, moved to Ponyville and helped us defeat Nightmare Moon! Pinkie Pie and the rest of Ponyville have decided to throw a massive party in her honor.”

Dash grinned sheepishly. “Oh, yeah, I kind of… did forget…” Then she frowned again as she began pulling at the dress again. “What do these dresses have to do with that?”

“Well, Twilight told me that it would be okay to showcase my new line of dresses and suits at the party. I call them… Sparkle World!” Rarity’s eyes gleamed as she spoke those words. “And with the others busy with the various party preparations, you’re the only pony available who can help me model these.” At this moment, Pinkie Pie, the party-going pony with physics pulverizing powers burst into the door of the boutique.

“Hurry, girls!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, talking up about a mile a minute. “The party’s supposed to begin in exactly thirty minutes, and you know what Twilight’s like about schedules! We’ve got to all be there fifteen minutes early, or was it twenty? Actually, it probably wouldn’t matter if we all just headed over to the town square right now and got there twenty-five minutes early, but when I told Applejack that, she just told me that you two would come over there once you were done here, but I had to make sure that…” At this point, she suddenly noticed Rainbow Dash, still wearing the frilly dress. Naturally, Pinkie Pie found this hilarious. “Hahahahaha! Rainbow Dash, you always dress in style!” She pulled a camera out of nowhere and snapped a photo right before Rainbow Dash forcefully removed the dress from her body.

“Well, I guess we’d better start heading over there…” the rainbow-maned pegasus grumbled, fervently hoping that Pinkie Pie wouldn’t show the picture to too many ponies. The last thing she needed was another threat to her reputation after the Gabby Gums incident.

“Yes, we should,” Rarity agreed. “Pinkie Pie, can you help me transport these dresses to the square?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie replied as she bounced happily out the door, with the dresses following behind her, despite not being attached to anything she could have been pulling.

Rarity stared at the open door for a moment. “How does she do that?”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Meanwhile, in the town square, the pony of the hour, Twilight Sparkle, was observing the preparations for the party the town was throwing for, while occasionally giving input on a few things.

“Now, Lyra, Bon-Bon,” Twilight said to the mint-green unicorn and cream-colored earth pony, who had just finished making the “Happy Two-Years-In-Ponyville Anniversary, Twilight Sparkle” banner, “you’ve got to make sure that the banner is exactly five feet and seven inches above the stage, or the ponies in the back row won’t be able to see it.”

Bon-Bon, an aspiring voice actress pony, switched to her “comically deep” voice as she assured the unicorn. “Now don’t you worry about a thing, Twilight. Lyra and I will take care of it. Right, Lyra?” She turned to her companion, only to find that she had walked off and was talking to her musician friends, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. Noting this, Bon-Bon crept up behind her, tapped her on the shoulder, gave the three musicians a death glare that rivaled Fluttershy’s Stare, and yelled in her “loud and scary” voice, “RIGHT, LYRA?”

Octavia and Vinyl mumbled something about setting up the sound system and ran off, leaving Lyra to deal with her situation.

Lyra, knowing that the voice and stare was merely acting, replied nonchalantly, “Yeah, sure, Bon-Bon, just…” She looked back at where the cellist and DJ had just been standing.  “…can you tone down the volume and the glare? Not everypony realizes that it’s just acting…”

In a flash, Bon-Bon switched to her normal voice, and said, “Yeah, I can do that. But seriously, we need to get the banner set up.”

Twilight, having seen this whole thing, thought to herself, Well, this seems to be under control… I wonder if Pinkie Pie has arrived with Rarity and Rainbow Dash yet…She headed over to the refreshments table, where Applejack was trying to fend off a certain wall-eyed pegasus from the apple nut muffins.

“Look, Ah already TOLD you, Derpy, ya have to wait a while!” Applejack explained to the mailmare, who was salivating at the mere sight of her favorite snack. “The last thing we need is another freak muffin accident like what happened last month.”

Derpy frowned as she began flying away from the table. “Aww…” she moaned.

Applejack noticed that Twilight witnessed all of this. “Well, howdy, Twi! What do you think about this party we’re throwing for ya?”

“Well, it’s not officially started for another five minutes,” Twilight pointed out, checking the clock on the outside of the town hall. “Though, really, it’s great that I have such wonderful friends who would do this sort of thing for me.”

“Don’t mention it, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie, who had just arrived on the scene with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, bounced into view, putting the cart of dresses a few feet away from Applejack’s refreshments. “Everypony in town is pitching in for this! This is going to be the best party I’ve ever hosted!”

Rainbow Dash looked at her surroundings, noticing something. “Hey, Twilight, where’s your brother? I thought he said he was going to be here early.”

Twilight frowned, clearly worried about something. “That’s just it,” she said. “He responded to the invitation, but I haven’t seen him yet…” Noticing that her friends were giving her worried looks, she quickly smiled and said, “Well, he’ll be here sooner or later!” She trotted off towards the stage, where she was about to give a big speech.

At this point, Fluttershy arrived on the scene, apologizing profusely as she often did. “Am I late? Oh, I’m really sorry I’m late. I overslept, and if it hadn’t been for Angel waking me up and reminding me, I wouldn’t have been…”

“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash assured her. “You’re actually right on time.”

“Oh, that’s good… I guess…” Suddenly, loud rock music started playing from the stage, causing her to panic and hide under the refreshments table.

“Fillies and gentecolts!” Spike the dragon announced from the stage, holding a microphone that was half as big as he was. “We’re here today to honor a very special pony. A pony whose helped all of us time and time again, be it stopping angry Ursa Minors, defeating Nightmare Moon, or helping organize Winter Wrap-Up. Give it up for… TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” He dashed backstage, whispering to Twilight, “You’re up!”

“Was that really necessary?” Twilight asked him playfully.

“Yes,” her number-one assistant replied simply.

Twilight headed up to the front of the stage, levitating about twenty carefully organized pages of her speech. She looked out in the crowd and noticed that her brother still had not arrived yet.

Where is he? Twilight thought. Well, I suppose he’s busy, what with being the Captain of the Royal Guard and all… He’ll show up eventually… She decided to just go ahead and start speaking. “Before I came to Ponyville two years ago, I didn’t realize how wonderful having friends was. Then I met all of you,” she pointed at her five closest friends, “and you,” she gestured at Lyra, Bon-Bon, and several other ponies, “and you…” This continued for about a minute, before an earth pony by the name of Linky shouted from the back row, “GET ON WITH IT!”

“Oh, yes…” Twilight blushed before continuing with her speech. “Now I realize that friendship can sometimes be difficult, but it’s always worth fighting for. Because friendship… is magic.” She grinned. “I had about twenty pages written for this speech, but I suspect everypony doesn’t want to listen to that. So… LET’S PARTY!”

+++++++++++++++++++++++

The party was a huge success. Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, and Lyra played various pieces of music while ponies played games such as Pin the Tail on the Pony, Ring Toss, and others. Rarity’s Sparkle World line of dresses and suits were very popular (though she had to point out a few times to overeager ponies that most of the designs were prototypes, and they weren’t ready to be sold yet), while the Apple family kept having to make more food to keep up with the demand.

About fifteen minutes after the party began, Twilight Sparkle finally spotted her brother, who was talking to Lyra about her musical experience.

“So, anyway, Miss Heartstrings,” Shining Armor said, “I hear you’ve been trying to get a gig at the Canterlot Symphony Hall. I could arrange something with them.”

“Thanks,” Lyra replied, “but I’d rather earn it and not cheat my way there.”

At this point, Shining Armor noticed his sister walking up to them. “Oh, hey, Twily!” He turned to Lyra. “Sorry, but this conversation will have to wait.” Lyra walked off, leaving the two siblings alone.

“Hey, listen, Twily…” Shining looked very uncomfortable. “Sorry I’m late. I had…”

Twilight cut him off. “You don’t need to explain. As Captain of the Guard and the husband of Cadence, I’m sure you’re very busy.” She winked at her B.B.B.F.F. when she mentioned Cadence, whom he had married about three months ago.

“Yeah... very busy…” Shining’s mind seemed to be on other things. Twilight looked at him, confused.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. What her brother said next completely changed what she had planned to do after the party.

“After the party’s over, I need you and your friends to talk to me in the Ponyville Library,” Shining Armor explained. “An intruder broke into the Canterlot Vault earlier this morning. He was trying to free Discord.”