“So here you go.” Pinkie presented her with one of the oat muffins that Twilight had smelled from upstairs. “There’s more in the basket if you want them, I brought milk too.” The bright pink pony looked worried as she turned to Spike, “I didn’t know there was a dragon though…I’d have found a gem to bring if I had.”
“It’s okay.” Spike smiled reassuringly back as Twilight tucked into her muffin and let out a sound of appreciation, “I mostly eat what Twilight eats, gems are a snack, not a necessity.” He took a bite of an oat muffin, “Ooh that’s good.”
“I can introduce you to Rarity.” Pinkie beamed at him, pleased that her baked goods were going down well. “She knows where to get all the best gems and she’s the one decorating for the celebration tomorrow.”
Twilight blinked at her, realising that knowing the bright pink pony could be an asset. She would be much less likely to get lost while looking for everyone she was supposed to be talking too if she had a guide, “Really? Do you know the ponies of Sweet Apple Acres too? I’m here to check on the preparations and...”
“I know every pony in Ponyville.” Pinkie nodded, “And I plan the best parties so I’ve been helping out with everything.”
That was fantastic news. The filly, whose cutie mark on closer inspection was a trio of balloons, would know everything Twilight needed to know about the ponies she was going to meet. Not only that but she had helped with everything so she already knew what the celebrations was going to be like.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to help me?” Twilight asked hopefully, “I don’t know Ponyville very well, but...”
“Sure!” Pinkie bounced across the room happily, reminding Twilight of a foal just informed that they could eat the entire cake by themselves. “We could start at Sweet Apple Acres and...” Twilight’s stomach rumbled again and the earth pony filly laughed, “Have some more, I made them for you.”
“Thank you.” Twilight let the earth pony filly babble away happily to Spike as she helped herself to a second muffin. They really were good and she was lucky to have run into someone like Pinkie, even if she was a little loud for Twilight’s tastes. As she ate the pink filly gave her a rough outline of what as in the works for the festival tomorrow morning.
It sounded pretty much like everything was on track, but Twilight was not just going to take her word for it. She knew she was being a perfectionist but relying on Pinkie Pie’s sense of ‘nearly ready’ felt like cheating. She was supposed to be overseeing the preparations, not relying on someone to do it for her.
“I have a list.” Twilight told her companions before she licked her lips clean of crumbs, “Of places to visit and ponies I need to speak to. Sweet Apple Acres is first on the list, it apparently belongs to the Apple family.”
“Yeap, you’ll want to speak to Applejack, she’s in charge.” Pinkie nodded rapidly. “She’s got a lot of her family over at the moment to help. They’re making lots and lots of food and it’s all so good. Applejack sometimes comes over and helps me in Sugarcube Corner when I’m making things with her apples and…”
Pinkie was off again and Twilight knew she should not tune her out like she was, but as she prepared to leave, she could not help it. The bright pink filly was a lot like a couple of her classmates, if you aimed her in a direction she would quite happily start babbling on that subject and end up several pages away on a completely different topic.
For some reason it did not bother Twilight as much here as it had in the classroom, possibly because here it did not matter as much. They were not supposed to be learning anything and she found that with the right question here or there, she could quite easily redirect Pinkie onto the topic of conversation she wanted.
Then Pinkie saw Spike strap his deck belt on and she let out a delighted gasp and bounced over, pulling her own deck out of Celestia only knew where and letting the baby dragon see it as she babbled about the local Duellists. Spike handed his over in exchange, distracting Pinkie from the fact Twilight was using her magic to buckle her own deck pouch on to her front left leg.
She was still not entirely comfortable wearing it like she used to. The poor cards had once been dragged around everywhere with her, they had even been put under her pillow at night, but after White Lightning’s accident she had barely touched them. Playing him again, for the first time since that day, had reminded her of her love of the game, but it had not entirely fixed the problem. Still she remembered her brother’s words. Duel Monsters was obviously popular here and could be the ice breaker she needed to pass the Princess’s test, so on went the deck holster.
“You play too, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, putting her deck away as the unicorn came over to them and passed the list to Spike who carefully holstered his deck and took it, along with the quill she offered him.
“Yes and no…” Twilight tried not to wince, “I gave up playing for a while but I kept my deck up to date. I only played my first proper game with this deck recently.”
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of people to practise on in Ponyville. Almost everyone our age duels.” Pinkie thought she was reassuring Twilight, but she actually made the unicorn more nervous. Just because she was good in Canterlot, it did not mean that she would be able to win here like she could there.
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