Twelve

Sagittarius was confused, to say the least.

Multiple things happening at the speed of lighting tends to do that to you. Like the beginning of a long trip. Rushed, disorganized and chaotic, coming to full stop once you where on the road.

Poor old Sag felt just like the bag you throw around. One second he was having a nice nap on Dash's couch, next thing he knew, he was being dragged through the skies towards the library at neck breaking speed. By none other than Rainbow Dash.

"You don't look very happy." his winged sister asked. Libra seemed to be taking all this rather well. Maybe it was for the fact because she had the cyan pegasus eating out of her legs for compliments.

"I'm confused really. How did we get here?"

"Well, first we-"

"No! I mean, I know what happened." He dodged flying cupcake. "What I mean is, how did all of this come together so fast?"

Libra glanced at the party. The library was somehow holding all twelve zodiacs, minus Gem and Minnie, who were asleep upstairs along with the crusaders, six ponies and a dragon, most of them dancing. The pink pony was shouting something while throwing pastries around, managing a bullseye with the horn of the purple one.

"I'm not exactly sure myself."

As Libra noted, Pinkie was scoring points. Fast. Twilight giggled as Rarity tried to pull the donut from her horn without breaking it, lest her precious coat got dirty with sugary cream. Needless to say, she failed.

"I don't think she liked that very much." Aqua said.

"Rarity can be a drama queen sometimes. She'll get over it." Applejack chuckled. Meanwhile, Fluttershy did her best to keep Scorpio under control. Success was mixed, as a couple punctured book covers showed.

"Alright. Who's up for some cider!" Rainbow Dash said, flying around with a tray filled with mugs. Her five friends immediately grabbed a mug, eager to taste the nectar of the gods. The zodiacs, on the other hoof, seemed rather hesitant to taste the drink, a fact that Twilight soon noticed. Leo grabbed a mug, sniffed it and placed it back.

"You don't want cider?" Twilight asked.

"What is this liquid that you call cider?" Taurus asked back. Applejack stood by Twilight, happy to defend her family's product. And maybe a little bit tipsy. The mug she received from Dash was far from being her first one of the night.

"Why, this is cider mah' friends. The best drink thank pony kind has ever known." She waved her mug in front of them. "Here, have a taste."

Pisces grabbed the mug, unsure if to drink its contents. An assuring glance from Applejack and Twilight did little to help. She raised the edge to her lips. Taking a deep breath, she drank a large gulp of cider. Applejack's smile was bashed to pieces as Pisces spat all of it. Right on her face.

Needless to say, she was not amused.

"You...spat it..." Twilight murmured.

"Well..." Pisces wiped what was left of the cider with her hoof. "It wasn't as good tasting as you said it would."

"How dare you..." Applejack growled, but was pulled away by Rarity before the situation escalated further. While the possible fight had been averted, Twilight realized they had a serious problem. There were eleven ponies in front of her. All of them thirsty. And they had nothing to drink except water.

"If Pisces had such a reaction towards it, the most likely thing is that none of them can drink it..."

"What now?" Leo asked. Twilight was at lost. They couldn't possibly serve water in the party. There was no way Pinkie would allow it, calling a disrespect for tradition. But with the cider gone, what could they possibly serve them?!

"Eh...I remember seeing Leo drink some milk earlier..." Spike commented, noticing how Twilight was starting to enter a paranoid state.

"Milk?" Capricorn laughed. "Pigging out Leo?" Leo blushed at the comment.

"I, eh..."

"Leo drinks milk, yes." Virgo mumbled "But not all of us follow that diet."

"Then what do you drink?" Twilight asked.

"Ambrosia liquid. Made with the finest orchids of Virginis." Aries answered. Twilight blinked in confusion. This was not going well. Suddenly, Pinkie landed between them. A large jug of purple punch balanced precariously on her head.

"Here you go!" she served a glass to each of the alien ponies. Leo took a sip, smiled, and then drank her whole glass. Her siblings followed her example. Soon enough, all of them were happily drinking away.

"Wha...how...Pinkie? What did you give them?" Twilight backed away as the zodiacs greedily gulped down the juice.

"Grape juice. My left hoof twitched, which meant that  somepony was thirsty." Pinkie giggled. "I overheard your conversation. So I ran to the Sweeping Pony tavern, bought all the grape juice I could and brought it here!"

"But how did you know they would like it?"

"I didn't! But you don't see them complaining do you?"

Indeed, the zodiac had gotten a lot more lively now that they had something too drink. The talked, laughed and cheered with the rest of Twilight's friend. Perhaps a little too lively. But it didn't matter right now. They were laughing. Her friends were laughing. Everypony was having fun. Even the princess would enjoy the party!

Princess.

Uh oh.

"The princess!" Twilight levitated Spike until he was right on her face. "Spike! The letter! Has the princess answered?!"

"N-no!"

Twilight's brain went into overload. What if she hadn't gotten the message? What if some sort of terrorist found it? What if they were all in danger?! There was no time to waste! They needed a plan. A checklist to start with. Spike was struggling with her magic. Didn't matter. He was going to be busy soon enough. All she needed was a scroll. Where was it?!

"A magical library and no scroll left?!"

Somepony bumped into her. Twilight stumbled a little before crashing in the table. Spike was sent flying upstairs where the kids where. The entire library went silent. Twilight grumbled something before standing up. Not even a cricket could be heard as the unicorn dusted herself off. Tension could be felt on the air. Twilight was visibly angry now. Her friends prepared for the worst. All except one.

"Woohoo!" Pinkie cheered. "Go twilight!"

And with that single sentence, Twilight broke out laughing.

Maybe Celestia didn't get the letter. Maybe she did. Maybe they were in danger. Maybe they were not. A whole lot of maybes were up in the air, and there was no way to know the answer to any of them for the moment. But right now, that didn't matter. right now, she was in a party. With her old friends. With her new friends.

With all of her friends.

And she wanted to have fun.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Spike had landed on the bed. Right were Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle laid sleeping. Both of them rustled a little bit before returning to their dream world. Spike didn't dare to move a muscle, lest she wake them up and face their anger. Only once they were clearly asleep did he try to move away from them.

But he couldn't.

"What the..."

It was his tail. Sweetie Belle had grabbed his tail, hugging it like a teddy bear.

"Perfect..."