It was a beautiful spring day in the small, old town of Ponyville. Its streets had been lined the last few weeks with thousands of new brightly-colored flowers, transforming the entire town into a place more vibrant and beautiful. As expected, everypony was out and about, socializing with one another and enjoying the new warm weather after having being shut up in their homes for months.
On a nearby hill overlooking the town, the tall, supple, green grass bent in waves along with the blowing of the warm, gentle breeze. A large red and white checkered tarp was set down on the ground with four ponies sitting on top of it.
Rarity was a pure white creature of elegance and beauty with long curly locks of violet hair. She was lying down on her back, wearing shades, soaking up the soothing sunlight, and looking very disappointed. "When are those two going to show up? Don't they realize how much time I put into preparing this picnic?"
Rainbow Dash was sitting at the edge of the tarp. She was a vibrant light-turquoise pegasus with an even more noticeably mane consising of bright hair from every color of the rainbow. She was gazing out at the town below, arms folded and fidgeting impatiently. She had already become annoyed with the others because of their disinterest in her latest Wonderbolt ravings, and so having her other friends already late didn't help improve her attitude. "Yeah, they should have been here like... twenty minutes ago. What's taking them so long?" She turned around towards Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.
Twilight, the violet unicorn, was deeply engaged in reading her latest book about the history of ancient Equestrian literature. Her eyes were glued to the page in front of her and it did not look like she heard Rainbow Dash or wanted to be disturbed.
Fluttershy, the second pegasus had a beautiful yellow coat and a full mane of light pink hair. She was distracted with watching a variety of different butterfly species gliding in careful circles around her head.
"Fluttershy!" an impatient Dash shouted.
She was abruptly awaken from her daydream and turned to face Rainbow as the butterflies fled. "Oh, um... maybe Applejack still has some work to finish up at the farm."
Rarity sighed. "Darling, she told me she had finished the planting last week! And then what about Pinkie?"
"Well... perhaps she has a large order to fill at Sugercube Corner."
"Even if that was the case," the other pegasus said, "there is no way in the world she would miss a party or anything even similar to one. I'm starting to get suspicious about those two. What could they possibly be..."
"Well howdy!" Applejack interrupted, her hat appearing over the top of the hill as she approached the tarp. Pinkie Pie was merrily bouncing behind her. "We're mighty sorry about being late."
Twilight finally set down her book. "Good afternoon, girls. Now would you mind telling us what kept you?"
"Oh, you know, the usual." Applejack answered.
The ponies knew the farmer pony would never lie or keep the truth from them, and even when she tried, it was pretty obvious to tell. However, Applejack seemed sincere even though none of them knew what she was talking about.
After a long pause, she took off her hat and sat down on the tarp. "Well, I've been spending some more time over there to get folks interested in our newest Zap Apple products."
Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash who turned to Twilight who turned to Fluttershy who turned back to Rarity, but still none of them understood what she was referring to.
"And I was there to get some great ideas and guests for my upcoming parties!" Pinkie spoke up. "You guys understand, right?"
The other four continued staring at them with blank expressions.
Only Rainbow Dash could speak. "Seriously, what the hay are you talking about?"
"Oh gosh," Applejack said. "I guess we've never properly explained this to ya'll. Well, what do we Earth Ponies do while pegasi are out practicing flying or unicorns are using their fancy magic?"
"Jump to the point, dear," Rarity spoke, "we don't know what you mean..."
"A club!" Pinkie shouted before the farmer pony could answer. "And only Earth Ponies can go inside. It's so cool! There's music and dancing and games and food and great party ponies! I could practically live there!"
"Oh," Twilight replied. "Well, I guess we never really heard of it before. But that sort of does make sense."
"Make sense?" Rainbow Dash protested. "You came late to our picnic for that? And you've been hiding it from us for all this time? And why is it exclusive to Earth Ponies?"
"Rainbow..." Twilight interjected, "They can't fly or do magic. Personally, I think it's nice to let them create something for their own. Wouldn't you agree?"
The rainbow-maned pony turned to look at Applejack and Pinkie Pie who didn't look very amused with all her ranting. "Yeah, alright... but don't let it make you forget about us, your real friends!"
"Okey-dokey-lokey!" Pinkie smiled. She trotted onto the tarp happily and dropped her head into the food basket.
Their picnic turned out great and they each had a lot of fun, but no matter how hard anypony tried, they could not get the idea of the club out of their mind. They wondered what secrets the Earth ponies was keeping from them and all the fun they were having. The feeling of exclusion was troublesome and it came with a twinge of jealousy.
Is this the same feeling that they feel when seeing me doing magic? Rarity wondered.
Applejack told me she was proud of my magic. She's not jealous, is she? Twilight assured herself.
Maybe I shouldn't be talking about my obsession with the Wonderbolts when I'm around them. Dash thought.
Fluttershy was the only one who wasn't too concerned about it. She was distracted again by seeing the butterflies search for nectar in the flowers and a squirrel trying to open a nut.
When the party was over, the sun was setting behind the mountain, leaving the sky purple. Everypony was full and tired. Applejack and Pinkie Pie left happily without realizing the deep thoughts racing through their friends' minds. Rarity was going to clean up the site quickly with magic but hesitated at the last moment and began to pick up the items with her hooves.
Seeing Rarity made Twilight realize that she wasn't the only pony who was still thinking about the club. She was about to turn towards the library to get some rest, but then a sudden idea occurred to her, and she had an urge to do it.
She ran down the hill to catch up with the two Earth ponies, probably heading back to the club, and she made sure to stay in the shadows to not let them know she was following them. Her biggest worry was that Pinkie would discover her like the last time on the day that everything was falling from the sky, but this time Twilight had nothing to be guilty about. There were no bad intentions. She just wanted to see where the place was located.
Soon enough she was close enough to see it. The glow of neon lights and the distant thumping of music indicated the club's proximity. Earth ponies were lined up outside a door in an alley between two small buildings. She heard the sound of hoofsteps on wood and saw the shadows descending. There were stairs leading the underground retreat.
But as fun as it sounded, she knew it would be best to stop thinking about it, and she needed to get some rest. The sky was now dark enough to see the stars shining through. As she headed back to the library, her mind was refocused on the picnic and the fun that they had had together. The library was dark and she could hear Spike snoring already. As she walked to her bed she knew there was nothing to be worried about. The six of them were friends and loved each other just the way they were. She certainly knew nothing silly like this would tear them apart.
