Everything is Just Peachy-Oneshot
There was a great amount of noise in the outside hallway, but before Luna had even a second to wonder what the ruckus was all about, one of the royal guards recently assigned to her security detail burst through the door. “Y-your majesty,” he began to gasp, “I-I apologize for my rudeness, but...”
Luna felt irritation rise just a tad, and lost her hard-won control over her Canterlot Voice. “WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WISH TO SPEAK OF TO YOUR PRINCESS THAT REQUIRES SUCH HASTE?” she asked before recoiling from his slightly blown-away expression, and recovering. “O-oh, I apologize. I meant to ask, what is so important? I am a bit busy at the moment, preparing for a guest, you see.”
The stallion recovered admirably, and answered in an overly dramatic fashion that grated on Luna's nerves. “Oh, Princess... It's horrible!” he panted, now trying to catch his breath from a combination of the running and the truly unsettling sonic blast of the Traditional Canterlot Voice. “Sh-she's coming!”
Luna looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Who merits such a reaction, my little pony?” Her guard drew himself up and declaimed in a rather ridiculous fashion. “HER, Princess. The Pink One is coming!”
Luna relaxed at once, but irritation surged again. She managed to temper it with humor. She closed her eyes and lifted up a cup of tea. “Of course, silly. I invited her. I wanted to talk with the Element of Laughter. To clear up some things. Please relax.”
The guard looked at her in horror. “You invited her here? On purpose? After what happened at the Gala?” Luna cracked open the eye closest to him, and this time some of the irritation came through. “THE GALA HA... Oh, ahem, excuse me. The Gala has deteriorated significantly in my time... away.”
Luna closed both of her eyes and sipped her tea again. “Sister has been content to let it fall into the hooves of the mere social elite, ponies with too much time, money, and ego on their hooves. It's understandable, as she was never fond of it in the first place. Apparently, for Sister, the Gala was only an extremely boring party. I was content to merely observe this year, but I shall ask for the Gala to be returned to my hooves next year. That is one of the topics I intend to broach with Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. It seems her cutie mark talent has a great deal to do with parties.”
The guard deflated. “Oh. I'm sorry, Princess Luna. I- I didn't know.” he apologized. Luna finished her tea and opened her eyes, setting the teacup down with a solid *clink*. “Nothing to apologize for. How long until she arrives?” The guard fidgeted again. “Well, not too long. She was spotted in Canterlot proper, so once I go tell the guards at the gate, it should only be about ten to fifteen minutes.” he said nervously, and then caught himself. “Princess.” he finished.
Luna looked down at the paperwork spread across her desk, and began to gather it up. “Very well. I will be moving to the table in the library. Please bring her there.” She began to walk out of the room, her magic floating the huge sheaf of paperwork and the rest of her tools after her. “Yes ma'am!” came the reply, followed by a clatter of hooves as her rather unfortunately dramatic guard dramatically set to his new orders.
* * * *
Peachy Pie settled her basket back into place before she strode toward the castle gates. She an inkling that it probably wasn't her that had been sent for by the Princess, but this was nothing new. She always got stuck with dealing with these little mix-ups. “Cousin.” she sighed, shaking her head “What have you gotten me into this time?”
When she reached the gate, she was intercepted by an incredibly bouncy (for a Royal Guardspony) stallion. “Oh, Ms. Pie!” he panted after skidding to a stop. “Oh, good, you just arrived. I'll show you up to the Princess, and we can skip all the usual time delaying stuff.” He then immediately started bouncing back into the castle at a much more sedate pace.
Peachy turned her head to the side. “'Time delaying stuff'?You remind me of someone.” she said as she began to follow him further into the castle. “Oh, I do? OH, I messed up. We don't delay ponies at the front gate so the Princesses have time to get ready, no ma'am.” he started to jabber nervously, oblivious to the dirty looks from his fellow guard as the two passed a checkpoint. “It's just that Princess Luna was all ready for you and I figured I could get you to there faster, since she's all ready already, you know, so...”
“Okay.” said Peachy calmly, cutting him off mid-sentence. He really did remind her of cousin Pinkie. If you let them get into a groove, they talk until they forget to breathe. Well, familiar ground and all that. Peachy blew a stray curl out of her eye absently. Pinkie has that weird hair/emotion thing going on, but I'm stuck with this naturally overly poofy hair, she thought a bit irritatedly.
She maundered about this for a bit, and then took a deep breath. Better to get this mistake all over with. “Let's go.” she said determinedly as she stalked down the hallway. She got about halfway down before she noticed the guard wasn't in front of her anymore. She turned her head back to face him. “Hey, why are you back there? I don't know my way around this place. You have to lead.”
He blushed a tad. “Sorry, but you were walking a bit like Sarge, and...” he scuffed his hoof. “It kinda just... happened.” Then he looked back up and trotted back to the front. “You know,” he said casually as he continued to lead Peachy down the hall. “you're actually a bit less... pink than I imagined. Not that you aren't pink!” he hastily added, “It's just...”
Peachy raised her eyebrow and ignored the unfinished sentence. “Yeah, I tend to get that a lot.” she replied, voice loaded with irony. They continued on in silence for a bit longer, and then the guard, who seemed to lack proper survival instincts, continued to soldier on through the awkward conversation. “Isn't your cutie mark about parties? Then why is there a...”
“You really just know when to leave well enough alone, do you?” Peachy cut him off, and then trotted up next to him and gave him a somewhat sultry look. “Are you sure you want to admit you were looking at my flank, while on duty?” she breathed. The guard flushed. “Umm, no, well, I just reacted to the walk, you see, and then I was behind you and...” He stopped. “I'm going to stop talking now.”
“Don't. I need to know how much further it is until we get there.”
He blushed. “N-not far.” he stammered out, and then wisely retired to the conversation bench for the rest of the way to a rather large library, with several desks. Peachy absently blew some curls out her eyes and then trotted toward the large blue alicorn silhouette sitting at one of the big round tables. “Um, hello, Princess?”
* * * * * *
“Um, hello, Princess?” was the somewhat nonchalant inquiry that roused Luna from her perusal of the extremely large, somewhat boring, and quite ridiculous proposal written by a citizen, the proposition of which was to prevent apples from ever being sold next to pears or carrots in any Equestrian marketplace. Although this idiocy, or perhaps jealousy, was obviously going to be vetoed at the next Dual Court, Luna felt it was her duty to comb through the hundreds of pages of (in her opinion, wasted) paper, looking for something salvageable or useful.
It wasn't working.
Luna closed her eyes and rubbed over them with a hoof, “Please, come on in, and sit with me Ms. Pie.” she said, waving over her guest with the other hoof. “I apologize if you are a bit nervous. I understand that you still have doubts, stemming from your experience as an element of harmony, and the whole Nightmare Night incident, but I assure you that I simple asked you here for some advice, and to... errr... how shall I put it? Clear the air. Yes, clear the air.”
“Ah... I see.” was the answer she received, and she then heard the sounds of her guest clip-clopping over to the seat across the table from her, and the sounds of something thumping onto the table. Luna opened her eyes. And then immediately wished she hadn't. Perhaps she should start wearing those eyeglasses her sister kept recommending. She blinked, and the visual anomaly did not go away.
“Uhm, Ms. Pie? No offense, but are you not feeling well?” Luna asked, wrinkling her brow. “You seem a bit...” The pony across the table sighed and supplied.
“Less pink than you expected? Yeah, I know.” Luna blinked again. The look was right, the voice was vaguely off, but the colors were a bit less... bright than she remembered. And the voice lacked a certain... energy.
The pony across from her smiled a bit cheerily, and then continued, “Well, just as I expected.” she began to say as she rummaged through her picnic basket and then brought out a absolutely delicious looking pie. “Would you like some pie? I made this one fresh this morning. And then we can settle all this mess.”
Luna blinked. This was rather unexpected behavior from the Element of Laughter. The Element of Laughter was, well... bouncy. And this behavior was very down to earth, though not with a certain cheer of it's own. “Why, yes, I suppose. Why not?” she said in a calm tone. After all, the pie looked absolutely scrumptious, and she had been working on that ridiculous proposal...
In short order a rather delicious piece of pie was sitting in front of her on chinaware that mysteriously appeared from the basket, along with a knife. Luna took a bite under the scrutiny of her guest... and nearly melted. “This...is...so...good!” she managed to mumble between mouthfuls. In seconds, her piece of pie was gone, and a napkin appeared from within the depths of the basket, offered to her by her guest, who looked a bit more confident. “Here you go, Princess. Cousin always forgets to take care of these details. But I personally find that, although enjoying things on the fly is nice, it's also nice to be prepared.”
Luna closed her eyes and wiped her muzzle. “I apologize. That must have been an utterly uncouth sight, especially from a Princess.” Her guest shook her head.
“No, I appreciate it, Princess. I put a lot of work into getting that pie right, and it makes me glad to see someone enjoy it wholeheartedly.” Peachy sighed. “At least Great-Grandma Boysenberry Pie will be able to rest in peace, knowing ponies still use her boysenberry pie recipe.”
Luna set the napkin down and eyed the remaining pie before getting back to the situation at hand. “Ms. Pie, before I got distracted, you intimated something mysterious along the lines of, ummm... oh yes, we should 'settle this mess', as you put it. What metaphorical mess are you referring to?”
The pony across the table smiled wearily.
* * * * * *
Peachy smiled, but there was a bitter taste in her mouth. Like usual. “Well, Princess.” she said aloud, the disappointment already welling up from the bottom of her stomach. She struggled to keep her tone light and cheery. “I'm afraid that bureaucracy and just a plain old common mistake has brought you the wrong pony. My name is Peachy Pie, you see. I'm Pinkie's cousin, and we look so similar that I'm afraid this little mix-up happens quite often to me. Sometimes it's quite pleasant, like getting to meet you, Princess, but sometimes it's less...” she winced as she remembered the 'Oatmeal Incident'. “less agreeable for me.” That didn't come out right. Peachy sighed, and continued on determinedly despite the somewhat nonplussed look on Princess Luna's face. I do so hope she isn't upset. She thought nervously.
“Anyway, I hope you aren't disappointed. To be honest, I'd rather hoped that I'd made a mistake, and you actually did call for me, and not my cousin. I was rather cherishing the idea that my baking finally caught someones eye, you see.” Peachy finished.
She sat back in her chair, and smiled as brightly as she could. She felt like she was about to cry, but she fought it off and asked cheerfully. “Would you like some more pie?”
* * * * * *
Luna sat back in her chair to process the information. By all rights, she should just send Peachy away, set an appointment with the real Element of Harmony, and move on with her life. But there was something she found inherently likeable about this pony. And that pie. There was still more of it, and it was addictively good.
And then there was that conversation she'd had with Tia. “Lulu, I know you want to be involved again. And I know you need to, but... I'm just so afraid that you'll mess up, and I just don't want to lose you again, Lu. You're not the old Luna I knew before, and you are definitely not the monster that the Nightmare made you into, but you are a pony who had to live by herself on the moon all that time, with only that...thing for company. Which it wasn't, I know. So do what you need to. But please remember the things that all the ponies loved you for, before... you know. I know you can.”
Luna hadn't been sure what she'd been talking about then, but she'd thrown herself back into her work with all she had. And maybe that wasn't exactly what she should have been doing. She hadn't been meeting new ponies outside of her guard detail, or the servants. Not really, anyway. Not since Nightmare Night.
Luna had a feeling that maybe this pony might be able to help her with that. And besides, there was more pie. But she really needed a reason for her to stay. There wasn't much pie left, after all. That first piece had been rather large.
Luna looked at the pony smiling at her from across the table. “Yes, I believe I would like some more pie.” she said after the silence. “I will not say that I am not a bit disappointed that you are not the Element of Laughter, but that can wait. I actually have a question for you.” she said.
Peachy's smile faltered a bit, and then was replaced by a confused, questioning look. “Yes?” she asked. Luna eyed the basket ravenously. “Do you have more pie with you?”
* * * * * *
“Uh... Um... Y-yes, I do, actually.” Peachy stuttered a bit. She was surprised that Princess was taking this so casually. Usually there was a bit of denial, or suspicion of an imminent prank that attended the end of her usual explanation. Not to mention disappointment after being convinced of the truth of the matter. Well, that's a Princess for you. Supplied a slightly snide bit of her mind. Nope, that's Princess Luna for you. Supplied the more practical part of her mind.
Peachy tried to hide her confusion and amended her previous statement. “Well, actually only one other pie.” she babbled, talking to cover up her surprise. “I have some cupcakes, a few tarts, a couple of Danish's, and a batch of uhhmm... experimental cookies.”
Luna nodded. “Good. Please stay awhile with me. We can talk a bit, and I can have more of those delectable baked treats, hm?” She said while hungrily eyeing the last of Great-Grandma Boysenberry's Famous Boysenberry Pie. Peachy felt a bit shocked at this turn of events, but the shock and confusion promptly went away as she served both of them the rest of Great-Gran's pie, and started pulling more of her baking out of her basket.
Princess Luna managed to eat the second piece of pie with much more decorum than the first, though the look on her face every time she took a bite gave Peachy a warm, fuzzy feeling of pride in her chest. I did it, Gran-Gran. She thought to herself proudly, I mastered not only your recipe's, but Great-Gran's pie too. Peachy found her thought's cut off, however, when Luna began to speak.
“I am really quite surprised.” Luna began in a rather casual tone, pushing away the papers spread in front of her, and moving her plate into the prime spot on the table in front of her. “That two cousins could look so similar that they are constantly confused with each other. One would think that after awhile, everypony would remember.”
Peachy Pie smiled wryly. “Well, it is less that they can't remember, and more that Cousin Pinkie is too easy to remember, as it were. Can't really help her being her, so...” Peachy shrugged. “Whatever. Nothing new there. Pinkie has always been pretty, uhm... outstanding, as far as the Pie family goes.”
Luna took a bite and looked at Peachy intently. “But one would think that you are also quite memorable. Surely you are also quite outstanding, if perhaps in a more traditional family sense.” Luna took another bite, and a satisfied look came onto her face. “You sure can make a truly heavenly pie. I am tempted to create a new constellation.”
Peachy blushed. “No, no, Pinkie is quite the baker herself. It's because of her party talent, you see.” she said hastily. “Treats and parties do go together, you know.” Peachy added in a softer voice, a repetition she'd made many times.
Luna tilted her head to the side. “Did you say that? 'Treats and parties go together?” she asked. Peachy blinked, startled. “Uh, no. Would you like to hear how I heard that first? It kinda is the beginning of all of...” Peachy waved her hooves about vaguely. “these kinda situations.”
* * * * * *
Luna felt her curiosity rouse after Peachy offered to tell her the story, especially because of the way Peachy offered, in a resigned tone, and a kind of vague and somewhat tired look. What kind of situations could make a pony look like that. “If you wouldn't mind, please.”
Peachy pulled a doughnut out of her basket, sighed, and then took a bite. She brightened up a tad. “Oh, my favorite! Chocolate Cinnamon!” Peachy took a few more bites, and sighed again, though this was more of a pleased sigh. Luna looked at the basket cautiously. She wondered how much that thing could hold. Peachy had already pulled two pies, two assortments of danish's, three batches of fruit tarts, a batch of cupcakes, and it supposedly held another entire batch of cookies. The basket was rather small. It was a hand picnic basket. The most Luna could ever fit in one of those was a thermos and a couple of sandwiches.
Peachy finished her doughnut. “Oh, yeah! Where were we?” she asked, her face more genuinely cheerful. Luna tore her eyes away from the mysterious basket. “How it all started.” she prompted.
Peachy nodded. “Oh, yeah. So, the thing you have to understand is that Pinkie and I are the same age, and if the whole resemblance thing wasn't enough, we even got our cutie marks at around the same time. We get along pretty well, I mean, it's practically impossible to hate Cousin Pinkie. But after we both got our cutie marks...”
Peachy sighed. “Well, anyway, only a couple of months after we both got our cutie marks, the Pie family reunion was held, and we quite naturally both attended. I was rather looking forward to it. I was so proud of my talent at baking. My first pie was a peach pie, of course, but I like baking everything. So, being just a silly filly, I spent a lot of time daydreaming about being the center of attention for a bit, with my baking.”
Luna nodded. “That is certainly understandable,” she said, a somewhat faraway look on her face. “Heaven knows that I spent the week after getting my cutie mark messing about with the stars and moon.” She giggled a surprisingly ladylike giggle. “Drove Tia nuts.”
Peachy worked past the awe of trying to imagine a young Luna messing around with the night sky, and continued her story. “But things didn't exactly go to plan.” Peachy sighed. “Pinkie showed up the same day we did, and even though I had already started baking, Pinkie just went into party overdrive. In a single day, she'd gotten everything you would ever need for a really big party, and my baking was included in her plans. She asked me, of course, although I initially objected because I was trying to show off, eventually I agreed. What she told me to change my mind was, 'Parties and treats go together' and...”
“Boom... Big party, and my baking was just kind of subsumed into the whole party. Everything was really good, and everypony assumed that Pinkie was behind all of it. Which she kind of was, but not all of the party, you know. She got all the compliments. But I had such a fun time, that it didn't really matter.” Peachy shook her head.
“Not until later, anyway. Pinkie had helped me with the baking, and hadn't messed anything up too much. I like to try new things, but cousin Pinkie... well, she can put the strangest things together and still make something that tastes passable, if not delicious.” Peachy made a face.
“That's when the pattern began. I was set to go study with the Cakes. My parents had sent them some mail inquiring about an apprenticeship, and the Cakes had accepted. I was really excited. They are distantly related, but they are also really famous amongst pastry chefs, so I was quite obviously over the moon about that.” Peachy paused, and her eyes widened, “Erm, no offense about that last comment, Princess.” she apologized.
Luna sighed, and shook her head. “Don't worry about it. That was a saying even before my banishment.” she paused a bit, and the added wryly, “And I didn't ever take offense about it before. Please just continue your story.” Peachy relaxed a bit, and then took a short break to serve both of them a piece from the next pie. It happened to be peach.
“Well,” Peachy picked up her narrative. “It just so happens that the Cakes tried one of Pinkies, erm... experimental cupcakes, and they got really excited. Everyone else liked them too, and before I knew it, Pinkie was going to the Cakes instead of me.”
Silence descended awkwardly on the pair. Luna paused delicately. “I can see how that would be tremendously disappointing.”
Peachy smiled. “I was pretty bitter about it for awhile, but eventually I came to a realization that kind of turned the whole thing around for me.”
Luna bit absently into a danish. After struggling with the overwhelming deliciousness for a few seconds, she swallowed, and then asked “What kind of realization would that be? A lot of ponies would never be able to come to terms with something like that.”
Peachy grinned mischievously. “Well, I was reading an article in a baking magazine, where they listed the best overall bakers in Equestria. The Cakes were first, of course, but they also had the list of who were the best for each separate kind of treat as well. And half the time, the Cakes weren't even in the top ten of those lists.”
Luna nodded attentively, and Peachy's sly grin grew even wider. “So I realized that there was a place for me.” she said. “I was going to be better than the Cakes. And the only way to do that was to go and study techniques from the ponies who specialized their baking. Something I never could have done if I was studying with the Cakes.”
Peachy grabbed another doughnut from the basket, and took a bite. “I'm going to be the best baker in Equestria. That is my goal, my dream, what I have decided to do with my life. And I have Pinkie to thank for that. So I've been spending all of my time going around and apprenticing myself to each master baker ever since. It's surprising how supportive they've all been, especially since it is kind of arrogant to go around and say stuff like that.”
Peachy sighed. “I will admit, though, that ever since the whole Pie family reunion, I seem to always be swept up in strange situations and with even stranger ponies because they think I'm Pinkie. And since I move around a lot, I kinda get stuck with all of the backlash from Pinkie's crazy stunts.”
Peachy shrugged. “But I've learned to handle it all pretty well. Things tend to settle down pretty quickly, most times. It's just that Cousin never really learned to, um... pick up after herself. Though it is disheartening to meet new ponies all the time, and have them react in such exaggerated fashions to me. There are quite a few different reactions, you know. Usually a certain amount of caution, or expectation. I've actually been proposed to a couple of times. Well, not me really, but they thought I was Pinkie, so it was understandable."
Peachy paused for a moment. "I was kinda disappointed, though. Quite a few of those stallions were pretty good-looking.”
Peachy looked surprised when she realized that her hoof was now empty of doughnut. She retrieved another one from the basket. “Anyway,” Peachy wrapped up, munching on a new doughnut, “It keeps life interesting, I suppose. Though I've lost a couple of jobs because of Pinkie backlash.”
Luna absorbed the story while enjoying another danish. “I'm surprised that you handle it so well.” she mused. “There are a lot of ponies who would never move past what you've experienced in the past.”
Peachy shrugged and waved her hoof lazily. “I wouldn't know. Heaven knows Cousin is more than enough drama queen for Equestria without even meaning to cause trouble. Her life isn't perfect either. There's no need for me to whine about being victimized, especially if I am going to do what I want to do. And no time either.”
Luna nodded. Peachy sighed, “You know, my whole situation was kind of why I was hoping you'd actually called for me. My Aunt Lemon Treat works here at the palace, and even though she won't tell us how high a position in the kitchen she has, I've always admired her. I was kind of hoping I was going to get a job offer. Working with her would be so cool.”
Luna bowed her head a bit. “I'm sorry about the mix-up. I must have already taken up a lot of your time.”
Peachy shrugged. “I had just lost my last job because of another Pinkie mix-up. I don't really have anything else to do anyway. And so far it's been amazing talking to you Princess.”
Luna blushed, and then finished her danish, and then reached for one of the cookies. Peachy stopped her hoof in front of the plate. “Excuse me, Princess.” she apologized. “I believe I mentioned a bit earlier that these cookies are...experimental earlier. But I want you to know that although the rest of what I brought I was ready to let ponies eat, these cookies... not so much. I try not to let unsuspecting ponies reap the dubious rewards of my experiments without due warning.”
Luna looked at Peachy. “Alright. But please do call me Luna. All this Princessing is wearing kind of thin.” Peachy blushed. “S-sure, Pr..Luna. My pleasure. Thank you.”
Luna nodded, a slight blush on her cheeks as well. She moved a hoof toward the plate of cookies. “Um, Peachy, what kind of cookies are these. I mean to try one, but I'd like to know what you were aiming for beforehand.”
Peachy nodded. “Blueberry chocolate chip. I'm trying to figure out if dried or candied blueberry's work better.” Peachy eyed the cookie now in Luna's hoof. “I don't know how either of them turned out. To be honest, I forgot to take them out of the basket when I was packing.”
Luna looked at Peachy disbelievingly. “But the basket is so small. How could you forget? Wouldn't it be kind of obvious that the cookies were in there?” Peachy shrugged. “Kind of lost track. There's actually a lot more room in that basket than it looks.”
Luna decided not to examine Peachy's statement too much. She was related to Pinkie Pie after all. Despite the differences, aside from their looks, there was a large probability that they'd be alike in some way after all.
Luna looked the cookie over closely. It looked delicious. She sniffed cautiously. It smelled delectable. She set her teeth delicately on the crisp outside of the cookie, and took a decisive bite. For a few seconds, she chewed, then swallowed. Luna looked curiously at her large cup of tea, and seconds later there was a plonk and a decisive crunch, and Luna rolled her eyes and moaned. “So goooood.”
Peachy had been waiting on pins and needles the whole time, and at that decisive moment, she slumped back in her chair, tension leaving her frame and a large smile on her face. She raised an eyebrow. “Better with tea?”
“Sooo much better.” Luna punctuated this statement with another plonk of the cookie into the tea. “Then again, I think this is one of the dried blueberry cookies. The candied might be even better, or just throw the whole equation off.”
Peachy watched as Luna finished off the first cookie and then moved onto one of the candied blueberry ones. Luna tried it with and without tea, and then proclaimed, “The dried blueberry's work best. No extra sugar to get in the way. Though the blueberry chocolate chip idea was unusual.”
Peachy nodded. “I didn't know you enjoyed sweets so much, Princess Luna.”
Luna blushed. “Yes, well, I tend not to eat them at public functions.” Luna said embarrassedly, “I don't know who came up with the social etiquette to eat treats, but...” Luna wrinkled her nose. “I just can't feel satisfied with those silly little silver forks. Eating something delicious at below a snails pace is just...” Luna shuddered.
But then Luna got a faraway look on her face. “But in the past I took great care and pleasure in personally selecting the finest sweets and desserts for the Gala” Luna continued. She wrinkled her nose again. “Before it got all stiff, that is. Before my...episode, I was intending on bringing the Gala back to what it was supposed to be. I had let Sister try her hoof at it, but she had made into... something like it was this year.”
Luna sighed. “She thought it was supposed to be all... stiff and uppity, which wasn't what it was about at all. And then That happened, and...” Luna daintily waved her hooves around, searching for the proper way to describe her fall and subsequent banishment in the best manner possible. She failed. “Poof.” she said, bring her hooves back down to the table and sighing significantly.
Peachy looked at her incredulously, and then burst out laughing. “P-p-poof?” she managed in between fits of giggles. “You were banished for a thousand years and all you do to describe it is poof? That is priceless.”
Luna looked at Peachy, and then giggled a bit herself. They met eyes, and then both dissolved into laughter, falling off their chairs and rolling about on the ground. The guard poked his head in frantically to see what was going on, and then his eyes widened, and he withdrew his head. The pair laughed themselves out, and then began to recover. Peachy managed to get a hoof back up onto the table, and then pulled herself up first.
Luna pulled herself up, and Peachy wiped a tear out of her eye. “I wish...” she giggled a bit, and then controlled herself. “I really wish other ponies could see how personable you really are, Luna. Once you aren't in public display mode, you are really quite a wonderful pony to know.”
The two sat down again, and resumed the somewhat stately devouring of what was left of Peachy's sweets. Peachy was the first to pick up the conversation after a companionable silence. “So what is the Gala really supposed to be like?” she asked, and then screwed up her eyes a bit in concentration. “Or, perhaps what I really want to ask is, how did it start? What was it supposed to be the first time?”
Luna primly finished off another cookie. She thought about the question for a while. “Well,” she began slowly. “The first Gala, before it was called the Gala, was really just a small gathering of well-educated or interesting ponies, ponies that I wanted to meet and talk with, and get to know. After the first couple of years, the party kept getting bigger, and ponies just started calling it the Gala. But even though after a while I gave into the pressure and started issuing more invitations, I still insisted that each pony could say or do at least something I found interesting.”
Luna fiddled with her teacup. “It wasn't really fair to everypony, I know, and was more than a bit selfish, but... it had always been my party. Sister and I don't really have birthdays, as it were, and the solstices are a bit more... public than I prefer. Sister is fine with the solstice, but I wanted something I could call my own, so...”
Luna gestured a bit shyly. “The beginning of the Gala.” she murmured. “I don't know why everyone wanted to get in, but the smaller I made it, the more ponies clamored to be able to go. But...” Luna paused, and then her expression started to get a bit heated. “I want to at least be able to remember the names of all the ponies at the party.”
Peachy was silent, and absorbed the impact of the information she'd just been told. She blinked a bit. “Sounds fair to me. Heaven knows I can barely put up with more than ten ponies at my birthday party. Since you are one of our Princesses, you couldn't call it what it is, and you couldn't make it as small as you really want, so I think that is more than fair.”
Luna sat back down, her cheeks flushed a bit. “You really think so?” she asked, her voice coming out a bit smaller than usual. Peachy nodded emphatically. “Yep. I think that you should do the Grand Galloping Gala the way you want. It'd probably become even more popular than ever. Everypony likes to feel exclusive, and the more picky you are, and the more interesting the actual party is, the more everypony will want to go. Which is just fine as far as I think. It means the ponies you actually want to show up probably won't turn you down.”
Peachy paused a bit. “What kind of ponies did you usually invite to your Gala?” she asked delicately. Luna waved a hoof absentmindedly, absorbing Peachy's previous statements. “Interesting ponies.” she said vaguely. “Artists, scholars, chess-players. Ponies with a dream. Especially ponies with big dreams. Ponies who know how to not be utterly boring and obsessed with themselves. Ponies like that.”
Peachy nodded. “Sounds like a great party to me.” Luna's eyes looked back towards her guest, “Really?” she asked softly. Peachy nodded again. “It fits you perfectly, as well.” she added. “or, at least, that's the impression I get. I mean, the sun kinda shines on everyone, but even if the same moon is shining all across Equestria, it always feels a bit more...personal, y'know?”
Luna stared at Peachy a bit as the epiphany hit her. What Tia had really been talking about. She hadn't been talking about work, especially not the useless make-work she'd been giving herself to feel useful outside of their usual duties. Tia had been talking about Luna being the kind of ruler for Equestria that only she could be.
Luna tried to let Peachy know just how grateful she was to have met the wonderfully interesting pony who helped her remember who she had been, and who she was now. But all she could manage was a soft, “Yeah.”
Silence fell for a while, and then Luna pulled herself out of her reverie. “Peachy, you know, this has been a rather unexpected amount of help. Do you think you could...” Before Luna's sentence was finished, the sound of the guard tussling with a pony outside the door to the library interrupted, and moments later, an intensely vivid yellow coated green and white maned pony burst through the door.
“Princess Luna!” she shouted, eyes wide with panic. “I heard you were talking with a talented young baker! Was I not good enough? Were none of my sweets to your liking? I swear I can do better, please just give me a chance! Princess Celestia asked me to take care of your pastries as well as hers, and even gave me a list of your favorites, I was so happy! Please, let me...”
Luna blinked a bit. “NO, YOUR SWEETS WERE...” noticing the reaction all the ponies in the room had to the Traditional Canterlot voice, (which generally had all the effect of a localized sonic boom) Luna seized the opportunity that the voice had given her, and again brought her voice back under control. “...I sincerely apologize, I meant to say that there were no problems with the sweets. They were all delicious.” she said, confusion on her face.
Peachy reacted a few seconds later. “Aunt Lemon Treat?” she asked confusedly. Lemon Treat gaped at Peachy. “Peachy? What are you doing...Oh.” she concluded in a normal voice. Lemon Treat turned to Princess Luna. “Princess, I apologize.” she said shamefacedly. “I panicked. Can you forgive me?”
Luna affirmed her with a nod. “Certainly. I am sure you meant no harm. I am sorry if this little mistake made you worry about your job. But I would like you to note that I rather doubt that Sister would fire her favorite pastry chef because I disliked her sweets.” she added, a note of humor in her voice. Lemon Treats blushed.
Luna tapped her chin with a hoof, and eyed the pair of ponies before her, now chatting cheerily about family, and Peachy's current career choices. A thought struck her. “You know, I believe that in the past, there were traditionally two master pastry chefs on the palace payroll.” She mused. “And that both of them provided for public events, but baked treats for Sister and I respectively the rest of the time.”
Peachy went still, and Lemon Treats looked from Luna to Peachy incredulously. Luna smiled softly. “Well, what do you two think?”
Peachy looked carefully at her aunt. Lemon Treats looked between the two again, and then broke into a huge smile. “Pass up working with my favorite niece? You'd have to tie me up and gag me to get me to disagree. Of course, we'd love to have Peachy on the payroll! It's a steady job for Peachy that still allows her to go haring off when she gets it into her little head, plus I'd have another master baker to help keep my kitchen in order. We'll have to figure out some compromises, no doubt, but I can't see how this wouldn't be a good idea!”
Peachy grinned brightly and whirled toward Luna. “Really?” she asked.
Luna smiled. “Of course. Besides, I'm probably going to need your help with the Gala, won't I? I'm not letting you escape now!”
* * * * * *
Later that night, Luna skipped back into the common room she shared with her sister between their two bedrooms. Celestia was sitting on some pillows near her desk, papers scattered around her, and an unusual package sitting in front of her. Luna ploomphed down onto her pile of pillows across from her sister. “Hey Tia. What's that?” she asked brightly.
Celestia looked up. “Lulu! You look happy. What happened?”
Luna winked playfully at her sister. “Nothing much, just figured some important stuff out. Now stop stalling and tell me what you got!”
Celestia smiled, and then poked the package. “A present from our cousin, Cadance, as a belated birthday present.” Celestia ignored Luna's blush, and continued. “It seems to be a chessboard that she enchanted herself. I figured I'd open it later, after I bring dawn.”
Luna nodded. “Okay. I guess I can go get ready for bed, then.” Celestia smiled as Luna skipped off. “Don't hog all the hot water, Lulu!” she yelled after the giggling form of her sister, “I do need to take a morning shower!'
Celestia glanced down at her present. She'd have to try it out later. Right now, she had to get to the bottom of Luna's happiness. She had an inkling of what had happened, since she'd sent the letter astray, but it was nice to see good plans come to fruition. Celestia smiled wickedly and trotted towards the bathroom.
She always found that a short bout of tickle torture tended to make her day brighter, and answer little nagging questions.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Please feel free to comment and critique. No, really, let rip with any critiques. And positive comments are always appreciated. I'm no different from anypony else in that regard. Good reading everypony!
