Equestria Copes

Pinkie Pie bounded into the room, her robes jingling a simple, but jovial song. Her original intent was to kick open the doors and alert everypony to the party she was putting together, and start implementing pieces of it as she thought of them. Party planning was serious business, but she always kept a few emergency party events ready to start right away. She could start up some music at the drop of a hat, command streamers to cover the ceiling with her party cannon, and the confetti launchers hidden in her mane were reloaded at the end of every month. If she needed a party right this second, she could have one. And right now, she needed one. Her targets were dour, sour, and in need of her power.

Sive for Pinkie Pie, who could not be heard by the other occupants, the room was silent. The only sound audible to either party was the turning of pages and the frustrated sighs that followed.

Pinkie had expected this from Luna. At least, she'd halfway expected it from Luna. Celestia, on the other hoof, was typically more jovial. However, she seemed even more upset than Luna. Whereas Luna looked glum and defeated, Celestia looked angry. Not the furious, violent kind of angry that burned down villages leaving nothing more than a smear of ash and a pillar of smoke, but a subtle, silent angry, like a volcano ready to burst and obliterate everything in its path.

"Okay," breathed Pinkie. "A surprise party is out of the question. But... I'm gonna need you two to smile."

They stuck to what they were doing, not budging so much as a centimetre.

Pinkie took a deep breath, and then tried to exhale from her shoulders. Her wings unfurled, buzzing and making noise as spectral confetti flew around the room. "Tada!!"

Nothing.

"Huh. This is a more intense grumpiness than I'm used to. But I guess Twilight did just die recently. And the rest of us, too, I suppose..."

After scratching her head for a bit, the jingle-jangle of her crown stopped. She rushed out of the room, making a beeline for the kitchens. A good meal with a great big dessert would put them in a good mood. Celestia loved cake. That was a fact so well-known that there was a cake shop in Canterlot called "Royal Icing" that accepted all forms of currency, and did fantastic business with foreign dignitaries that wanted to buy her favour. And it usually worked.

After planting the idea in the chefs' heads, Pinkie went up to the head maid and sent her to clean up the princesses' rooms, and even suggested leaving scent oil diffusers with lavender scent oil in there, to make the rooms more pleasant. She also went to the tailor and ordered new dresses, to the florist to send them flowers, and even found a local band to play music for them.

This was Pinkie Pie's bread and butter. If she could not directly influence the princesses and bring smiles to their faces, then she would have to fall back to her answer to all of life's problems; throwing a party. And if she couldn't directly invite them, then she would need to make it happen another way. After all, she had all of the pieces for a successful party. She had music, gifts, food and drinks, two guests, and a place for those guests to go when the party was over. All she had to do now was put it all together.

When she returned, she felt as though she had missed something important. Not with planning the party; she'd done an excellent job with that. She was certain that she'd missed something between the two sisters. Luna was now crying quietly, an occasional tear running down her cheek, and Celestia was absolutely seething as her eyes scanned the book she was reading. If looks could kill, she was glaring daggers into the page so hard that they ripped through the pages and embedded in the table below.

The door creaked open, and a guard poked in his head. "Highnesses?"

"What?" growled Celestia through her teeth.

"There's a group here to see you. Something about wanting to play at the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Celestia sighed. "I don't know if there's even going to be a gala this year," she said bluntly. "Now is not the time for a party."

Pinkie's jaw dropped. She was very much insulted, and she stormed over to Luna, putting words in her head that were then forced out of her mouth.

"With all due respect, my dearest sister, t'would be a bad idea to cancel the gala. We should hold it, and we should host it."

Celestia turned and glared at Luna. "Now? Of all the times to host a party, you think that now is an appropriate time?!"

Pinkie kept shovelling in words. She'd overstepped, and now she needed to keep digging. "What better time could there be? Everypony is ashambles, morale is low across the country, and nopony is feeling great right now. A party, especially one so grand and galloping as the gala, would ease their minds and hearts."

"You would hold a celebration so soon after the passing of Twilight and her friends? The monument to their memory is yet unfinished!"

"How long must we wait?!" shot Luna back. "We have been hurt, yes. But that is no reason to refuse our citizens joy! Joy that they need now more than ever!"

"How can you feel joy at a time like this?!" sniped Celestia. "Our greatest hope for Equestria is gone! Vanished overnight! Twilight was the perfect candidate; she was going to rule over Equestria with all of the intelligence, grace, and understanding that we had given her! Now she cannot, and we have to start over from the beginning!"

Luna pulled free of Pinkie's grasp and placed her hoof on Celestia's shoulder. As soon as it touched, Celestia swatted it away.

"You didn't know her like I did!" Celestia growled. "Don't you dare try to diminish her value by saying she can be replaced!"

"Such words did not leave my mouth."

"You were thinking it."

Pinkie took a deep breath. All of this was very, very wrong. She'd placed her faith in the planning of a minor party to lift their spirits, but this... This was going to take a miracle.