"...Am I ta reckon that we waited just a mite too long?" Apple Jack asked, as everyone stared at the apple which had once been their carriage. "...Maybe..." Twilight answered rather uncertainly.
"So...that mean we're stuck here for now?"
"...Yes..."
"Just checkin'."
"Couldn't you make it transform again?" Rainbow asked, somewhat impatiently. "I could, but it's very late, and I doubt any of us wants to pull it at this hour." Twilight answered.
"...Oh."
"...We'll just need to stay somewhere tonight, then worry about it tomorrow."
"I think I could help with that." Celestia spoke up cheerily, grinning as she walked closer to the smaller ponies and Dragon. "You can...?" Twilight asked, surprised that Celestia would bother with their problems.
"Yes. You don't mind...a slumber party, do you?"
"...Slumber party? What for?"
"I can think of someone who would enjoy your company..."
"Who...?"
Later...
The place was a wreck.
Therefore, it was questionable why she was laughing until it hurt to laugh, and even dared to try baking random sweets to celebrate the Gala's complete and total 'destruction' at the hooves of those six ponies her sister invited. But yet, here she was in the now completely deserted kitchen, staring at the oven eagerly as the clock ticked. She already had a batch of cookies ready; now she was just waiting for the cupcakes, then she'd move on to that muffin batter she had made while waiting. Clearly she had gotten obsessed with the many wonders of baking, and had no intention of stopping anytime soon.
"Luna, we have guests."
The purple Alicorn blinked and turned around, a bit surprised to see Celestia standing in the doorway. "Hi Celestia..." she started, then stopped once she noticed the ponies and Dragon, "...Wait... You're the ponies that made this the best Gala ever!" on that note, she began laughing again, "You...you're definitely coming to the Gala next year!" They all watched as the Moon Princess soon became unable to speak coherently and dissolved into little more than hysterical laughter.
"Yay, we made somepony happy!" Pinkie decided to point out, "Then this means my party was a success!" Rarity rolled her eyes. "Good for you, darling..." she said sarcastically. The clock began ringing and Luna promptly ceased her laughing fit, standing upright and running to the clock, turning it off. Her horn then glowed and the oven opened, the tray of cupcakes floating out and onto the counter. She then looked at everyone with a quizzical and excited glance. "Anyone want to help decorate?" she offered, grinning.
Twilight was too busy being stunned at Luna's decidedly not Princess-like behavior to answer.
Rarity was more-so stunned at Luna's lack of extreme care and precision.
Apple Jack was still trying to figure out the insane laughing fit.
Rainbow just flat-out looked unamused and uninterested.
Fluttershy looked thoughtful but intimidated.
Pinkie raised her hoof, "Ooh! Ooh! Me me me! I wanna help!"
Spike clapped his hands together, "Me too!"
And so, the crazy pink mare and purple reptile ran over to Luna, promptly getting to work. Celestia smiled while the other five were dumb struck. "They need somewhere to stay tonight, so I told them they could stay here," she said, "You mentioned wanting to have a slumber party before..." Luna stopped what she was doing for a second, appearing deep in thought. "That sounds like fun!" she suddenly cried, oblivious to the fact that she had accidentally flooded a cupcake with icing, "I'd love to!" she then noticed the cupcake, "...Oops."
"Oh, that's no problem!" Pinkie cried, promptly eating the cupcake and leaving no trace of it, "Yummy!" Luna stared at her long and hard, then shrugged and went to decorating another cupcake, thinking nothing of Pinkie's behavior. "...It's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie..." Spike muttered to himself, as he covered the top of a cupcake with blue icing, "Absolutely nothing to worry about..."
"Well, I see everything is under control," Celestia spoke up cheerily, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a damage assessment to make." With that, she left the area, which Twilight began to agonize over to no end within her mind. "You okay, Sugar Cube?" Apple Jack inquired, waving her hoof in front of the Unicorn's face. Twilight snapped out of her trance and gave an innocent, albeit unconvincing grin. "Oh yes!" she shouted, "Never been better!"
Apple Jack said nothing, but her expression screamed 'I beg to differ' as she stared at her.
"The cupcakes look ready!" Luna declared happily after a few minutes, and immediately afterwards a loud crashing was heard, as well as Rainbow yelping in both surprise and pain. Everyone turned to see that she had attempted to help out by putting the tray with the muffin batter into the oven, but tripped on a random plate that was placed strategically on the floor, slammed head-first into a cabinet door, caused the tray to go airborne and knock over some plates near the sink, only for the tray to land perfectly into the oven.
"...I can still fix this!" Rainbow cried, setting some of the still living plates haphazardly on top of each other, closing the oven, then setting the clock. The plates immediately fell from the counter due to the force of the oven door closing, and crashed into the rest of the plates. "I think you un-fixed it." Pinkie stated plainly. Rainbow only sighed and buried her face in her front hooves.
"Oh, it's fine," Luna spoke up, seeing the rainbow Pegasus' despair, "It's only a bunch of very expensive dishes that got wrecked. It's no problem at all." At this Rainbow lowered her head and cringed even more, seemingly assuming the fetal position. "Aw, cheer up Rainbow!" Pinkie cried, patting her on the back, "The Princess won't banish you or anything, I'm sure of it!" Oddly enough, Rainbow kept on looking and feeling worse and worse as the 'encouragement' continued.
"Oh, leave the poor darling alone..." Rarity chastised, levitating some of the broken remains with her horn and attempting to fix them, "There are other things to worry about, you know." The remains soon combined and formed a normal plate, which Rarity gently set on the counter, only for it to immediately fall apart, earning a pout from her. "Don't worry about it," Luna said to her, throwing some of the remains in the trash, "They can be replaced."
"W-why didn't you say so?" Rainbow shrieked, jumping upward and landing on all fours. "I just wanted to play with you." Luna stated matter-of-factly, grinning the whole time. Rainbow just stared at her, shaking and breathing heavily. She then let out a scream of frustration and stormed off. Luna shook her head. "Oh, what a temper..." she muttered, continuing to clean up the mess, Twilight joining in. By the time they were done, the clock began ringing.
"Yay!" Pinkie cried, as she opened the oven and pulled the tray out eagerly, setting it down on the counter, "Mm, chocolate!" she suddenly felt the need to try one, and promptly did so, "...Approved!" With that, she placed them all on a plate and bounced around happily.
"...We probably should go to bed now..." Twilight said quietly, but loud enough for Luna to hear. "How about we all go to my room?" she offered, "It is a slumber party, after all."
"Well, I don't know..."
"I have a telescope."
"...Okay..."
Luna smiled and promptly put all the sweets into a container, carrying it on the way there as the ponies plus Spike followed her, no one asking why sweets were necessary for a slumber party (though I doubt Pinkie would consider it odd).
Later...
"...I don't have my book on slumber parties..." Twilight said quietly, looking very concerned. "Is it that important...?" Rainbow asked, "It's a slumber party... Why do you need a book for that?"
"But it's Luna first slumber party in a long time or possibly ever! We need to make it perfect!"
"And you need the book...why? It's not rocket science."
"I already told you!"
"I hate socks..." Fluttershy muttered quietly, trying to remove the undesired attire from her hooves, then she noticed everyone staring at her, "...Oh, am I interrupting something? I'm very sorry..." Sure that all was forgiven, she went back to removing them, whereas every other pony seemed content to leave theirs on for now. It was a somewhat chilly night, anyway.
"Okay, what do you remember from the book?" Rainbow asked, looking like she wanted to explode. "Well..." Twilight started, thinking hard, "...A lot."
"Is 'a lot' enough?"
"Maybe..."
"Maybe? MAYBE? Don't give me excuses! Give me results!"
Twilight stared at the rampaging Pegasus in the making, her left eye twitching. "I-it's enough!" she said hurriedly, not wanting to see how this would end. The answer calmed Rainbow down, and she promptly got more comfortable on the cushion Luna had set out for her, still staring at Twilight. Luna, who had been utterly silent during this, looked relieved. "Then what should we do first?" she asked.
"Well...I remember we were supposed to tell ghost stories..."
"A ghost story? Well, alright. Anyone?
"Oh, me!" Pinkie cried bouncing up and down on her cushion, "I have one!" she stopped bouncing when everyone turned to look at her, and she promptly went into Epic Story Pinkie Pie Style Mode, "It is a story about two young pony sisters, Maria and Lucia..." she looked at everyone critically, "One fateful day...Lucia received a letter, telling her that she won a whole mansion, from a contest which she didn't even enter... However, that didn't dampen her excitement in the slightest! She promptly told Maria about her good fortune, and they both agreed to meet each other at the mansion..."
"...They don't sound very bright." Rainbow interrupted, crossing her arms. "Well, DUH!" Pinkie shouted indignantly, "Anyway, after being hopelessly lost in a spooky forest, Lucia came across an extra spooky mansion! According to her map, this was the mansion she was looking for, and after much standing there in absolute terror and self-pity, Lucia mustered up the courage to open the door and step inside...right as thunder boomed! RAHHH BOOM!" Spike promptly shrieked and hid behind Twilight, but Pinkie ignored him.
"But that wasn't the worst of it!" the hyperactive mare continued her tale, "When she came in...Maria was nowhere in sight, and as she entered a room...there were ghosties everywhere! Poor Lucia, she was scared out of her pants! But ponies don't really wear pants, but if they did, I'm sure she would've been scared out of them! She didn't know what to do, and was being chased helplessly throughout the room, and then an old pony came to her rescue, trying to suck up the mean ghosties with a vacuum cleaner!"
"...A...say what again?" Apple Jack managed, a bit dumb struck. "You heard right, a vacuum cleaner!" Pinkie shouted, "But, not just any vacuum cleaner, oh no! After getting rid of the ghosts, the old pony, whose name was Professor Emily Gadd took Lucia to her home to explain what happened, and revealed the vacuum cleaner to be an invention of hers..." Pinkie decided to pause again, "...the Poltergust 2000, designed for improved ghost-catching action! After this, she asked Lucia what she was doing in that spooky mansion, to which Lucia explained everything, about the contest, and Maria."
"Professor E. Gadd listened carefully, and explained that the mansion just...mysteriously appeared recently, and then gave Lucia two inventions to help her search for her sister: The Poltergust 2000, and the Game Filly Horror, a device that stored all kinds of information! And after this, trained Lucia to be the most awesome Ghostbuster ever! And then, Lucia returned to the mansion, and began an adventure that would no doubt prove harrowing!"
About an hour or so later...
"...And that's how Equestria was made!" Pinkie declared happily, having finished her story. "Well, that was certainly quite the story..." Luna said, covering her mouth with her hoof as she giggled, "Though if I may be honest, it amused me more than it scared me."
"Of course it did! But just wait until the sequel!"
"...Sequel?"
"Well, yeah! Didn't you hear about it?"
"No, I haven't."
"You will, I guarantee it!"
"Alright..."
"Ghost story, check..." Twilight muttered, checking it off a list she had made, "Any ideas on what to do next?" Pinkie immediately started bouncing again. "Ooh ooh!" she shouted, "S'mores! Let's make s'mores!"
"...But don't we have enough sweets...?"
"Listen here, you do want Luna's first slumber party in awhile or possibly ever to be perfect, right?"
"Well-"
"And if you leave out s'mores, it will no longer be perfect! S'mores are one-hundred-percent necessary, and I simply cannot allow the Princess to miss out on them!"
"O...kay..."
"I'll go get everything!" Rainbow offered, and zoomed out of the room, through the hallways, into the kitchen, grabbed the needed ingredients, and promptly came back, "...How fast was I?" Spike shrugged and looked to be deep in thought. "Ten seconds, I think." he said shortly after. Rainbow grinned widely, looking quite pleased with herself.
"...How does this work, anyway?" Luna asked, walking closer to the group. "Oh, it's very easy!" Pinkie cried, "You just take one graham cracker like so..." she promptly tossed the cracker haphazardly on a plate, "...and place a marshmallow on it..." amazingly, the marshmallow landed perfectly onto the cracker despite the fact that she wasn't even looking, "...part of a chocolate bar..." onto the marshmallow it went, "...and another cracker!" she promptly slammed the cracker onto the chocolate, crushing it as well as the other cracker, and flattening the marshmallow, "...Spike?"
"I've got it!" Spike cried, promptly setting the would-be s'more ablaze, melting the chocolate and marshmallow. "Ta-da!" Pinkie shouted enthusiastically, pushing it closer to Luna, "Here Princess! My work here is done!" With that, she promptly bounced off to another part of the room. Luna gave her a skeptical look, but decided to try the treat anyway, smiling as she found the taste delightful. Twilight and Spike were busy making more, given that Pinkie had been staring at them prior.
A few minutes later...
"I know what we should do next!" Pinkie cried, bouncing around as Twilight was busy putting s'mores on plates, "Who's up for a pillow fight?" Twilight was only half-listening, and thus responded with, "Yeah, sure..."
"Okay!"
Twilight let out a shriek when a pillow hit her in the back of her head, and promptly ended up with a bunch of melted marshmallow and chocolate plus cracker crumbs stuck to her as she tumbled into the table. "Oh...my..." Fluttershy whimpered, attempting to hide behind a chair, but got slammed with a pillow and fell into the s'mores that unceremoniously landed on the floor. Luna could already tell this was going to end in disaster as a pillow hit her and made her fall into some of them, but oddly enough, she didn't really mind.
"B-be careful!" Rarity shrieked as pillows were flying everywhere, trying to avoid both them and the sweet mess on the floor. It was an attempt that was doomed to end in failure, as a well-placed shot from Apple Jack caused her to crash into the remains, bringing unspeakable horrors to her mane.
Everything going on in the room just...stopped, as if time itself ceased to function.
It was Rainbow who finally broke the choking stillness, "...Yep, we're dead..."
"It. Is. ON!" Rarity yelled, her eyes filled with unbridled fury as she levitated a pillow and seemingly began squeezing the life out of it, "Which one of you threw that?" Her voice was absolutely crazed, which did nothing to make everyone else feel safe in her presence. Even Luna looked intimidated. As Rarity stared the group down, Spike promptly pointed to Twilight. Thing is, he meant to point to Apple Jack, but he was dizzy from all the chaos that had ensued, so he messed up.
"Wait, I didn't-" Twilight tried to explain, but she immediately was whammed by the pillow, which was thrown with incredible force and accuracy. Apple Jack watched this dumb struck, feeling fortunate that Spike had made the mistake he did. After some critical thinking, she decided it would be best to run for it before he figured out what he did and fixed it. She had no intention whatsoever of feeling Rarity's wrath.
"W-wait, it wasn't Twilight!" Spike suddenly cried, as Rarity readied another pillow to cream the lavender Unicorn with. "Then who was it?" Rarity screamed, looking like she was about to explode. "H-her!" Spike cried, pointing to where Apple Jack one stood. Problem was, she wasn't standing there anymore, so he was pointing at Luna.
"Alright, I won't lie..." Luna said as a pillow hit her and knocked her over, but inside she was grinning ear to ear, "It was Apple Jack!" Rarity stopped directing her rage at the princess and thought critically for a moment, then turned to the orange mare, who was trying to exit the room. Apple Jack immediately ceased her escape attempt and froze up, knowing full-well she didn't stand a chance at surviving this pillow fight now.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!" Rarity screamed, wildly throwing pillows at Apple Jack, who was promptly buried by them. "...I suppose it's all in good fun," Luna stated, grinning widely at Apple Jack's predicament, "No hard feelings or anything." With that, she turned to Fluttershy, who had been standing off to the side and frankly, presented a huge target. She considered throwing a pillow at her, but then decided Rainbow was more deserving of it, and threw it at her.
"Hey!" the Pegasus cried, "T-that hurt!" she then grabbed a pillow and threw it at Luna in an attempt to get revenge, "I don't care if you're a princess or not! No one attacks me with a pillow and gets away with it! NO ONE!" Luna started giggling uncontrollably as she 'engaged' her opponent, leaving the others to their own devices.
The following 'battle' was nothing short of insane and disastrous. Pillows feathers were everywhere, and now sticking to those unlucky enough to have made contact with the s'mores' remains. Rarity and Apple Jack's fight soon mixed with Luna and Rainbow's, prompting Luna and Rarity to team up against Apple Jack and Rainbow. Twilight, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't escape the onslaught of aerial pillows from both parties plus Pinkie, and eventually gave up, hitting anyone and everyone out of self-defense. Fluttershy and Spike had built a fort out of the cushions and were taking refuge within it, wanting nothing to do with the madness. In truth, Luna's room looked as if a tornado had gone through it, then turned around and went back through a second time.
"...I hope Princess Celestia doesn't find out about this..." Twilight muttered, standing dangerously close to an open window, "...I don't want to think about what she might say..." She never saw the pillow, thrown by Pinkie, coming towards her. Within seconds, it slammed into her and caused her to fall out the window screaming...
Down below...
"For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline!" a guard shouted firmly. The delivery Pegasus narrowed his eyes. "You know, you should've told me that before I set it up in the first place!" he yelled angrily, frustration evident. The guard opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he heard shrill screaming. Both him and the delivery pony looked up and saw a terrified purple Unicorn falling towards them. She crashed into the trampoline and was launched back upward, flying into Luna's room, screaming the whole time.
The guard's left eye twitched as he tried to process what just happened. "...You sure you don't want this trampoline?" the delivery pony asked nervously, "It...it may very well come in handy..."
The guard's helmet slid off his head and landed on the ground with a clang, while he stared blankly.
During the short time Twilight was gone, things had gotten even more chaotic. Various furniture was being thrown across the room for some reason, and there was a lot of screaming, laughing, and yelling. Twilight decided this would very likely be a good time to bail and attempted to get out of the would-be war-zone.
"What on Earth is going-"
Smack!
It was the second time everyone in the room became still over a pillow to the face.
"...I'm going to finish that thought..." Celestia stated indignantly, as the pillow (thrown by Luna no less) slid off her face, "What on Earth is going on in here?" Everyone exchanged glances, as if deciding who should explain everything. Celestia's gaze turned to Luna, than to Twilight, the Sun Princess wondering who she should confront first, as it seemed those two knew the most about what was going on, judging by the looks on their faces.
"We, um..." Luna managed, trying her best to look innocent. "Don't give me that look," Celestia said bluntly, "Now, explain to me why you were having a pillow fight the wrong way!"
Complete silence, save for the crickets chirping.
"Well?"
"...What?"
"This is how you do it!"
With that, Celestia levitated a pillow and threw it with expert precision at Twilight, who was trying to escape by jumping out the window (she had noticed the trampoline was still there). She ended up hit in the side and sent flying across the room, crashing into Fluttershy and Spike's fort, letting its occupants know they had hid long enough. Celestia smiled, quite pleased with her handiwork.
"You do not just throw them around," the white Alicorn explained, as if she was describing a very important and complicated task, "You plan and throw them with a purpose," she then looked rather cheery as she handed Luna a pillow, "Here, try." Luna looked around the room smiling, and promptly hit Pinkie smack in the face, thus putting an end to the winning streak she had been performing. "Aw, no fair!" she whined, "I hadn't gotten hit until now!"
Needless to say, the pillow fight did not end anytime soon.
"This...was the best...night...ever!" Luna breathed, too tired to do anything else despite how much she was enjoying the madness they had created. Everyone else was also extremely tired, and Celestia was already sound asleep, clinging to a giant pillow that somehow remained undamaged. No one bothered to question this.
"...There were other things on the list, but..." Twilight panted, holding the torn list, "...I think we can just skip them..." No one argued, wanting nothing more than salvage whatever sleep they could. Luna got closer to Twilight and looked at the list, promptly checking 'Fun' off of it. "I consider it a success," she stated plainly, smiling, "But there is one more thing..."
"...Huh?"
"You'll like it, I'm sure."
Luna stood up and walked over to the doors leading to the balcony outside. Twilight sighed and followed, trying to avoid waking up any of her sleeping friends (though she didn't think she could wake up Spike). Luna opened the door and motioned for Twilight to go out onto the balcony, which she did, Luna closing it as she walked out herself.
"I...what?" Twilight managed, staring at the telescope. "What, did you think I'd forget?" Luna inquired playfully, "Go on, look through it." She got no argument from the lavender mare, who began stargazing excitedly. Luna smiled and looked through the windows on the doors, seeing the ponies and Dragon sleeping in the trashed room, her grin becoming wry.
Yes, she definitely wasn't going to forget this, no matter how much damaged it caused.
It was just too much fun.
