In Luce Lunae

Twilight was roused by the brilliant sunbeams shining directly into her eyes.  That’s odd, she thought.  The curtains should be closed.  And the windows are on the West side of the tower.  That would mean...

Spike was jolted awake by a shriek of “I’M LATE!” and the crash that followed. He was well acquainted with this sound, as it was the telltale sign of a certain unicorn hitting the door face first as she nearly created the fabled Sonic Rainboom in her attempt at avoiding the worst of all possible fates: being tardy.

Twilight rebounded off the door and glanced at the clock, dreading the worst.  Strangely, the clock read that it was only 10:00 AM.  It was then that she remembered the events of the previous day.  She felt a surge of joy at the realization that she was not, in fact, tardy, before realizing she still had a different job to do.  She grumbled something about “Pssh... Friends,” before walking down the stairs to prepare breakfast, followed by Spike, who was trying to suppress a laugh.

By the time they reached the kitchen, Spike had finally stopped giggling and  began to eat the bowl of gems that Twilight laid before him on the table.  Twilight placed a plate of hay before her, not bothering to attempt (and probably fail) to prepare something a bit more appetizing.  They both ate quietly until Spike broke the silence by saying “So, Twilight, what do we have to do first?”

Twilight half heartedly levitated a massive checklist out from one of her bags and looked it over.  After checking off several entries, she found her first task.  “We have to go check on the preparations of the food.  The local bakery, Sugarcube Corner, is in charge of catering for the entire festival, so they should be busy cooking as we speak.

“Let’s go. The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done, which means the sooner I can get back to my research!” exclaimed Twilight.

Spike, at the mention of a bakery, immediately perked up and darted towards the door. Before he could dash out, Spike was telekinetically grabbed and pulled back to the table with the half-eaten bowl of gems back before him.

“Spike, we aren’t buying anything there, so eat your breakfast.  You can fill yourself with sweets tonight, but for now we need to do this as fast as we can.”

Spike grumbled, but ate the rest of his food. After Twilight unceremoniously threw the plates in the kitchen sink, they departed the library.

The walk over to Sugarcube Corner was largely uneventful.  A large amount of ponies greeted Twilight in passing, much to her annoyance.  Even with these distractions, however, they made good time getting to the bakery. She checked her paper just to make sure she had the right address, but there was no way the building in front of her wasn’t a bakery.

The size of the shop in front of them was astonishing, considering it appeared to made out of gingerbread, cake, and other baked goods.. Books in a tree, and cakes in a gingerbread house.  Why can’t these ponies have normal buildings? Twilight thought, while Spike was busy drooling at what must have been the biggest dessert he’d ever seen.  Twilight walked into the bakery, levitating Spike behind her, who was still too preoccupied with fantasies of food to even fathom moving on his own.

The inside of the building was, in comparison to the exterior, rather dull.  Even so, it still managed to maintain the cheery atmosphere that permeated the area.  Twilight put away her checklist before walking up to the cashier, a blue, pink-haired mare.  “Are you Mrs. Cake?” Twilight said.

“Yes dearie!  I’m sorry, but we’re sold out of everything at the moment because of the festival, but you can order something for tomorrow if you like” the mare replied.

“Actually, that’s what I’m here about.  I’m Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna sent me here to check up on the preparations.  Everything’s coming along on schedule, right?” Twilight asked.

“Of course!  We’ll have those moon pies fresh out of the oven when the festival starts!  Still, I have to ask, do you know why the Princess only ordered moon pies?  I understand it’s for the moon festival, but still, we could have easily provided more variety.”

“Great!” Twilight exclaimed.  Now I will have more time to figure out what exactly is going on! Twilight gave Mrs. Cake a level glance and asked seriously, “Do you really want an answer?”

Mrs. Cake nodded, slightly unsure.

“Let me just say this: Never get between Princess Luna and her moon pies.  It won’t end well.”  With that, Twilight turned to walk out of the bakery, but the exit was blocked by a giant, bouncing blob of pink that appeared before her.

The pink blur slowed from a nausea-inducing vibration to a much more tolerable bounce, solidifying into a two-toned pink mare. Twilight tried to take a step back from the crazed grin the pony wore before the mare took a deep breath and -

“Hiimpinkiepiewhoareyouihaventseenyoubeforedoyoulikepartiesbecauseilikepartiescanithrowyouasuprisepartyexceptnowitsnotasuprisewhatkindofsuprisepartyisitifitisntasuprisemaybejustanormalpartybutnormal-” she paused for a moment, inhaling another deep breath before continuing.  “-partiesarefuntoolikethemooncelebrationandwecanhaveourownminipartyasyourwelcometoponyvillecelebrationyouregoingtobethereright?”

Twilight, though she was stunned by the deluge of words dumped upon her, quickly tried to analyze what the pink mare had said. Unfortunately for Twilight, however, she lost track right after “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie.”  She put on what was (to her) a perfectly normal smile before saying, “Um, hi Pinkie Pie.  I’m Twilight Sparkle and it was nice meeting you, but I have things to go do... so bye!”

Twilight then proceeded to levitate the somehow still-daydreaming Spike onto her back before galloping out the door, determined to not only get back to the library as soon as possible, but also to escape the pink menace that she had just encountered.  Little did she know that one does not simply outrun Pinkie Pie...

A/N: And so I have returned.  Part 2 will go into the pipe at some point tomorrow probably.  Sorry for the long wait!  I'll try not to do it again :P.  Another thank you to DivideByZero for his prereading and editing.  Without him my writing would be absolutely terrible.  And thank you to all of my readers for putting up with my shenanigans and random hiatus.