Celestia reminded herself that she had cleared her schedule for this. For two hours with no shade and no breeze and no water and nothing to do except stand in line for a spinning teacups ride that she knew could only made her sick.
"Can we ride yet?" asked the purple filly.
"No," said Celestia.
Twilight adored the Summer Sun Celebration. Celestia, finished with the morning's ceremonial duties, was escorting her student around the Celebration's accompanying fair. Yesterday, Celestia had thought this would be fun. Yesterday, Twilight had been ecstatic.
Twilight whined, "I'm bored."
"Patience."
By the time they reached the front of the line, Celestia's hooves ached. She told Twilight, "You're a big pony now, so you can ride by yourself. I'll wait for you."
"Ma'am?" interrupted the ride operator. "She can't ride alone." Twilight stood straight and tried to stretch. She was barely too short.
Celestia's stomach lurched. "Oh. Really?" By now they had waited two and a half hours. Twilight would bawl if she couldn't ride. "Maybe it'll be fun for me, too." Celestia's voice trembled.
The teacup seated four. A blue pegasus filly with a rainbow mane climbed in beside them and gripped the wheel in the teacup's center. "Ready to go fast?" she asked. "I'm not gonna hold back!"
With a grin, Twilight gripped the wheel. "Ready!"
Celestia felt dizzy already. "How about we go slow?"
"No way!" said the pegasus. "I need some speed!" Celestia fixed her eyes on the floor where she couldn't see the world spin. She covered her mouth just in case.
The teacup was still whirling when the pegasus said goodbye and flew away. Moments later, the operator came over and said, "Ma'am? You have to get off now."
Celestia moaned, "Stop the ride first."
"The ride's been over for a while now, ma'am."
Celestia stumbled away from the teacups. Twilight said, "I'm hungry."
"You can eat after that?" Celestia marveled.
The food vendors sold deep-fried daffodil-and-daisy sandwiches, deep-fried carrot dogs, deep-fried hayburgers, and deep-fried hay fries. Celestia hadn't known that any of those could be deep-fried, but the smell of hot oil from the vendors' stands proved otherwise.
"Do you have anything that's not deep-fried?" she asked the cashier.
"Hayburger on glazed donuts."
Donuts were deep-fried, but Celestia didn't want to argue. "Two deep-fried carrot dogs, please."
"Nine ninety."
"Here's ten. Keep the change."
"Excuse me, Ma'am, I meant nine hundred and ninety bits."
"What?!" Celestia shrieked. "I can get these for eight bits in Canterlot!"
The cashier was impassive. "Ma'am, you're at the Celebration."
Twilight repeated, "I'm hungry."
Celestia sighed and reached deeper into her purse.
When they got their carrot dogs, Twilight said, "It looks yucky."
"I thought you liked carrot dogs."
The filly shook her head. "Yucky."
"You haven't tried it yet. Watch." Celestia nibbled on her carrot dog. "Mmmmm! See? Yum yum!"
"I want one of those." Twilight pointed at a stand whose sign proclaimed, "Deep-fried apple pies!"
"You can have one for dessert. Eat your carrot dog first."
Twilight stuck out her tongue and made a retching noise.
"First lunch, then dessert."
"No."
"Twilight, you—"
"No!"
"Twilight!"
"No, no, no!"
"I just spent five hundred bits on a greasy carrot, and I'll shove it down your throat if I have to!"
Twilight breathed deeply. "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Ponies were staring at them now. Celestia sighed again.
Twilight ate her apple pie slowly. She kept being distracted by a straw-haired orange earth pony from the apple pie stand. The orange filly peeked at Twilight from behind the stand. Twilight peeked at her from behind Celestia. When their eyes met, they both screamed, hid, and giggled.
"Twilight? Should I eat your pie?" asked Celestia.
"No!" gasped Twilight. She stuffed pie in her mouth. Moments later, the orange filly caught Twilight's eye again, and the two continued playing.
When lunch was over, Celestia dragged Twilight to the tents holding the All-Equestria Agricultural Exhibition and Livestock Show. "You'll love it," Celestia said. Twilight looked longingly at the orange filly.
Right inside the first tent was a wine tasting exhibit. "Oh!" exclaimed Celestia. "Just what I need! Twilight, you wait here while I—"
Twilight blurted, "Are you leaving me?"
"This exhibit is for grown ups, so—"
"You're leaving me."
"No, I'm only—"
Twilight sniffled. Her lip quivered, and a tear fell down her cheek.
Celestia rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right." She forced herself to smile. "Let's look around."
They toured stalls crowded with cows and chickens. At one seemingly empty exhibit, a family of drab earth ponies pushed rocks around. Twilight asked, "What's this?"
"We're rotating the rocks," said a pink filly. "We're rock farmers."
"That makes no—"
Celestia said, "And what a fine job you're doing! Come along, Twilight." She yanked Twilight away from the rock farmers.
"Celestia?" Twilight whispered. "What do rock farmers do?"
"I've never figured it out," Celestia admitted.
"But you know everything!"
Celestia chuckled. "Of course not."
Between two of the tents was a clearing with stacks of hay bales. The orange filly from lunchtime peeked at Twilight from behind a bale. Twilight giggled and ducked behind another bale. Celestia settled on a bench to wait. Letting Twilight entertain herself would give Celestia the break she wanted.
The blue filly from the teacup ride flew by. When she noticed the orange and purple fillies chasing each other around the bales, she started racing them. Soon, the pink rock farmer filly bounced around the clearing with them, as did more fillies that Celestia didn't recognize.
The fillies frolicked across the clearing for hours. They were still playing when the sun set. Celestia said, "Say good-bye, Twilight." She carried the tired filly on her back as they left. "Tell me your new friends' names."
"I didn't ask," said Twilight. She yawned.
That evening, as Celestia tucked Twilight into bed, Celestia asked, "So how was your day at the Celebration?"
Twilight closed her drooping eyes and curled up under her blanket. "Best day ever," she murmured. Celestia smiled.
