Farewell to Socks

by Cole K.

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Derpy Hooves, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Main 6, Princess Luna
Length: 11436

Celestia sends Luna to Ponyville on royal duties, hoping she will make some friends.

During the one thousand years of solitude Luna has spent on the moon, she has become extremely attached to both the moon and her pair of pink fuzzy socks. Celestia sends a lonely and pessimistic Luna to Ponyville in the hopes that she will make some friends, and with a bit of luck, get rid of her socks as well.

This was my submission to Equestria Daily's "Happy Luna's Super Magically Fun Storytime Adventure Challenge," and was labeled as "Goodbye to Socks." I finished it right before the deadline, giving me no time to get it edited, or give it a good title and description. Therefore, it got 38th place. I knew it could have been better; consequently, I edited it, slightly modified the title, and posted it here.

Published 2011-08-26 22:08:34 UTC
Last updated 2011-08-26 23:26:00 UTC

Farewell to Socks

Farewell to Socks

A Fancfiction by:
Cole K.

Luna lay calmly on the surface of the moon, her deep indigo hooves crossed under her chest, embracing the deafening silence. The pink cotton edges of her socks were the only things that stood out from her dark, arcane coat; she would have blended in perfectly with the endless night if it wasn’t for the socks. They stood out rather inaptly in such a dark environment, but Luna would never give them up. She had worn them regularly over the one thousand years she had spent on the moon, and, just as she had become very fond of the moon, she had become very fond of the socks.

It seems logical that a pony being forced to spend one thousand years on the moon would grow to hate it; however, that is not the case. Luna’s time spent on the moon was not a mere incarceration–it was a millennium of time to think and contemplate. While on the moon Luna did not only spend her time plotting her revenge on Celestia–she reflected over everything. She contemplated nature, magic, life, death, being, socks, and everything else imaginable. Through this time of solitude and serenity, Luna developed an extreme mental and spiritual connection to both the moon and her socks.

The socks were especially important because they were the only connection Luna had to Equestria. Every time the moon passed over Equestria, Luna longed to be on its lush green surface–to smell the flowers, feel the grass on her hooves, and most tenaciously, to communicate with somepony. On the moon, the socks were the only thing that Luna had to talk to. Yes, there were rocks, but rocks weren’t pink and fluffy, nor did they have pictures of princess Celestia on them. In fact, Luna had named both of her socks. The one on her right hoof was named Celestia, for obvious reasons, and the sock on her left hoof was named Sockholme for even more painfully obvious reasons.

Sometimes, if she was feeling vengeful, she would pretend the sock on her left foot was her, nightmare moon, and imagine she was defeating Celestia, the sock on her right foot. But, usually, the sock on her left foot was just Sockholme, and Luna would try to get Sockholme to convince Celestia to un-banish her from the moon. It never worked. Despite Luna’s hate of her sister’s stubborn and unforgiving punishment, every time she looked at that pink, poorly-stitched picture of her sister, she was not filled with thoughts of revenge, but of love, and a longing for it.

However, now that Luna had returned to Equestria and re-gained her place as princess of the moon, she could not break this connection between her, the moon, and the socks. She did not need to be on the moon to control it--she could have been on Equestria at that moment talking to ponies or marveling at the beauty of the forests and rivers. But, Luna decided to stay here on the moon instead, with no company other than Celestia and Sockholme, admiring the bright white flickering stars that filled the beautiful night sky.

The vibrant colors of Equestria just escaped the corner of her eye as the moon continued to rotate. She was happy to be on the dark side of the moon, with Equestria out of her sight. Although Equestria was vibrant and full of life, Luna could not admire it like she could the moon–it was too busy and social. The deafening silence of the moon made the noise of Equestria seem almost unbearable. One of the things Luna had learned from her time spent on the moon was appreciation: she had learned how to appreciate the little things, such as the pleasure of falling to sleep or the company of her socks.

She was satisfied with the simple pleasures she had, but something was missing: social contact with living things. The social side of her had slowly decomposed over time on the moon and was now like an empty bowl that needed filling. The thousand years of solitude she had spent on the moon developed a nostalgia inside of her that kept her there as if it were a barbed hook embedded in her flesh. All of the time she had spent on the moon had given her a longing to return to Equestria, but now that she had been back to Equestria, she realized that it was only the moon where she felt comfortable.

A light wind swept across the rocky pale plains that made up the surface of the moon, a low cloud of dust kicking up from the ground. Luna shivered as the breeze passed through her mane, chilling her to the bone. She curled up tighter, nestling more firmly into the ground, pressing her warm fluffy socks a bit closer to her body. She shook off the cold, as she had for the past 1001 years. Equestria’s moon had a very thin atmosphere–not enough oxygen to survive for long without magic, but enough for the sound frequencies of speech to travel. Luckily for Luna, there were no complex weather systems, so the temperature always remained relatively the same. If it was too cold to sleep, Luna could heat up the air around her with her magic, but she usually just endured the temperature.

Despite these rather uncomfortable conditions that Luna tolerated, she was perfectly content; she did not notice the social part of her that was missing. Yes, she could have been happier, but she was in no way disheartened. She enjoyed laying there and watching the stars while talking with Celestia and Sockholme.

“You cold, Sockholme?” Luna inquired sympathetically, slipping her left hoof out from under her chest. She rotated her hoof until she could see the picture of Celestia that was stitched into it. Impersonating Sockholme, she lowered her voice into a sophisticated male accent as well as she could and began to reply:

“No madame, I’m doing quite fine, thank you very much.”

“That’s nice,” said Luna, smiling happily at Sockholme.

“How are you undertaking this cold temperature, my lady?”

“Fine!” Luna beamed. “What about you, sister?” she asked, addressing her right hoof, pulling it out from under her deep purple body and beginning to impersonate Celestia in a cold tyrannical voice:

“I am fine, little sister. There was really no need to ask.”

“Well, you don't have to be so rude about it,” Luna replied in a matter-of-fact way.

“Luna?” a calm and serene voice addressed her. Luna spun around to see the real Princess Celestia standing behind her, her many-colored mane flowing in the light breeze that swept across the moon. Luna was irritated that Celestia had sneaked up on her, and embarrassed that she had been caught talking to her socks.

“Oh . . . um . . . hi big sis!” she replied as happily as she could, trying to hold back nervous blushing.

“What are you doing, little sister?” Celestia responded in a concerned tone.

“I was just . . . well . . . controlling the moon . . . you know.”

“You were talking to your socks,” Celestia pointed out bluntly. There was a short pause and then Luna looked down at the ground and pawed at it with her sock-laden hoof.

“I’m sorry . . . ,” she replied in a disheartened mumble.

“There is no need to be sorry, Luna!” Celestia stated reassuringly. “I'm not surprised you've developed relationships with inanimate objects after having spent so many years alone on the moon. But sister, why do you choose to remain on this desolate wasteland? You could be in Equestria at this very moment if you wished!” Luna blushed uncomfortably as Celestia mentioned her relationship with her socks. There was a pause of silence and Princess Celestia walked up beside Luna, sitting down beside her.

“I don’t know, sis. I just like it here. Equestria is too loud and busy for me after having spent over a thousand years here. I’m not too good with ponyfolk anymore--I just don’t feel comfortable around them, like I’m out of place,” Luna lamented.

“But sister, you do not even attempt to communicate with other ponies. If you gave them just one chance, I can assure you that you would feel very welcomed.”

“No, the other ponies will never forgive me for the anger I unleashed upon them when I first escaped from the moon. And even if they did, they would just treat me like untouchable royalty, a statue that will be broken with the slightest nudge.”

“False assumptions. All of them,” Celestia replied coldly. Luna sighed and lay down on the ground again, crossing her hooves under her chest, seeing that her bigger sister would never be able to relate to her situation. After a short pause, Celestia lay down beside Luna, nudging her face closer to Luna’s, attempting to cheer her up.

“I have some matters I need attended to in Ponyville,” she said convincingly. Luna did not respond and continued to stare up to the glimmering stars in the black sky. “I was hoping that you could carry them out for me. A chance for you to communicate with somepony, and maybe even make some friends.” Luna looked at Celestia agitatedly, non-verbally saying no. “Don’t give me that look,” Celestia uttered with both agitation and concern. Luna looked down at the ground desolately.

“No,” she replied, this time with words.

“Please Luna. Just this once?” Celestia begged.

“No.”

“If you accept my offer just this once I'll never bother you about it again. I'll let you stay on the moon drowning in your own solitude for eternity.” Luna let out a breath of frustration and stood up once again.

“Fine!” she said crossly, pushing herself off of the ground onto her hooves. “If it really means that much to you, I’LL DO IT!”

Celestia smiled and responded happily, “I'm happy that we could come to terms, little sister. I give you much thanks for accepting my offer.”

“Accepting your offer? More like being forced into accepting your offer by threats!” Luna protested. “I won’t make any friends, nor will anypony be able to talk to me comfortably,” she said doubtfully.

“Do not fear sister. The Ponies of Ponyville are some of the most accepting and friendly in all of Equestria. All I need you to do is go to the library of my most prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle, and get a report on what she has learned in her studies. That doesn’t sound too hard does it?”

“No . . . but it’s just not comfortable for me. I wish you could be there with me, big sis.”

“I always am,” Celestia pointed out as she flew away, gesturing at Luna’s pink socks. Luna blushed and smiled as she looked down anxiously at her pair of fuzzy socks. Princess Celestia was now far away--a small colorful speck in space. Luna jumped upwards, launching gracefully off of the surface of the moon, flying towards Equestria. As she exited the moon’s atmosphere, her horn began to glimmer and she surrounded herself with a dark shimmering bubble of magic, preparing to enter Equestria's atmosphere.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Meanwhile, on the surface of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle was looking through a brass telescope at the starry sky of the early morning. She sat in front of a low, wooden desk. Spike’s soft snoring could be heard from the adjacent room, breaking the deep silence of the morn. A brand new copy of Astronomical Astronomer’s Almanac to All Things Astronomy was laid open on the desk to page 437, which was labelled “Chapter Seven: Identifying Stars vs. Planets.” An assortment of crinkled papers were laid out across the desk with rough scribblings of solar systems and star belts.

“Pegasus’ belt, star three, where are you?” Twilight muttered to herself as she adjusted the knobs on the side of the brass telescope, scribbling down notes on a page in front of her with the charcoal pencil she suspended in the air with her unicorn magic. The faint purple glow that emanated from her horn shone onto the paper in front of her, adding an extra source of light other than the flickering orange candle that lay beside the desk.

Suddenly, two glimmering lights shot across the sky, one bright white and the other dark purple. The dark star headed just to the right of Ponyville, and the bright star headed to the mountains of Canterlot.

“Shooting stars!” Twilight gasped, quickly alerting her attention to the telescope, fumbling with the rough brass knobs, dropping her pencil mid-sentence. “Two at once? This must be my lucky day!” she exclaimed happily, her horn lighting up and beginning to flip through the pages of her almanac to the shooting stars section.

“Hmmm . . . this doesn’t say anything about color variations in shooting stars. I wonder if either of them landed?” she inquired curiously, letting out a loud yawn. Twilight looked to the window, seeing that the sun was just about to rise. “I’d better get some sleep,” she advised herself, blowing out her desk-side candle. “I’ll be able to think about all of this better in the morning.”

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Just outside of Ponyville, on the rural, meandering dirt path that led between Fluttershy’s cottage and the town square, Fluttershy was herding a family of young ducks. She had found them in a pond just outside of the Everfree Forest, and was helping them get to a lake just south of Ponyville, a lake with plenty of fish where they could stay for the summer. A mother duck, a father duck, and five chicks all followed behind Fluttershy in a perfect line, ordered from tallest to shortest.

The sun had risen just thirty minutes ago, and a faint matting of fog still spread across the ground, being cut like butter as Fluttershy walked through it, followed by the line of ducks. She figured that if she left this early she could escape the busyness of Ponyville as she passed through it, giving her a better chance to get the ducks home safely.

“There there, little duckies, watch your step,” she addressed the line of ducks behind her as she continued to walk down the foggy path. The father duck at the front of the line gave her a reassuring quack, and she smiled back, lightly giggling.

Suddenly, a dark figure swooped down from the sky, flying right for Fluttershy, an indigo shimmering trail of effervescent light following behind it. Fluttershy, too startled to scream, let out a feeble, rather quiet squeal, and dashed towards a nearby bush. The herd of ducks scrambled away in all directions, losing themselves in the fog, quacking loudly as they did. A deep purple alicorn with a steel-blue mane, not much larger than a normal pony, landed just in front of where Fluttershy had been just seconds ago. It was Luna. Normally, a figure like this would have been terrifying to anypony, but Luna’s pink socks helped break that fear. Unfortunately, Fluttershy was one that could be scared by anything, pink fluffy socks or not.

“Hello?” Luna inquired cynically. She then noticed a lone bush to the right of the path, which was trembling vigorously, many leaves fluttering off of it as it shook rapidly. A large pair of timid eyes could be seen inside the brambles. This is exactly what Luna had expected--ponies having an extreme fear of her. She sighed and then spoke to the bush as kindly as she could manage: “Don’t be scared. I’m Luna, princess of the moon.” Fluttershy then sped out of the bush and knelt in front of Luna, a torrent of leaves shooting into the air, some landing in her purple, lightly curled hair.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. . . um . . . princess . . . I mean . . . your highness . . . I-I didn’t mean to be rude.” Luna frowned at Fluttershy's extreme politeness. This is another trait Luna had been expecting--overcompensation for her nobility.

“There’s no need to be sorry,” she said with a hint of agitation, looking away angrily. There was a brief moment of silence and Fluttershy began to tremble again, unsure what to do. “I am sorry for frightening you.” Luna broke the silence, attempting to amend her previous acts of anger.

“Oh . . . um . . . well . . . that’s okay,” Fluttershy replied timidly, still daunted by the presence of a royal. Awkwardness continued to brew in the air as the silence returned. Fluttershy was not confident enough to say anything directly to Luna without being asked first, which drove Luna to irritation.

“I am looking for Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where I could find her?” Luna asked as calmly as possible, striving to hide her frustration.

“Oh, Twilight? She lives in the library. Just follow this path to Ponyville and you can’t miss it,” Fluttershy responded hastily, happy to end the conversation.

“Much thanks!” Luna said happily as she flew away down the path to Ponyville. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the conversing was over, and went back down the path to find the family of ducks once again.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It was now almost an hour after sunrise, and Luna had made it to Ponyville. Thankfully, the streets were empty due to the time; however, Luna needed directions to the library and there was nopony in sight. So far, Luna’s doubts towards the Ponies of Equestria had been fully proven by Fluttershy. She was now fully convinced that every pony in Ponyville was scared of her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Luna saw a bright pink pony. The pony was down an alleyway behind a building which had a brightly-colored sign labeled "Sugarcube Corner." Luna trotted towards the pink pony quickly, hoping to get the directions, get to the library, and out of Equestria as quickly as possible.

“Hi there!” she said hastily once she reached the pink pony. The pony turned around happily as anypony would to address another pony, but when she saw it was Luna, she jumped in the air, letting out an extremely loud terrifying gasp. She dashed off into the distance, out of sight. Luna sighed and looked down at her pink socks, a single tear rolling down the side of her cheek. It seemed that nopony could be comfortable with Luna around--she seemed to scare the living daylights out of them at every turn.

Unsure of where Twilight’s library was, and with nopony in sight to give her directions, Luna decided to fly over Ponyville to look for the library. She flew so high that each building only appeared as a small speck on a colorful canvas full of many homes, but she still had no idea which building would be the library. Luna scanned over the top of each structure meticulously, unsure of which building would be the library. She flew closer and closer to the town, eventually reaching ground level once more. She then checked the sign on each building, but none of them read “library.”

Disillusioned, she flew up to a cloud that was hovering just above the town, and lay on it. She lay there depressed and full of frustration, her hoof resting on her cheek, trying to concentrate her thoughts. “If I was a library where would I be?” she thought hopelessly.

All of a sudden, the cloud under Luna dematerialized, and she let out a surprised yelp and began to fall. She quickly opened her wings and regained her balance, looking up and seeing a light blue pony with a rainbow-colored mane in front of her.

“Oh my gosh! I’m SO sorry!” said Rainbow Dash, guilt-ridden to realize that she had just kicked a cloud out from under a royal. She flew up to Luna and attempted to kneel into a bow in front of her, entering an awkward mid-air stance. “Please forgive me your highness, I’ll do anything you want. I was just clearing out some clouds and didn’t notice you were there, I swear!”

“I’m fine, there’s no need to be sorry,” Luna said reassuringly, attempting to hold back a giggle at Rainbow Dash’s strange position. Dash sighed, and maintained her normal flight position, relieved that she would receive no sort of punishment. “But, there is something you could do for me.”

“Really? What is it? I can do anything!” Dash claimed pridefully, rearing up, ready to do whatever Luna wanted.

“I need to get to Twilight’s library, and I don’t know where it is. Could you give me directions?”

“Twilight’s library? That’s easy! Hey, I can just take you there. C’mon, it’ll be a jiffy!” Dash said happily, beginning to fly towards the library at a mediocre pace, striving to be conscious of Luna’s flight speed. Luna followed after Dash happily. Although she was annoyed at Rainbow Dash’s extreme need to be over-friendly and loyal to royalty, Luna was grateful that Dash was neither timid around her, nor terrified of her.

Once they reached the library, Luna realized that it was not a building, but a tree. “Oh. I thought it would be more of a . . . well . . . house.”

“Yeah, it’s more of a tree than a building. Anything else I can help you with your majesty?” asked Dash confidently, ready to help with something else.

“No, that’s all thank you,” Luna said gratefully. Dash saluted pridefully and flew away to attend to more weather jobs. Luna smiled and walked up to the door, beginning to knock.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Twilight woke to the sound of knocking. She sleepily opened one eye and blew a strand of hair from her face. She looked at the clock and realized it was already past eleven o’clock. She let out a yelp and threw off her blankets, heading over to the mirror at the other end of her room, picking up a brush with magic and beginning to straighten out her hair.

“I’ve already lost half of the day!” she exclaimed worriedly, used to waking up in the early hours of the morning. “I have lots of studying to do during the day and lots of star gazing to do during the night--I can’t let anything get in my way today.” She put down the brush, opened the door leading out of her bedroom, and hurried down the stairs to the main portion of the library. “Spike, wake up!” she said firmly to the heap of scales snoring loudly in the small bed. Spike let out an irritated mumble and shifted around in his bed, turning over to his other side and continuing to snore. “SPIIIKE WAKE UP!” Twilight yelled, knocking Spike out of his bed with a terrified shout, landing in a heap of books in the corner of the room, his blanket flying into the air and slowly floating down.

“Uh, yes, what is it Twilight? I’m sorry I slept in!” he stuttered quickly, brushing the pile of books off of himself as he stood up sleepily.

“There’s someone at the door. Please go answer it. I’ll start breakfast,” Twilight said trying to be nice, walking into the kitchen.

“Will do,” said Spike, hurrying to the door. As he opened it, his jaw dropped in surprise. It was Princess Luna of the moon.

“Your Majesty!” he let out, astonished, kneeling down in front of her.

“Hi Spike!” she said as happily as possible. Spike was astounded by both Luna’s casualness and her pink socks. He tried to look away from the socks, but couldn’t keep his eyes from them, as they stood out from her dark indigo coat. Luna looked down at her socks and blushed.

“Don’t mind the socks,” she said quietly with a hint of irritation.

“Oh . . . uh . . . sorry, your Majesty,” Spike uttered hastily, standing up into a straight position, forcing himself to look Luna in the eyes rather than at her socks.

“I’m here here to see Ms. Twilight Sparkle.”

“TWILIGHT!” Spike yelled into the library, looking back to the kitchen.

“What is it Spike?” Twilight replied happily.

“Twilight, you need to come here, now!”

“Can it wait? I’m busy making grass pancakes.”

“No, it’s really important!”

“Fine!” she said with irritation, putting down her pan, turning off the stove, and angrily trotting towards the door. “But it'd better be pretty darn important!” As soon as she saw Princess Luna standing in the door, her jaw dropped in both astonishment and anxiety. She sped to the door quickly and bowed deeply in front of Luna. “I am so sorry you had to see me being so rude, your highness. It was a disgrace,” she said shamefully.

“That’s okay!” Luna beamed, trotting into the library. “But you really should be more polite to your servant. He is only a baby dragon.” Spike crossed his arms pridefully and gave Twilight a glance. She gave him a quick scowl and then put on a fake smile and looked back at Luna.

“I’m sorry, your majesty. I guess I’m just easily stressed. Sometimes when things get out of hoof I’m too firm with him.”

“It’s okay, just keep it in mind,” Luna said happily.

“So, what brings you here, your majesty?” Twilight said, maintaining a forced smile.

“Celestia sent me here to get your next report on the magic of friendship.”

“Oh no . . . ” Twilight worried, looking around the room for a report that she knew was not there. “I’m so sorry, your highness, but I haven’t completed my current report yet. I have a few . . . um . . . er . . . touch ups! Touch ups that I have to add to it before I can give it to you,” Twilight lied, forcing a large unconvincing smile.

“You're sure you can’t just give me what you've done so far?" Luna inquired hopefully. "Celestia has so much faith in you that I’m pretty sure you could send her almost anything and she'd still be happy.”

“Nope. This one’s . . . uh . . . extra important and it needs to be perfect before I submit it.” Luna sighed with agitation. “I’m really sorry, Princess, but I need to finish it. Here, I should be able to finish it by six tonight--you’ll be able to find something to do in Ponyville for the next six hours! There’s a bunch of things to do in Ponyville: you could go to the spa, or Sugarcube Corner, or Rarity’s Fashion Boutique, or Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight said hastily, beginning to walk towards the door, gesturing for Luna to leave.

“I was really hoping to leave now,” Luna said irritatedly as she started to walk towards the door.

“I wish I had the report done too, but I don’t. I’m so sorry, your highness. Like I said, it’ll be done by six,” Twilight said quickly, slamming the door shut as soon as Luna was outside of the library. She slid down the door and sighed, relieved that Luna was finally gone. “What have I gotten myself into, Spike?” she asked guiltily. Spike shrugged and began to pick up books from the floor. Twilight frowned at Spike’s ignorance, got up, and began to run around looking for a quill and paper. “We’re going to have to work extra hard to make this report, Spike. We’ve got six hours and I haven’t even started!” Twilight claimed anxiously.

“We?” Spike let out hopefully as he began to stumble up the ladder, a pile of books in hand. Twilight scowled at him.

“Yes, we!” she said angrily. Spike cringed when he realized that he would have to do most of the work. He sighed as he began to put the books back in their place.

“Hmm . . . what could we do this report on?” Twilight contemplated with concentration, looking up to the multitude of books on the wall. “We could just steal another lesson from that famous ancient theologian pony. What was his name?”

“You mean Neighsop?”

“Yeah, him!” Twilight let out happily.

“I don’t know, Twilight. We already stole like twenty six from him. Don’t you think Celestia’s gonna notice after a while?” Spike asked with concern.

“I guess you're right," Twilight sighed, looking back down from the bookshelves to the paper she had gathered. “We’ll just have to improvise with this one.” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Go get it, Spike. It had better not be Luna again.” Spike frowned and walked to the door. As soon as he opened the door, Pinkie Pie burst in, knocking Spike over into the bookshelf once again, a fresh pile of books falling on top of him.

“Hi Twilight!” she exclaimed joyfully, trotting happily into the room.

“Hi Pinkie, what do you need?” Twilight said as politely as possible, somewhat irritated that she was losing precious time.

“I was wondering if I could hold a party here today?! There’s a new pony in town and it’s extra super important that I give them a nice warm welcoming! Mr. and Mrs. Cake are extra busy today, so I can’t use Sugarcube Corner, and this is the only place big enough that I can use!”

“I don’t know Pinkie. I’ve got a report I have to make by six o’clock, and I can’t have anything in my way.”

“Pretty pretty super pretty please?” Pinkie begged, kneeling in front of Twilight’s knees, making the saddest facial expression she could pull off, attempting to make Twilight as guilt-ridden as possible. “If I can’t have the party here I would have to have it outside, which would be okay, but it’s gonna be a surprise party, and there isn’t really anywhere to hide outside, except for bushes, but I know that Rarity wouldn’t even touch a bush, and then we would have to somehow get the new pony to walk by the bushes and-”

“OKAY! You can have the stupid party here,” Twilight yelled, cutting off Pinkie mid-sentence. “You just can’t get in my way AT ALL!”

“Thank you so much, Twilight! I promise I won’t get in your way at all--cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I’ll be as super quiet as possible and won’t disturb your studies one bit,” Pinkie promised.

“Okay, good, but listen to me carefully.” Pinkie moved her ears a little closer and sobered up a bit as Twilight’s tone got more serious. “You can NOT have this party before six o’clock - do you hear me? NO PARTY BEFORE SIX O’CLOCK! Princess Luna herself is coming here to get my report at six and I cannot have ANY distractions. You got it?”

“Wait, princess Luna is coming here at six? That’s PERFECT! Don’t worry, I promise, the party will not be before Six O’Clock,” Pinkie promised yet again, doing her usual hand signals for her signature vow. Twilight sighed and began to walk up the stairs to her study. “Don’t worry Twilight - Put that frown upside down! I’m not even going to be here most of the time. I still have to make the food, make the cake, make the punch, get the supplies, hand out the invitations . . . oh yeah! That reminds me, wanna come? There’ll be cake, and ice cream, and dancing, and music, and all of our bestest friends will be there!” Pinkie exclaimed happily.

“Sure, why not? It's not like I'll be leaving.”

“Hooray! I’m happy you can make it!” Pinkie beamed. With that, she ran out of the door to Ponyville, a big job ahead of her.

“C’mon Spike,” Twilight requested tiredly as she continued to walk up the stairs to her study. “We've got lots of work to do.”

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Rarity had just woken up, and was proceeding to open up her boutique for yet another day of fashion marketing. It was almost noon and she had to open up fast if she was going to get any business. Her horn glowed a faint purple as she swished a broom back and forth across the already sparkling tile floor. She was compulsively straightening everything, even if it was already as straightened out as physically possible. Not a smudge could be on a window, not a crumb could be on the floor, not a ponykin could be at a wrong angle.

“Maybe somepony who actually knows a bit about fashion will take the time to visit my boutique today,” Rarity bemoaned as she continued to clean. Suddenly there was a rapid vigorous knocking at the door.

“Rarity! Lemme in! Rarity! You there? Rarity! RAARRRRITTTY!” a voice said excitedly from behind the door. Undoubtedly, it was Pinkie Pie.

“Or, maybe not,” Rarity sighed pessimistically, beginning to trot towards the door, still suspending the broom. As soon as she unlocked the door, Pinkie came crashing in, knocking rarity over, the broom flying into the air, knocking over a few ponykins and a rack of saddles.

“Streamers. Streamers! STREAMERS!!!!! You got any? I need ‘em, and fast! I looked all around Ponyville and no party stores are open!” Pinkie screamed. Rarity groaned as she stood up, looking over at the pile of knocked over ponykins and saddles strewn about the floor.

“Yes, I do have streamers, but honestly, darling, get a hold of yourself. It is rude to crash into somepony’s house so barbarically like that,” Rarity complained.

“I’m sorry, but it’s extra super important that I get these streamers right now! A new pony is in town and I need to set up a welcome party for her before dinner time! I’m running out of time and I still need to make the cake, make the punch, set up the music, invite everypony . . . wait . . . that reminds me, wanna come? There’ll be cake, and ice cream, and dancing, and music, and all of our bestest friends will be there!” Pinkie exclaimed exuberantly. Rarity sighed, starting to pick up the saddles from the floor with her magic.

“Fine,” she said with a hint of irritation, knowing that it would be improper to refuse the invitation.

“Hooray! I’m so glad you can come! It'll be at Twilight's library. Twilight says we can't party before six o'clock, so it'll start at six o’clock, but make sure to be there at least fifteen minutes early, because it’ll be a surprise party!” Pinkie let out joyfully, clapping her hooves in excitement. “Now, where are those streamers?”

“In the closet on the shelf to the left three columns up,” Rarity said crossly, paying more attention to fixing up her ruined display than she was to Pinkie Pie. As soon as Rarity revealed the location of the streamers, Pinkie scrambled into the closet, grabbed three spools of colored streamers, and was out in a flash.

“Thanks!” she said quickly as she dashed out of the door. Rarity shook her head and continued to mend the aesthetic integrity of her boutique.

Soon, there was another knocking on the door. After fixing up the display, Rarity waltzed back to the door, with no hopes that it would be anypony important. She opened the door to see Princess Luna.

“Hi!” Luna said somewhat shyly, still feeling down from her encounter with Twilight.

“Your highness, oh my!” Rarity stated excitedly, bowing down low to the ground, a large smile encompassing her face. “It is an honor to have you, one of the most famed ponies in Equestria, here in my Boutique! What brings you here on a day such as this?”

“Oh, well, I’m waiting for a report from Twilight, and I have to wait until six. One of the places in Ponyville she recommended I come while I wait was here.”

“Ah, I’m glad you came darling, but I doubt I would be able to match any of the magnificent designers you have in Canterlot. Ah, the royalty! The fashion! The society! Canterlot has an amazing reputation for innovative fashionistas. Only if I could live there, where ponies actually have a bit of sense when it comes to class,” Rarity bemoaned.

“You might as well try. I actually don’t spend that much time in Canterlot - I don’t like it there.” Luna replied innocently.

“You don’t like it in Canterlot? Oh my . . . Anyway, I would love to have a try at finding the perfect outfit for you!” Rarity responded, dumbfounded by Luna’s dislike of Canterlot. “Follow me!” Luna followed Rarity into the back of the shop where there was a mirror, change room, and makeup stand.

As Rarity turned the mirror towards Luna, she noticed the socks:

“Hmm . . . socks . . . interesting fashion choice darling . . . very . . . um . . . hip!” Rarity lied.

“Oh, these old things?” Luna said, blushing and looking down nervously at her socks. Noticing Luna’s uneasiness, Rarity dashed into the closet, and was out again in a second with an array of outfits.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” she suggested hastily.

“Okay,” Luna replied anxiously, unsure of what she was getting herself into. Rarity bent down to pull off Luna’s socks.

“We’ll have to take these off to get started, dear,” she said politely.

“No!” Luna said, upset with the idea, moving her hooves away from Rarity quickly.

“Oh . . . well . . . okay, darling,” Rarity managed, a twitch developing in her left eye. “We’ll see what we can do with them still on.” Rarity moved around Luna in a flash, applying makeup and getting Luna to try on different outfits. She tried a multitude of different setups, many of them ending up with Luna’s hair looking like bacon. After about twelve different outfits, Rarity found the perfect one. It was a dress, simple yet elegant, which matched her indigo coat and her silver and black cutie mark, yet was also embroidered with a shining pink gem, which matched perfectly with Luna’s bright pink socks.

“It’s perfect!” Rarity beamed. “I never thought I would find something that would match with those terrible . . . I mean . . . wonderful socks!”

“I actually quite like it.” Luna said happily, looking at herself in the mirror.

“Would you like it? I would give it to you for free, your majesty. It's the least I could possibly do,” Rarity asked greedily, hoping for the answer of yes.

“No, sorry, I don’t have any occasions where I’ll need to wear it,” Luna replied simply, the smile on Rarity’s face fading away. “But, I will make sure to recommend you if anybody I know ever needs an outfit.” Rarity’s face lit up once again.

“Oh, thank you, darling! It would be an honor to have you recommend my products, your majesty. Is there anything else I could possibly do for you, your highness?”

“No thanks, I’m fine!” Luna said happily as she trotted back into the shop area of the boutique.

“Goodbye! I hope to see you again soon!” Rarity exclaimed happily as Luna exited the shop. Luna was grateful that Rarity was not scared of her, but happy to get away from being glorified. In Luna’s opinion, Rarity took to royalty much too seriously--even more than the other ponies.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It was just past two o’clock, and Rainbow Dash was sleeping lazily on a lone cloud floating above the outskirts of Ponyville. She had finished all of the weather jobs for the day and was happily lying half asleep on the cloud, feeling the breeze in her mane as she lay there dreamily. However, this serenity was soon broken by a loud, rather happy voice.

“Hey dash!” said the voice enthusiastically. Dash, annoyed, cocked open her left eye and looked around. Nothing seemed to be there, so she closed her eye and attempted to fall back to sleep.

“Must just be hearing voices,” she muttered to herself.

“Wake up you silly filly!” the voice said again. This time Dash jumped up onto her feet and looked around rapidly, striving to figure out who was ruining her nap. She then looked over the edge of her cloud, a smile lighting up her face as she saw Pinkie Pie flying up towards the cloud, having just bounced off of a trampoline.

“Hey, what’s up Pinkie Pie?”

“I was just wondering . . . ” said Pinkie Pie at the maximum height of her bounce, cut off as she descended towards the trampoline once more. “ . . . If you could . . . ”

“Here, I’ll just fly down,” Rainbow Dash laughed as she jumped off of the cloud and sped towards the ground, reaching it in less than a second. By the time she reached the ground, Pinkie Pie was standing there happily waiting for her, the trampoline nowhere to be seen.

“Where did the trampoline go?” Dash asked, quizzically raising her right eyebrow.

“What trampoline?”

“The one you just used to bounce up to my cloud.”

“Oh, that one? I already put it away!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully. Rainbow Dash had no idea how Pinkie Pie had taken down the trampoline, put it away, and come back in less than a second, but she didn’t question. It was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

“So, what do you want?”

“I was wondering if you could come to a welcome party I’m hosting today! There’s a new pony in town that we need to give a warm welcome, and there’ll be cake, and ice cream, and dancing, and music, and all of our bestest friends will be there!”

“Sure, why not. I’d never miss one of your parties, Pinkie Pie. Who’s it for?”

“Who’s what for?”

“The party. Who’s it for?” Dash inquired, with a hint of irritation.

“Oh, that’s a surprise! The party’s at six o’clock at Twilight’s library. Make sure to be there at least fifteen minutes early, because it’s gonna be a surprise party!” said Pinkie, beginning to bounce away.

“A surprise party where the pony the party’s for is a surprise?” Dash asked confusedly.

“Of course, silly!” Pinkie yelled back.

“Well, I guess there's never too many surprises!” Dash replied, flying back to her cloud to sleep, still unsure as to how there could be a surprise party within a surprise party. As Pinkie happily bounced back the cobblestone road that lead into Ponyville, she noticed a light gray pegasus with a faded yellow mane flying around in loops in the sky. At first it seemed to be a similar pony Pinkie had seen in the past, but when she noticed that the pony had bubbles for a cutie mark, she realized that it was a new pony. Pinkie’s heart filled with joy when she realized that she had never met this pony before.

“Hey, you there! Who are you!” she screamed excitedly to the gray and yellow pegasus. She had never had the chance to throw a welcome party for more than one pony since the day she had moved to Ponyville. The gray and yellow pegasus turned around and flew sloppily towards Pinkie, crashing into the cobblestone road. When the pegasus got up off of the hard cobblestone ground, it turned around and looked at Pinkie strangely. One of the pegasus’ eyes looked up and one looked down. Pinkie couldn’t be sure whether the pegasus was looking at her, at the ground, or at the sky.

“Hi!” Pinkie said happily.

“O hai dere!” the gray and yellow pegasus replied in a loud and unstable voice. Her tongue was hanging slightly out of the right side of her snout, which was slightly wrinkled, as if something smelled bad.

“What’s your name?” Pinkie asked kindly.

“Derpy!” the pegasus responded, and clapped her front hooves together once.

“Derpy? Do you have a last name, or is that it?”

“Derpy!” the pegasus repeated, clapping her front hooves together once more.

"Oh, I get it, Derpy Hooves?” Pinkie inquired. Derpy Hooves nodded her head.

“Normally I throw surprise parties for ponies I haven’t met before, but, today there are TWO new ponies in Ponyville! It’s so super fantastically amazing that it’s like having two birthdays at once!” Pinkie let out exuberantly. “Anyways, since I can’t hold two parties at once, I was thinking we should just have one super wondiferous party for both of you at once! What do you think?” Derpy sat there staring at Pinkie for a moment and then queued in:

“A party?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, wanna come? There'll be cake, and ice cream, and dancing, and music, and all of my bestest friends will be there!”

“Dere’s icecreem and cake and music and dancing and frans, but will dere be muffins?” Derpy inquired, pronouncing many words slightly wrong.

“Of COURSE there’ll be muffins!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“HOORAY! I’ll be dere!” Derpy replied.

“Okay, sounds good! It’s at the library at six O ‘Clock, but make sure to be there at least fifteen minutes early because its a surprise party!” Derpy Hooves flew off into the distance, flying backwards in a sloppy spiral, screaming “MUFFINS, MUFFINS,” as she went. Pinkie took it as a yes.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Applejack had been tending to the apple trees since early that morning. It was now three o’clock and she was almost done bucking all of the apples from the northeast orchards. She sat down on the grass for a second, catching her breath.

“C’mon Applejack, you gotta keep goin’. Only a few dozen more trees to go,” she said determinedly, getting back onto her hooves, wiping the sweat from her brow. She began to walk towards the next apple tree, pulling a wooden, apple-loaded cart behind her. Suddenly, a voice came timidly from behind her:

“Um, hello?” it asked. Applejack turned around to see princess Luna standing behind her. She unhitched herself from the apple cart as quickly as she could and ran up to Luna, bowing deeply in front of her.

“It’s a pleasure, yur’ majesty,” she replied uneasily. Applejack did not know much about manners, so she was very nervous around royals. “What brings ya' here?”

“I’m waiting for Twilight to write me a report, and this is one of the places in Ponyville she recommended I visit while I wait,” Luna responded.

“Oh, okay. Ya’ hungry? We’ve got apple fritters, apple pie, apple strudel, apple juice, apple sauce . . . .”

“No thanks, I’m not hungry,” Luna replied politely

“Oh . . . well, there aint’ much else for a royal to do ‘round here other than eat. I’m mighty sorry, but ‘bout all we do ‘round here is buck apples and then either sell em’ or eat em’,” Applejack apologized.

“I could try bucking apples,” Luna suggested quietly.

“Nah, sorry, but I don’t really think you’re the type. I don’t mean no offense or nothin’, your highness, but apple buckin’ aint’ exactly a job for a royal. It’s dirty, sweaty, hard work--that’s what it is,” Applejack replied as politely as she could. “Ya’ wouldn’t want to dirty up those pretty pink socks ya’ got there, would ya’?

“I guess not,” Luna replied, looking down at her socks, which were already quite dirty. Applejack’s doubts irritated Luna, and the mention of her socks embarrassed her even more. It was as if the socks showed that she was weak.

“If you were hungry I’d recommend Sugarcube Corner, but since you’re not, I’d suggest the spa. It’s the kinda thing somepony like you'ld enjoy.”

“Okay,” Luna replied simply, hiding back her sadness, flying away into the distance. Applejack sighed with relief once Luna was out of sight.

“Darn, I hate bein’ ‘round royals like that,” she exclaimed as she began to re-hitch the apple cart to her harness. “It just makes me nervous to no end.” Just before she was about to buck the next apple tree, another voice came from behind her.

“Hey Applejack!” it said happily. Applejack responded angrily:

“What is it now?” she said with irritation; however, when she turned around, a smile lit up on her face as she realized it was just Pinkie Pie. “Oh, hey Pinkie, what’s up?

“I was wondering if you could come to a welcome party I’m hosting today! There’s TWO new ponies in town that we need to give a warm welcome, and there'll be cake, and ice cream, and dancing, and music, and all of our bestest friends will be there!”

“Sure, I’d love to come to yur’ party, Pinkie Pie! Your parties are always sure to be great!”

“Hooray! I’m glad you can come,” Pinkie said happily.

“Who’s the party for?”

“Well, the party is actually for TWO ponies. One half of the party is for a pony named Derpy Hooves, and the other half of the party is a surprise!”

“A surprise?” Applejack asked, bewildered.

“Yeah! It’s at 6:00 at Twilight’s library. Make sure to be there at least fifteen minutes early, because half of it’s a surprise party!”

“Okay . . . ” Applejack replied, still confused about how there could be a party within a party.

“Have you seen Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked

“Yeah, she headed through here this mornin’. She was headed with a herd of ducks to the lake just above Ponyville.”

“Thanks!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, beginning to bounce off to the lake. Applejack went back to her bucking, kicking the tree in front of her, a shower of apples falling down into the cart that was harnessed behind her.

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

“There! All done!” Twilight said happily as Spike wrote down the last sentence of the report on friendship.

“Another job well done,” Spike said with a hint of sarcasm as he closed a book labeled Neighsop’s Most Notable Parables that had been open on the floor. Twilight looked at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was one minute to six o’clock.

“Perfect timing too!” she exclaimed joyfully. “C’mon Spike, we have a report to give!”

“Will do!” said Spike as he followed Twilight out of the door that led to the library. The entire library was pitch black and not a light could be seen--even the windows were blacked out. All that could be heard was a faint whispering of the voices of a group of ponies.

“What the hay is going on?” Twilight whispered to Spike.

“Don’t ask me!” Spike replied with trepidation. There was a knock on the door, which was not answered. After a slight pause, the door slowly creaked open. As soon as the door to the library opened, revealing Princess Luna, Twilight realized what was happening and her jaw dropped in horror. She had told Pinkie Pie that she couldn't have a party before six, but she hadn't restricted her from having a party at six or after six.

“H-hello?” Luna asked timidly to the seemingly empty library. After a second or two, the lights abruptly turned on and an explosion of confetti shot into the air, revealing a room full of colorful streamers and paper cutouts with text reading “Welcome to Ponyville!”

“SURPRISE!” everypony except for Twilight yelled happily. Luna jumped with a surprised yelp, but soon a smile lit up on her face like never before. She was delighted that the ponyfolk of Ponyville had been so thoughtful to throw her a welcome party.

Soon, however, as the lights were turned on, most of the ponies in the room stifled their happy cheers and stood awestruck with looks of fear on their faces. The only ponies that were still screaming were Pinkie and Derpy.

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!” Pinkie yelled cheerfully.

“MUFFINS! MUFFINS! MUFFINS!” Derpy screamed in the background as she flew in loops back and forth across the large space that made up the library’s ceiling. Soon, even Pinkie Pie was silent, noticing that all of the other ponies had ceased to make noise. Derpy continued to loop around the library screaming “MUFFINS MUFFINS,” for a few seconds, but soon clued into the silence and became silent herself, landing sloppily on the floor, crashing into one of the bookcases, a pile of books showering down on top of her.

The smile on Luna’s face was quickly wiped off. Everypony except for Pinkie seemed so dissatisfied to see that it was Luna and not some other pony.

“Oooh, is this a quiet game now? I give up, because I KNOW Fluttershy would win!” Pinkie screamed happily, attempting to break the tension, but every pony remained silent. Suddenly, Twilight intervened.

“I’m SO sorry Princess! All I was going to do is give you a report, and send you on your way. I promise I didn’t know what Pinkie Pie was plotting the whole time. This wasn’t intended to be a party at all. I’m sorry if I have shamed myself. Please forgive me!” Twilight begged. Soon, Rainbow Dash joined in as well, begging for forgiveness:

“Me too! I had NO idea that Pinkie would be crazy enough to try and throw a party for someone as important as you!” Soon everypony other than Pinkie was joining in.

“I’m mighty sorry, ma’am. I di’nt have the smallest idea that Pinkie here was gonna’ try an’ throw a party for a princess!” Applejack stated.

“Oh . . . um . . . I’m sorry.” Fluttershy managed to let out timidly.

“Oh, darling, I am so sorry! You see, your highness, I doubt that any of these ponies have the slightest idea what it means to have class. This is a travesty, simply devastating. I am so regretful, honestly,” Rarity confessed nervously, attempting to make use of the classiest language she could utilize. Derpy managed to pop her head out of the pile of books on the floor and join in the conversation.

“String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and-” she was cut off by a large explosion. All of the ponies in the room were knocked back against the wall and a shower of books came reigning down from the bookshelves, covering the floor in a knee-high pile of tomes and almanacs. A deep blue shimmering light filled the room, blinding everypony for a split second as Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon. The socks were gone--replaced with shining cobalt plate boots. Flickering shades of purple and indigo flashed across the room as Nightmare Moon’s shimmering starry mane flowed in the darkness. The air was darker than black; it was filled with pure night.

“HOW DARE YOU TREAT YOUR PRINCESS LIKE YOU HAVE!” she screamed in an evil voice powerful beyond description. No pony spoke a word; all of them were petrified in sheer fright--even Pinkie could not bring herself to laugh at this darkness. “I come here to Ponyville to get a simple report and everypony is either terrified of me or too nervous to act normally in my presence!!” she yelled, continuing to rant in rage against all of the ponies in the room. “One pony has the heart to throw me a party, and you all push it aside as if I don’t like parties--as if I despise them!! FOALS!!” she complained angrily. Nightmare Moon then proceeded to point out the flaws of each pony in the room:

“You, Fluttershy!” she screamed, pointing at Fluttershy, who was cowering under a heap of books in the corner, “you acted as if I was a horrible beast attempting to kill you, when all I wanted was directions! You sensitive, timid, bag of dirt!” Nightmare Moon’s words stabbed like knives through the night-filled air.

“You, Pinkie Pie!” she said, pointing to the Pink pony who was standing in the middle of the room, slowly inching away from Nightmare Moon, shaking as she did so. “Despite the fact that you attempted to throw me a party, it didn't work out did it? Early today when all I wanted from you was directions, you screamed in fright and ran away as if I was a terrible monster! That is NO WAY to treat a ROYAL!” Pinkie whimpered a bit, and continued to inch backwards.

Nightmare Moon then directed her attention to Twilight, who’s head was just barely poking out from under a pile of books. “Twilight! All I asked you for was a simple report, and you lied to me, saying that it was almost complete, when you obviously hadn’t even started it, pushing me out of your home as if I am not welcome here!! You insolent FOAL!” Twilight cringed at the mention of her lying.

“Rainbow Dash, you over-confident, blundering pigeon!” Nightmare Moon addressed Dash, who was standing at the left side of the room, trembling, but trying very hard to stay standing: to overcome her fears. She winced at being called a pigeon. “You treated me as if I was an untouchable royalty, being loyal to everything I say and do, as if I am a fragile ornament that will break with the slightest touch!”

Next, Nightmare Moon glanced towards Applejack, who was standing in the right side of the room, trembling, struggling to stay standing. "Applejack! I came to you simply to pass time, and you quickly got rid of me, uneasy in my presence." Applejack started slowly inching farther into the corner, terrified of Nightmare moon and guilty of her faults that had been rudely pointed out to her. "You treated me as a weak filly, unable to even kick a tree, when I raise the moon for you every night. How IGNORANT! How do you feel now that you witness my POWER!" Nightmare Moon's horn shimmered and Applejack was flung into the corner of the room, falling into the sea of books which now covered the floor.

“And you . . . ” Nightmare Moon addressed Derpy Hooves, who was not trembling, nor cowering, but staring towards Nightmare Moon, one of her eyes pointing up and one of her eyes pointing down. “ . . . You’re just so . . . stupid-looking . . . so . . . derpy!” Nightmare Moon let out, finally finding the perfect words to describe Derpy. Nightmare moon's voice was slowly becoming less powerful, slightly distorting as she yelled, as if Luna was trying to get out.

“And Rarity, the worst of ALL of these little ponies,” Nightmare Moon spat at Rarity, who was cowering under a pile of books, much like Fluttershy. “I came to your shop purely for entertainment and you treated me as if I was better than everyone else in the world. You treated me as a fashion idol and greedily requested me to recommend your products to “high-class,” ponies, you filthy MULE!!!” Rarity shuttered at the mention of being a Mule and began to weep.

Nightmare Moon then let out a deafening scream of rage. “AAAAAUUUUUGGGH!!” She screamed, her voice distorting, gradually getting higher and quieter, losing all of its power and evil. The night left the room almost instantly and the lights turned back on. Nightmare Moon transformed back into Luna, crumpling into a small deep blue heap on the ground, her face in her hooves, crying into her fluffy pink socks. The night had sucked all of the happiness out of the air.

Pinkie was the first to regain her happiness: “Oh no, don’t you see what you’ve done!” Pinkie said to the rest of the her friends in the library, all of them slowly losing their fear and regaining their consciousness. All of the ponies slowly began to get on their hooves and trot towards Luna. “All she needed was some friendship and all of you guys did the complete opposite! I tried to make a party for her, but then you guys ruined it! Did you see the smile on her face when she saw that we had set up a welcome party for her!”

“I’m so sorry Pinkie--I just didn’t understand how lonely she was inside. I just couldn’t be comfortable around her because she’s . . . well . . . royalty!” Twilight responded.

“It’s not ME you have to apologize to, it’s HER!” Pinkie said sharply. Twilight knelt down to Luna, who was still uncontrollably weeping on the ground. “I’m so sorry, Luna,” she apologized. Soon, all of the ponies apologized, even Derpy. Luna took her face out of her hooves, and wiped the tears out of her eyes with her fluffy socks.

“No, it’s me that should be sorry,” she said determinedly. “I came here resisting friendship from the very start. I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, just to prove to my sister that I would never be able to make any friends, and in doing so I ignored all of the generosity and care all of you had for me. Then, just now, I got so angry with all of you that I turned into Nightmare Moon, where I can only see imperfection. I said all of those horrible things about you, exaggerating all of your flaws, bringing out all of your weaknesses, and ignoring all of your strengths and beauties.”

“It’s okay, we all forgive you!” Pinkie said happily, all of the other ponies nodding in agreement. Luna looked up at Pinkie sadly, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Are you sure?” she asked doubtfully, unsure of how anypony could forgive her after the horrible things she had said about them.

“Absolutely, one-hundred percent, positively, definitely, super-certainly sure!” Pinkie replied happily. “And we’ll prove it to you by giving you the best party ever! Isn’t that right girls?” Pinkie asked, all of the other ponies nodding in agreement once more, Derpy continuing to fly in lopsided circles.

Only a minute ago the room had been covered in a dark void of anger and loneliness. Not everypony had completely recuperated; however, soon, as happiness began to warm up the room, all of them recovered. An uncommonly large smile lit up Luna’s face as all of the ponies in the room dispersed towards various activities. Luna saw that Rainbow Dash was at the apple dunking barrel in the corner of the room and decided to go join her.

“Hey Luna!”

“Hey!” Luna replied happily.

“I bet you can’t beat me at apple dunking!”

“It. Is. ON,” Luna responded daringly. Dash dunked her head into the water and pulled out a shiny red apple.

“Hah! A pigeon couldn't do that, now could it?” Luna then dunked her head in the water and, using magic, pulled out three apples at once, two of them red, one of them green.

“Hey . . . wha . . . that’s not fair!” Dash protested.

“A pigeon definitely can’t do that,” Luna giggled. Dash scowled at her and continued to dunk her head into the water, attempting to get three apples at once to prove she was not a pigeon.

Knowing it was all in good fun, Luna smiled and walked into the middle of the room where music was playing and Pinkie was dancing.

“Yeah, get it on girls!” Pinkie screamed as she violently kicked back and forth. It was the first time that Luna had danced in more than one thousand years, and it was one of the funnest things she had ever done. She didn’t remember dancing as being particularly enjoyable before she was banished to the moon, but now she was having her best night ever, and dancing seemed like the most exciting thing she had ever done. By now, the ground was littered with books, but no one payed attention to them, knocking the sea of books back and forth as they danced and played. Not even spike bothered to begin picking up the books; he was busy eating cake on the table in the far right corner of the room.

Soon, Luna grew tired of being kicked into the wall by Pinkie and decided to retire to sit beside the fireplace and sip on punch with Rarity. The purple-colored punch tasted strange, but good, and was refreshing after a long session of dancing.

"Luna?” Rarity asked.

“Yes!” Luna replied happily.

“Did you really mean it when you said I was a . . . well . . . um . . . mule?” She cringed as she said the word “mule.”

“No, of course not Rarity! In my Nightmare Moon form I point out everypony's weaknesses. I knew that you are very conscious of your image, so I called you a mule. Similarly, I called Rainbow Dash a pigeon because she is very conscious of her flight skills.” Luna giggled and looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was still trying to get three apples at once out of the apple dunking barrel. “To be honest, Rarity, I think you are probably the best looking pony I have ever set my eyes upon.”

“Really?” Rarity beamed, a large smile encompassing her face.

“Definitely!”

“Oh, thank you, I am honored, darling. You are very beautiful as well.”

“Thanks!” Luna responded happily. There was a short silence as both Ponies continued to sip their punch.

“May I ask you a personal question?” Rarity inquired.

“Sure, why not?”

“What’s with the socks, dear?” Rarity asked, attempting to be as polite as possible. Luna put down her punch and looked at her hooves, seeing the fluffy pink socks.

“You know what . . . ” Luna started. She thought about it for a second and realized that she had no need for them anymore. “I have no idea.”

“Then why do you wear them, darling?”

“I don’t know. I used to be quite fond of them,” she said, confused as to why she had worn them for the past thousand and one years. And with that, she slipped them off and threw them into the hungry flames of the fire, shedding both her solitude and her past.

Rarity gasped and responded, “Oh my, there was no need to do that, dear. The socks may have looked . . . well . . . terrible, but they were still perfectly good with boots, or merely for warmth in the winter.”

“No. I needed to get rid of them,” Luna said happily as she watched the fabric slowly ignite and denature, turning black and withering as it did so. “I hate socks.”

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The rest of the night went by in a flash. By the end of the party, Luna had apple dunked, danced, drank punch, ate cake, played twister, and most importantly, made friends. Derpy was still flying around the ceiling in sloppy loop-de-loops, now messily munching on a muffin, crumbs sprinkling to the floor like rain.

“Well, I really should get going,” Luna said, looking at the clock, which read almost midnight. She looked happily out the window at the moon, which she had brought up into the sky during the party.

“Aww, I wish you could stay longer!” Pinkie said happily, bouncing over to Luna.

“Me too, but there are matters I have with my sister that I must deal with. Thank you so much for being such great friends to me, and forgiving me for how rude I have been in the past!”

“No problem!” Twilight said, all of the other ponies in the library replying in agreement.

“Now, where’s that report, Twilight?” Luna asked.

“Well, I did make a report for you before you came here tonight, but I think Celestia would be much more pleased if you went and talked to her about what you have learned about friendship tonight. My report is nothing special--just another lesson ripped off of some parable about a bunch of talking animals,” Twilight replied with confidence.

“I think that is a wonderful idea!” Luna responded happily, walking to the door. “I hope to see you all again in the near future!” she said to the crowd of ponies in the library as she flew out into her night.

"Goodbye!” all the ponies said, waving as Luna disappeared. Twilight smiled as she watched Luna fly away, a purple glimmer in the midst of a black, starry sky. The purple light did not go towards the moon, but flew towards the mountains of Canterlot until it was out of sight.

Twilight looked up at the shining, desolate surface of the moon, which lit the ground with a pale, iridescent light. She smiled and then walked back into the loud and colorful library, shutting the door behind her. From that night on the moon lonesomely orbited Equestria every night for eternity, with nopony on its surface to comfort it.