The festivities continued on despite the main stars of the show, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, had already left a few hours back. With nopony to gossip with for the remainder of the event, Twilight tried entertaining herself with conversations she overheard from the citizens that come too close to the booth. Even then, it was easy to get bored when their conversations didn't make sense to her ears.

It didn't help when she could clearly see her friends were having a blast by Fluttershy's booth. The pegasus was currently compassing the last song for the night and the other girls were louder than the cheers of the crowd as they called and yipped at the melodies Fluttershy busted with birds of all instruments.

Fluttershy was the one to have ended the main event with a beautiful original song written by Princess Luna as a dedication to the royal couple. Everypony demanded an encore when she was done. Naturally timid, Fluttershy had almost declined if it weren't for Pinkie's extremely loud and hilarious insistence. The songs she randomly sang back in the castle were now starting to get used; Twilight never saw the pegasus as satisfied as she was while leading those birds sing to their hearts' content.

'That's it. I'm going over there.' She thought, filled with conviction that rivalled the hottest of suns.

Twilight began clearing her throat to grab Celestia's attention. Whatever excuse she had died on her throat when she saw her mentor nod toward her group of friends with a small smile.

The smile she had on her face was blinding. With a kick off of the ledge of their platform and one strong burst from her wings, she darted toward her friends and crashed on Rainbow Dash's back with a forceful hug.

"Twilight!" Everypony greeted with enthusiasm, coming closer to give the princess a hug as soon as she let go of the cyan pegasus.

"Rarity, you outdid yourself tonight! I haven't seen Cadence glow that brightly since her wedding day!"

At the compliment, Rarity manifested a fan with her magic to hide the sly grin on her face. "Why, of course, they asked for the best, then they shall receive the best!"

"Pinkie, the food was amazing. And the performance! Goddesses, I've never been so captivated like that in a while." She smiled fondly as Pinkie Pie started to name off the events that transpired before the performance, even going into detail about how the magic worked before she got distracted by a butterfly and wandered off.

She would have gone off to wherever her mind took her if not for a yellow hoof that stepped on her tail and held her in place. Fluttershy shook her head, watching the earth pony divert her attention to the birds all around Fluttershy.

She turned to the others, her smile the widest they've seen tonight. "That was fun."

That prompted Applejack and Rainbow Dash to appear at each of her side and pull her in for a double side hug, squeezing the mare for all she's worth in the middle.

Applejack handed her a bottle of apple cider and watched her gulp it down in one go, "What'd I tell 'ya, sugercube?"

"You were awesome out there!" Rainbow then turned, a serious look on her face as she addressed the others, "I want to say that if it weren't for my amazing persuasion skills then this would have never happened in the first place." She tried to hide her arrogance behind two coughs, taking Fluttershy from Applejack's grasp to let the both of them hover in the air.

Her display brought deadpans to her friends' faces, sharing a look that told a story in of itself.

Fluttershy broke away from Rainbow's grip and flew down, all while chuckling softly to herself, "Thank you. I wouldn't have done it without everypony's help."

Spike ran up to them, four gem cupcakes on his claws and more crumbles all over his face. Twilight couldn't believe that he was almost the size of a teenage pony and was currently acting more like a colt than anything else.

"Guys guys-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Twilight casted wipes with her magic and started cleaning up Spike's appearance. He tried to complain but Twilight was already used to his cues, easily silencing him by changing the angle of his body and fixing every part of him that was out of place. When she was done, he looked as good as new.

"There. Try not to get any dirtier tonight. This is a formal party, Spike."

He glared at her, "The party's pretty much done. This is technically the afterparty and there are no rules in the afterparty!"

She sighed at his stubbornness, pulling him close so she could wipe away the nonexistent lint on his shoulders, "At least try being clean. Rarity worked very hard with this suit."

He glanced at said pony, blushing when he saw the rest of them were holding in their laughs at the display.

He tried to wriggle out of Twilight's magical grasp, struggling a little before he broke free. Instead of waiting for Twilight to pull him back to fix his clothes, he did it himself, the blush on his cheeks growing deeper. "Alright alright. I'm not that small anymore, I can handle myself, Twilight."

"If you say so," Twilight said, oblivious to the amusement on her friends' eyes. She turned to them, "Dragons. Am I right?"

"I don't think anypony would be able to relate, Twi," Rainbow said behind a hoof she hid her grin.

She rolled her eyes at the mare, making it as exaggerated as she could.

Fluttershy used her wing to push Spike closer to Twilight, lowering her head to ask the dragon: "What was it you wanted to say before, Spike?"

His eyes lit up at the reminder, the cupcakes he held forgotten as he put his arms in the air. If it were not for Applejack and Rarity catching it with their hooves and magic, the food would have been wasted. Twilight needed to talk with Spike about his increasingly careless attitude.

"The castle's private game rooms! Twilight, didn't the princesses tell us that we're free to use them after the ceremony until we leave for Ponyville?" The alicorn nodded, smiling at the reminder. "I was thinking we could all go over and play a few games before going to bed. What do you girls think?"

Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, puffing out her chest at the rest of them, "Why not? It's about time that I remind everypony here just how awesome I am."

"Don't be silly, Rainbow. Nopony forgot that you're awesome! You're the most awesome mare in Equestria! And if you aren't, I don't think Twilight wouldn't have-"

Whatever Pinkie had to say was shut down by a magical zipper over her mouth. She continued to speak, unaware or uncaring for the interruption. Twilight was just glad that didn't go where she knew it would go. One look at Rainbow Dash was enough to convince her that she didn't hear a thing.

Applejack postured, letting a knowing look cross her face as she sized up the cyan pegasus, "I think somepony forgot who beat them in the last game."

"I'll be kicking your butt this time around, AJ. Just you watch!"

"This should be good." Spike commented, a bucket of popcorn in his claws curtesy of Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy glanced at Rarity who was already shaking her head at the two stubborn mares' antics. "I didn't think we would need to use the emergency kit for this trip. I am proven wrong."

"Oh! Before we go, I want to suggest spending the night in my room..? I think it's been a while since we've all had a slu-"

"A SLUMBER PARTY?!?!?" Without confirmation, Pinkie Pie set up her own decorations around them with a strong blast from her party cannon she pulled out of thin air. She was already jumping around and expressing her excitement about the party to everypony that heard her.

"Oh, this is just splendid! We would stay up all night gossiping and doing each others' manes- ah! I simply cannot wait!"

"That means you'll be bringing your... accessories, right? I'll swing by and help you get them to Twilight's room after we're done in the game rooms."

The smile on Rarity's face was immediate, "That would be wonderful, darling. Thank you."

"If you ponies need some help with carrying luggage, I can-"

Twilight cleared her throat before Spike could finish his statement. He looked at her questioningly before he understood what she meant and went back to finishing his popcorn.

It took a while for Spike to get used to this kind of ordeal between Applejack and Rarity but he took it like a champ after one good conversation with the whole group separately and together over the course of a month. Granted, the development was new to all of them, even the two ponies in question had some areas where the two of them were unsure of.

It was reassuring to see that they were extremely happy with each other at the end of the day. A thought that had her glancing at a certain cyan hovering above them with an irritated expression.

"What are we all waiting for?! THE GAME ROOMS AWAITS US!" A pink blur was left in her wake as she passed by, followed closely by a rainbow streak that picked up dust for the group.

"How about we settle in for the night, sister? We have a long morning tomorrow after the excitement dies down." Celestia turned to her sister by her side. As predicted, they were the only ones to remain to watch over the ponies as they enjoyed themselves.

Celestia's plans for this baby shower was truly coming together nicely. It had been confirmed before the ceremony began that the Princess of Love and her husband would be staying in Canterlot for two days before returning to their empire, together with Twilight and her friends. The next few days should be interesting at the very least. She couldn't wait to see what kind of events would transpire outside of the mundane life of paperwork and ruling.

She could not say the same for her sister. With the event taking place just before sun set and continuing until sun rise, that meant that Luna did not have the time to rest. While the Princess of Night is more than capable of going a day without sleep, the same couldn't be said with her mood.

Celestia was unsure of how to combat the situation. At some point in her planning, she simply dismissed any further attempts to expand on how to make Luna more engaged for the reason that she could deal with her sister if anything were to rise. She was starting to regret that decision now.

For now, Luna's mood wasn't anything out of the ordinary as she turned to look at Celestia, "Sister... today has been an incredible one."

Celestia was stun-locked for a moment, surprised by the light tone in her sister's voice, "Thank you...?"

"It truly is beautiful to see so many ponies enjoy themselves. It is a sight to behold. It's a wonder to us why we don't celebrate more often, implement traditional celebrations like how Twilight and her friends would in Ponyville." The dark mare's eyes seemed to shimmer together with the fairy lights that were set up all over the venue, a smile forming on her tired face, "Joy shouldn't only be reserved in celebrating our achievements..."

Celestia huffed. "Indeed. Perhaps you're right, sister."

The regret from earlier disappeared. Their recent conversation sparked a longing in Celestia's heart to spend more time with Luna. Maybe things were starting to look up after all.

Twilight couldn't believe the scene she was seeing in front of her.

The group of friends were in the middle of an argument as the last dart of the night hit its target. This was their supposed last game and everypony seemed to be adamant that they were the ones that won it. Even Fluttershy was in on the heated argument telling everypony that she had won.

Twilight decided to stay out of it—thank Celestia she did—for reasons that she simply wanted to watch. She knew it would get competitive but didn't think it would get this bad.

"We bet on best out of three!" Applejack argued.

Red streamers spilled out of Pinkie Pie's ears, "What in the baloney do you think you're spelling?! If that were the case, Rainbow and I would have already won two games ago!"

Rainbow Dash hovered over the orange earth pony, hooves crossed in front of her as she gave her a competitive glare, "Give it up, AJ. There's two of us in this side and one of you."

"I thought this last game was supposed to decide who won? Why are you girls acting like it was you that got full scores?"

"Yeah, right. You're only saying that now because you got me on your team." Rainbow immediately went up to Fluttershy's face, her nature seemed to rub off on the timid pegasus as Fluttershy mimicked her stance.

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Girls!" Rarity interjected, "Lowest score wins. That means Spike, Applejack and I won so stop fighti-"

Applejack calmed a little at the sight of Rarity trying to calm them down. She walked up to the mare with a slow pace as she spoke, "Those rules applied last round, Sugar. We were only going for bullseyes this time 'round."

Rarity scoffed, offended and betrayed by the looks of it. "Why didn't nopony told me?!"

"I screamed it before game started! You weren't listening to me again!" Pinkie accused.

Seeing it heat up even more, Spike decided to join Twilight by the sideline with a grimace on his scaly face. His hands started to fidget against one another as his eyes went back and forth from the arguing ponies. He looked up to the alicorn with eyes that begged to make their friends stop.

Twilight sighed, she honestly didn't know how it easily escalated so fast and so heated. Over the years, Twilight and her friends would often get into arguments whenever they play games with each other. It was becoming a sight she saw on the daily basis. It didn't fill her with joy though, no no no. Every time they get like that, a boiling anxiety will form in her stomach that didn't give her the chance to calm down. Despite that, she would always find a small bit of courage in herself and try to break it up.

This time, the process came naturally to her like breathing. Before she could speak, however, everypony had already silenced, looking at her expectedly.

"Twilight?" Applejack tilted her head at her, as if waiting for an answer that would satisfy her point of view.

Twilight didn't stop another sigh from escaping. Her plights were felt by everypony, the guilt immediately present on their faces as they shared glances.

"It... happened again. Didn't it?" Fluttershy asked the obvious question, looking at herself with confused eyes.

"I think.... I think we've all had enough party in us tonight. How about we put this all behind us and head to bed? Spike already called in the maids a while ago to prepare my room for the slumber party." Spike joined her at her side, patting her on the shoulder as she hung her head down.

It wasn't because she was mad at them for arguing, she wasn't. Her thoughts couldn't be put into words as she continued to stare at the floor as she made her way out of the room.

Spike glared at the group of ponies before following Twilight outside.

"Gosh darn it!" Applejack swatted the darts still on the board, letting out heavy huffs as she sat on her haunches and glared at the floor. "We had a deal and we broke it."

Her words was like a flaming arrow to the chest.

Rarity joined her on the floor, head hung low as her frown continued to deepen before Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder and soothed her worries with a light massage. Even with her frown gone, the unicorn still found herself biting her lip.

"I'm sorry. I knew where it was going and I didn't do anything to stop it..." Fluttershy had one hoof over the other, her long hair hiding half of her face that looked just about ready to cry.

Pinkie pulled the pegasus in for a hug, "It wasn't just your fault, Fluttershy."

"I'm sorry too. It was just a game anyway, I don't know what has got me all worked up." Her words sounded a lot of agreements among them, both muttering their apologies in their own ways.

"We should make this right," Rainbow said with a voice filled with conviction. Her stance held no room for disagreements or errors. She was laser-focused in this newly formed mission, more than any friendship quest or wonderbolt performance ever. "We should go apologize to Twilight."

"I'll bring the apology cake."

That ticked Rainbow off, "Did you seriously make an apology cake? You knew this was going to happen?"

"What? No! I am urged to make multiple cakes in a day, you know that, Dashie!"

Before it went anywhere, Fluttershy decided to step between them, "Girls. You're doing it again."

Both of them were about to give their piece of mind when they realized that she was right. Rainbow was the first to back off before Pinkie followed, walking out of the room and back, now holding a small box that was no doubt filled with cake.

Rainbow wanted to complain but held her tongue, they were supposed to make things right, not worse.

"I don't understand how this keeps happening. It's like one of us finds a way to say something that annoys the other."

"That's just it. We don't know. Something about everything makes this feel... childish." Pinkie Pie seemed to deflate thinking about Fluttershy's words which was quickly erased when said mare walked over and returned the hug from earlier with a tighter embrace. She pulled back to add: "We're supposed to be celebrating while we're here in Canterlot."

Rainbow joined them on the floor with a sigh; the action took the air from her lungs and wings with it, "Fluttershy's right. But we can't keep ignoring this forever."

"When we return to Ponyville, we need to sort this out as soon as possible," Rarity said. She stomped her hoof down to finalize her words, if the others were to disagree would probably mean extremely bad to the health of their friendship and nopony wanted that.

"I agree." Applejack replied, prompting the others to sound their own as well.

"For now, I think we need to do some making up to Twilight and clean up here as well."

"Oh! Before we leave, do I do one cake or two cakes?" The second cake seemed to come from thin air as Pinkie pulled another box out of her mane. Her questioning look was enough to give the others the pause they needed before it morphed into giggles that turned into full-blown belly laughters.

Pinkie, now satisfied with her work, put the other cake aside. Rainbow stopped her before it fully got absorbed by her fluffy mane and in a soft voice told her that two cakes would probably be a good idea.

"I don't know, Spike. I don't know why this keeps happening. It's like we learned nothing from all the years we've been friends! I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship and I can't even stop my own friends from fighting." Twilight plopped down on her bed, wings over her face as she let out a deep breath. "I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Like I should have already solved this issue before it became an issue. How can I be worthy of my title like this?"

Spike tried prying her wing from her face to no luck. The teen dragon would sometimes join in on their arguments but he backed off whenever he noticed that it was something deeper than it meets the eye.

He's seen how each argument affected Twilight. Every time it happened, the princess would grow guiltier, more somber. He thought she was being too hard on herself, she thought she wasn't good enough. No matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him even if she wanted to.

They had tried different exercises before and it would work for a while before one wrongly placed whisper here and everyone is off to their own world arguing about a blade of grass of all things.

Spike thought it was childish. Twilight thought it was the end of the world.

"Cheer up, Twilight. I'm sure they'll all be better by the time they join you here."

The alicorn was quiet for a moment. Spike could practically hear her brain overthinking despite the cover on her face. He joined her on the bed, his weight skewing her balance enough that she accidentally showed her eyes.

"What? What's bothering you now?"

"Is the sleepover even continued?"

Her words were immediately proven wrong by the doors that slammed open with five ponies coming in carrying balloons and bags. Pinkie Pie led the charge and in both her hooves were open boxes of cake that had the candles "We're" and "Sorry" on each of them. Rarity carried the sparklers that Spike felt like a hazard in waiting. Applejack had Rarity's bags. Fluttershy's back were of all their personal pets. Rainbow Dash held two books and a single daffodil on one wing.

She looked between each mare, "What's all this for?"

Rainbow Dash approached her cautiously, placing the books on her lap as she offered the flower behind a shy smile, "We thought that we bucked up royally and decided to make it all better with a proper apology. We're sorry, Twi."

The others echoed her words, each one filled with guilt and remorse.

Twilight grabbed the daffodil from Rainbow's wing and took a bite, her eyes lighting up when she immediately recognized the flavor. "They were open at this time of the day?"

"I packed some before the ceremony started just in case."

Pinkie appeared beside the mare, pushing her aside with more force necessary as she placed the two cakes in bed. Her eyes were wide and round, like a little filly that had just broke the vase and was admitting it to try to get a lesser sentence for her bad behavior.

Twilight merely glanced at the rainbow pony pushed aside before turning to Pinkie with a soft smile. "You girls didn't need to do all of this. I was worried that you wouldn't come for the slumber party, I'm glad I was wrong."

"Whaaat?! We wouldn't miss it even if the world was ending!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Rarity opened one of the bags on Applejack's back, she took one glance at the very top and levitated the item around the princess' neck. Twilight looked down at the beautiful necklace, encrusted with the most beautiful sapphire and amethyst gems she'd ever seen.

The unicorn nuzzled her cheek against her own, "We promised that we would stop bickering in our time in Canterlot and we broke that. We are truly sorry, darling."

"We're going to really work hard on preventing this from happening in the future when we get back to Ponyville," Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack hurriedly added, "That means no more fightin' in this trip."

"Girls..." Twilight took a good look at each of her friends. They all looked determined and sincere in their promise, yet a small, annoying part of her brain told her that it wouldn't happen.

It doubted her friends' ability to actually complete the task. Her doubt was reflected in the conflicted expression on Fluttershy's face, picking up on her unease at such a promise. Before Fluttershy could reassure her, however, Twilight smiled at them all.

She may doubt them, simply because she overthought every possibility in a second, but she trusted them. That was all that mattered to her. "Thank you."

Owlowiscious flew to stand on top of her head, hooting at her friends. His random displayed kicked off the night.

While there were moments where tension were at a high, it was quickly put down by either Spike or Rainbow Dash. The latter seemed adamant at keeping their promise, causing little to no trouble outside of her naturally brazen behavior. The sleepover was counted as a success in Twilight's book when everypony fell asleep without chewing the other's head off.

Author's Note

Late update because I had to focus on my exams and was watching the whole EQG saga. Started watching the main series yesterday, it's super fun so far.