Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were on their way to Sugarcube Corner to get a bag of flour. It was part of their latest plan to get their cutie marks: crop dusting.

Twilight Sparkle was organizing her old, broken quills by shape and size in the hopes that she could spot a pattern and perhaps find a way to invent the perfect, indestructible quill. Beakers of various bubbling substances lined her workbench for the next phase of the project. Twilight was wearing a lab coat and goggles and levitated a pair of tongs nearby. She sniffed at the air above one of the beakers. It smelled like science.

Ah yes, the aroma of discovery. She was about to make a breakthrough, she could just feel it. Giddy with anticipation, she carefully grasped the beaker with her tongs. This next part would be very delicate-

Slam.

She flinched and the beaker tipped over. Yellow and green smoke wafted from the table. Twilight abandoned her plans and frantically looked around for a neutralizer to that concoction. She had to act quick before the entire table dissolved. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

“Hey, Twilight,” Spike said as he walked into the room. The door leading into the basement was at the top of a set of stairs. He took two steps and his cheek bulged and he let loose a great big belch of green fire. “Wa-woah!” he cried out as he lost his balance and came tumbling down the stairs. There as a 'crunch' as he landed squarely on his back. Twilight poured a clear liquid on the chemical fire and and white smoke wafted in response. When the smoke cleared, she frowned as she looked at the ruined mess of her workbench. She'd stopped the reaction, but it'd left a glassy trough in her table.

“Spike?” she asked as she turned her attention away from disaster. It was still a bit hazy in the room and she didn't spot him right away. “Spike?” she asked again. She looked around, and then down and found him at the bottom of the stairs. An open letter drifted down and landed on his nose. Twilight picked it up and glanced at it while Spike moaned. Spike shook his head and tried to right himself, but failed. His spines were quite thoroughly stuck in the wooden floor.

“A little help please?” Spike asked. He pushed against the floor as hard as he could but couldn't free himself. Twilight rolled up the letter and grabbed Spike with her front hooves. After a moment of struggling, he popped free and went flying. Twilight reared backwards and nearly fell over but she steadied herself with her wings. Spike landed neatly on her back. “Oof.” He grabbed the letter from the air and unrolled it to read for himself.

“Make some ponies?” Twilight puzzled over that odd request, “What in Equestria do you think she means by that?” she asked Spike. As much as she wanted to clean up the mess and get back to science, a letter from Celestia took precedence. She climbed up the stairs and left the basement carrying Spike with her.

“I don't know, but perhaps you should ask the others? According to this they all have to do it too.” Spike said.

Big adventure awaited Rainbow Dash in the sky. The cyan pegasus pony with a rainbow-colored mane and tail had spent all morning and most of yesterday arranging clouds into a makeshift obstacle course. She planned to spend the afternoon practicing her moves for the Wonderbolts – after she'd finished her nap, of course.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out and tried to find a safe place to enter the cloud layer. She failed.

Popping up greet Rainbow Dash, Twilight tripped on a barrel cloud knocked it over. “Woah!” She tried to keep her footing, but the barrel started rolling. She ran to keep her balance, but that only made it roll faster. This roll cloud barreled straight into the obstacle course. It collided with another barrel, and they stuck together and kept rolling. More and more clouds kept getting stuck and assimilated as the blob moved on.

“My obstacle course!” Rainbow dash shouted in horror as her hard work balled up and rolled away.

“Rainbow Dash!” a muffled voice came out of the rolling disaster.

“Hold on Twilight, I'm coming.” Rainbow Dash pumped her wings and streaked through the air. In a blink, she dove into the cloud and extracted Twilight. The huge cloud ball slowed down but it still had a lot of momentum. It crashed against the finish line in a huge flash of thunder.

Rainbow Dash winced at the sound and held Twilight tight. Twilight blushed in embarrassment (probably) and wiggled free to resume flight on her own. “Thanks, Rainbow dash,” Twilight said. “Sorry I wrecked your...” Twilight couldn't recognize it from its ruins.

“My obstacle course?” Rainbow Dash's frown clearly showed her irritation. “You-” She was about to yell at Twilight but her eye twitched briefly and she smiled instead. “Twilight, It's great to see you up here. Finally get tired of those dusty old books and come out to enjoy some fresh air?” she asked.

“Ah-” Twilight paused. “Well, it is nice, but I'd prefer to fly low until-”

“Surprise!” The surviving cloud below them suffered a catastrophic failure as it erupted into confetti. Amidst the debris, a bright pink pony with poofy pink hair floated up to greet them. Pinkie pie was wearing an over sized pair of 'wings' fashioned entirely out of balloons. “That looked like tons of fun,” she said. She was very hyper. “You popped up to say 'hi' and tripped and got things rolling and the obstacles were accumulating and you turned the obstacle course into an obstacle-cumulus cloud!” Kra-koom. The balled up mess thundered again. “Obsta-cumulus thundercloud,” Pinkie corrected. It looked like it might start to rain. Pinkie Pie started to drift closer to it and uselessly flailed her legs in protest. “Ehyee,” Pinkie inhaled and made a nervous smile.

“Let me take care of this obsta-cumulus thunderus and you can get Pinkie Pie back down to earth.” Rainbow Dash pointed at the mess and Twilight nodded in response.

“Sure. Meet us at the library when you're finished,” Twilight said. She then bit Pinkie's tail and pulled her downwards towards Ponyville.

Rarity greeted them at the boutique dress shop. It was said that she possessed a beautiful heart. Well, she said it. She's a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane. She took one look at them and said, “Oh dear.” She disappeared into the shop while Twilight tried to talk some sense into Pinkie pie.

“Pimkie,” Twilight mumbled. It was hard to talk with a tail in her mouth, “Make 't off.”

“Make toff? What's toff?” Pinkie asked. Before Twilight could clarify her request, Rarity reappeared levitating a needle alongside her. Silently, she sent it towards Pinkie. With careful precision, she threaded the needle past all of the balloons and tied a string around Pinkie Pie. The other end she wrapped around the mailbox allowing Twilight to let go.

“Well, I guess that works too.” Twilight said.

“Now really, Pinkie, you look ridiculous in that outfit of yours. Why the colors simply don't match at all. Hmm...” Rarity furrowed her brow in thought.

“Well, it wasn't for the looks, well, I mean, it was, but I was the one who wanted to do the looking if you know what I mean.” Pinkie Pie wafted in the breeze and wiggled her legs around uselessly again. “Ehyee.”

“Rarity, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, “I've gotten a rather puzzling letter from Celestia, and it's addressed to all of us.”

“Oh dear, is something wrong?” Rarity asked. “Oh something is! Something just dreadful!” Rarity looked at Twilight's hair and saw just how frazzled it had gotten from being too close to lightning.

“No, I don't think so,” Twilight replied, but her thoughts were cut off as Rarity tackled her mane with an over-sized brush. Twilight knew it was useless to protest, and flushed in embarrassment (probably) as Rarity tamed her mane. “Thanks, Rarity. You're always one to make a good appearance. Could you...” Twilight trailed off a bit as she looked at Pinkie Pie's balloon suit. “Could you bring Pinkie Pie and meet us at the library? Rainbow Dash should be there soon but I still need to get Applejack and Fluttershy.”

“Hmm, sure.” Rarity puzzled over Pinkie Pie again. “Ide~ea,” she proclaimed. “I think I can just make that work. I just need to get some socks and some streamers...” she was thinking out loud.

“Yay, streamers!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Twilight frowned in disapproval.

“Don't worry Twilight,” Rarity placated. “This won't take long at all. We won't keep you waiting.”

Twilight had her doubts, but it wasn't as if the letter was urgent or anything like that. It was a fairly long walk from the boutique to the apple orchard. At least Fluttershy's cottage was fairly close to the farm. Hmm, walk. Twilight really should exercise her wings a bit more. She'd stay close to the ground this time.

Faithful and strong, the freckled orange Earth pony Applejack stared slack-jawed at her bleach-white corn field. “Just what in tarnation are those fillies up to?” she said. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were carefully covering each and every corn stalk with a fine coating of flour. Applejack wasn't sure whether she should intervene or just watch. Were they expecting some kind of cutie mark from this? They had to be, but what would it look like? Bleached corn? (Like that would even show up on Sweetie Belle's flank).

Twilight landed nearby. “Applejack, could you-” Twilight looked past Applejack and couldn't help but watch as the fillies worked. “Huh, so that's what Apple Bloom wanted that book of obscure farming techniques for. It's good to see such young ponies taking an interest in pre-equestrian history.”

“That's not any kind of farming technique that ai dun heard of.” Applejack mumbled her words with an overly thick accent. “And we Apples keep records that go back generations.”

“You wouldn't have heard of this. The book was written by a pegasus – Private Hailstone,” Twilight explained.

“No high-falootin' pegasus could possibly know anything worth knowing about farming.” Applejack blurted out.

“Actually, he did manage to farm something. But he only managed a single harvest all year and had to resort to some strange practices to even get that much. He was stubborn and independent and worked alone so on top of that, he made his own weather too.”

“That- Wha? Why would he do something like that?” Applejack scratched her chin. She was cautiously curious.

“Way back when the pony tribes were still divided, Sergent Hailstone (he had a higher rank then) never liked the fact that their food supply depended on the tributes of Earth ponies. He always felt like they were holding out and saved the best food for themselves. When he felt like he'd been slighted, he'd whip up damaging storms to punish them. One day, he went too far and ruined half the corn harvest with hoof-sized hail.

“That didn't go over well go over well with his superiors and he was demoted. In response, he left the tribe to run his own farm. After all, he'd seen it done countless times. Stubborn and suspicious he took over an abandoned farm in a hidden valley. The Earth ponies that originally lived there had to leave because a landslide made the plot inaccessible from the river and it was too much work to haul their crops over the mountain to get them to market.

“Private Hailstone wouldn't have that problem because he could fly. He sure couldn't farm though. Year after year his crops kept failing and he mostly subsisted on what he could graze. He encountered a lot of problems that he never even thought possible. The few Earth ponies who didn't just slam their doors in his face when he came to them for advice would just shrug and shake their heads. As Earth ponies, they had a way of working the land that not even they understood and no pegasus could hope to duplicate. But still, he persisted.

“He was thin, and ragged. If he could find a way to harvest even a third as much as the Earth ponies could, than that would at least match the portion of food the pegasus got from their tithe. That would allow for the formation of colonies independent of the other tribes. To that end he developed, by insight or luck, several techniques that overcame the obstacles he faced, sort of. These allowed his farm to... function. Almost. In the end he could never get the yield up enough to make the project worthwhile. His best harvest was less than a tenth of what the Earth ponies could do and nearly four times short of his goal.

“The pegasus ponies were disappointed, but still recognized the military importance of being able to run their own farms if the Earth ponies ever turned on them. Thus, these farming techniques were carefully preserved and archived for future generations of pegasus.”

“That's a great history lessen and all, Twilight, but that don't explain why my sister is trying them out,” Applejack said.

“Hmm, good point. All that history stuff is explained quite well in the summary chapter. If she'd read it she'd know how silly it is to try them on a farm run by Earth ponies.” Twilight squinted her eyes a bit and peered at the fillies. “Come to think of it they're doing the crop dusting all wrong. That's nothing like the technique described in intricate detail in the book.”

“Ai wouldn't put it past her to just look at the index and jump to conclusions.” Applejack knew her sister quite well. “She doesn't have much patience for real book learning and prefers to go by experience.”

“Well in that case, you may want to step in soon. It looks like they've gone from crop dusting to flank dusting and the next chapter's on crop rotation.” Applejack bit her lip when Twilight said that. She started walking down to the corn field, but paused.

“Say Twilight? Wasn't there something you were going to ask me about?”

“What? Oh no! How could I have forgotten? This is terrible! The others could be waiting.” Twilight hopped up and down on the tips of her hooves as if she were pacing in place. “Ooh, what if this is really important? What if the future of Ponyville's in danger? What if the future of all of Equestria's in danger!?” Twilight was really starting to spaz out now. She bared all of her teeth in a goofy frown and her eyes shrunk to beads and drifted in opposite directions.

“Whoa, whoa, easy there Twilight.” Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. Immediately, Twilight stopped what she was doing and closed her eyes. She raised a hoof as she took a deep breath and extended it as she exhaled. This calmed her down immensely, but her eyes constricted again and her breathing was a little shallow. “What were you going to ask me?” Applejack repeated.

“I've gotten a rather confusing request from Princess Celestia. Could you please meet me at the library so I can explain it with the others? I still need to see Fluttershy but the others are on their way.” Twilight twitched. “Oh, I can't believe I was rambling on about ancient history while the rest could already be waiting.”

“Shure ai'll be there lickety-split. Just let me talk to Apple Bloom and-” Applejack's eyes went wide as she saw what the fillies were up to. She raced down that hill so fast she nearly lost her cowpony hat – but managed to catch it on her tail. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle stop! It's not supposed to bend that way!”

Twilight watched her friend run off and paused to look at the sky. Several pegasus were scavenging the remains of the obsta-cumulus to remove any building grade clouds that they could. It was more like a deconstruct-stratus cloud now. Rainbow Dash wasn't there, so Twilight hurried on in search of Fluttershy. It was past early morning now so she'd be done with breakfast – which was good since animals tended to get irritable when their meal time was interrupted. It could be bad though, since Fluttershy tended to wander off afterwards and could be hard to find.

Fortunately, she didn't have to search. Fluttershy was presiding over an argument between Shoeshine and a Pink Flamingo. Twilight didn't arrive in time to catch what the argument was about but the ruined pink cowpony hat was a big clue. Normally, Fluttershy would translate for the animal since she understood them better than any other pony but those two were just huffing and glaring at each others eyes.

“Well I know just what you need:” Fluttershy spoke up, “a great big hug to apologize and make everything better.” With that she wedged herself between them than wrapped her forelegs around them and pulled them together in a great big, awkward hug. Fluttershy had a way of sharing kindness that could melt even the most hardened of hearts. Shoeshine and the flamingo couldn't stay mad after that and hung their heads and averted their eyes.

While neither of them were truly happy with abandoning their grudge, the price for picking the argument back up would be to make Fluttershy unhappy and neither of them wanted to do that. Shoeshine apologized, and the flamingo shook wing-to-hoof in agreement. They'd decided to accept that resolution and move on.

“Great work Fluttershy.” Twilight trotted up. “That's one way to end an argument. If you could be assertive like that more often you'd be a great leader.”

“Um, I guess, not really though.” She squeaked and scootched backwards.

“Ah, you're right,” Twilight reluctantly agreed, “but you do have to admit that was a great way to end an argument.”

“Yeah.” Fluttershy smiled at the compliment. Her voice was soft and calm. It was a fitting match for the yellow pegasus and her long pink mane.

“Will you come with me back to the library? I've gotten an odd request from Celestia and all of friends need to participate too,” Twilight asked.

“Hrm? Of course I'll come. I'll do anything for the princess.” Fluttershy walked along in quiet contemplation then suddenly stopped. Her eyes shrunk and she nervously said, “Anything that doesn't involve big, mean, scaly, fire breathing-”

“I assure you, this is nothing like that.” Twilight cut her off.

“Oh. Well, in that case, I'll do anything for the princess.” Fluttershy repeated. Twilight rolled her eyes at the lack of sincerity her friend had just displayed. When the library came into view, Twilight sparked her horn and teleported both of them the rest of the way there. ”Eep.” Fluttershy hopped in surprise.

Opening the door, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash. She and Spike were making book forts. “Arr, yer encyclo-torpedo's breached our hull. We're literary taking on water!” Rainbow Dash's horrible book puns had Spike rolling on the floor laughing. Rainbow Dash looked a bit scorched and her mane was in much more disarray than usual. Twilight wasn't sure whether that was from playing a bit rough with the fire-breathing dragon or taking down that thunderstorm cloud before it could start raining. The library was still intact, (if a bit messy), so probably the latter.

“Spike,” Twilight said, “put those books away. The others will be here soon.”

“Oh, I don't mind the mess,” Fluttershy said softly. She dragged a hoof on the floor and looked around as Spike got to work. “I can help if you want.”

“Sure-” Spike agreed but Twilight cut him off.

“That's alright Flutershy, though I'm sure Spike appreciates the gesture.” Spike snorted at that. “The letter from the princess is more important though. Take a seat, I'll be right back.” There weren't any seats in the library. Fluttershy awkwardly sat on the floor while Spike walked around her carrying piles of books. Twilight went upstairs to retrieve the letter from her room. Once Twilight left, Rainbow Dash gave Spike a wink and started gathering up books as well. The doorbell rang and Fluttershy got up to answer it.

“Greetings Rarity. My, what a lovely outfit,” Fluttershy complimented.

“Oh, thank you, Fluttershy.” Rarity was wearing a large light blue brimmed hat, a pair of sunglasses and a short, frilly skirt. “It's part of my new summer fashion design series.” Rarity looked at the door, then looked up and gave a light tug on the string she was holding. “Um.”

Fluttershy poked her head outside and looked up. “Woah.” Rarity was holding a giant balloon float. It was bright pink, covered in streamers, and sparkled in the morning sun. The pink, pony mannequin was held aloft by giant balloon wings. Pieces of cloth carefully attached even gave the impression of feathers. That mannequin was very lifelike. It almost looked like it moved. Fluttershy squinted against the sun, blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Pinkie?” She asked.

“Whooo, Whooo!” Pinkie cried out. “I'm flooaating. Isn't this just great? Look at me. Wheee.” Pinkie playfully trotted in place. This sent the streamers on her stockings swirling in response.

“What?” Rainbow Dash set down her books to open a window and look out. Even Spike stopped his chores and ran outside. “Wow, Pinkie. You look awesome,” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight Sparkle came downstairs and teleported outside to see what was going on. She appeared next to Rarity and looked up. “That's amazing.” Twilight smiled at the sight. The rest of them were smiling too, and Pinkie Pie let out a great, big, grin.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Pinkie said. “The balloons were my idea but Rarity spent all morning sprucing them up and now I look splend-a-rif-i-float-i-tacious awesome-tacklular!” Pinkie spread her forelegs wide with that statement and sent confetti raining below. “Once we're done here, I'll get Rarity to take me through town. She can show off her new fashion design and I can get every pony to look up and smile.”

“That's great and all Pinkie,” Twilight said, “but how are you going to get inside?”

Pinkie Pie blinked. “Magic?” She asked.

“That outfit won't even fit in the library,” Twilight replied.

“Eh, heh. Why don't we just met outside instead?” Rarity asked.

“Well, we could do that,” Twilight conceded, “but haven't you been wearing that all morning? That looks rather uncomfortable. Isn't that starting to get sore?” Pinkie Pie tugged at the straps. Red lines on her pink hide were clearly visible where the harness had been digging against her skin.

“Well why didn't you say anything?” Rarity asked. “Let me add some padding and make that more comfortable.” Rarity levitated a pillow out of the library and tore it open to remove the stuffing. Twilight gasped and frowned at that.

“Hey, thanks – but a little bit of pain is nothing for a whole town full of bright big smiles,” Pinkie said. Pinkie's tummy rumbled. “Uh, I guess I am a wee bit hungry too.”

“Not a problem,” Rarity said. She sniffed at Twilight's flower box and then tore a plant out of the ground without asking and levitated it up for Pinkie to grab. Twilight just sighed as Rarity continued to destroy her property.

Pinkie Pie grabbed the flower and then suddenly crossed all of her legs. “Um, I need to pee,” She said. Twilight walked off to the side so as not to be standing directly underneath Pinkie. Rarity, defeated, pulled out an umbrella. “Just get me down!” Pinkie cried out.

Reluctantly, Rarity pulled on the string and dragged Pinkie down to the ground. Once Pinkie took it off, it was perfectly clear just how fragile the outfit really was. If they wanted to put something like that together again it would probably be better to just start over from scratch. Still, most pieces would be salvageable. Rarity tied it off to Twilight's mailbox. As soon as she was free, Pinkie Pie dashed off to the little fillies room. She dropped the flower though, which Rarity caught with her magic as she followed Pinkie inside.

Her giant hat was too big for the doorway though and got stuck. It fell off as she walked in. Rarity turned around to pick it up with her mouth but Applejack came bursting in at that moment. Applejack was covered in flour and had a corn cob stuck in her hair. The cowpony hat she normally wore was draped over her tail. Applejack paused in the entrance briefly to scuff her hooves – turning Rarity's hat into a soiled, crumpled mess.

“Sorry ai'm late y'all,” Applejack said. “You wouldn't believe the trouble some fillies get into. Hey, Rarity, am ai glad to see you. Do you think you could do me a favor real quick and mend this hole in poor ol Brimbrim?” Applejack reached over to bite her hat off her tail and held it up so the hole was visible. Rarity's narrowed her eyes and twisted her face in an incredibly sour frown. “Aw, it's not so bad really. Ol Brimmy just got caught up in the argument so to speak. But ai just had to stop them from doing any grafting.” Rarity's eyes narrowed further and her face scrunched up.

“Wow, today's just a bad day for hats,” Fluttershy said and held up the crumpled remains of Rarity's headpiece.

Applejack looked at the results of her destruction. “Whoops. Was that yours Rarity? Ai'm sorry. Ai thought that was a doormat.”

“Hrrmph.” Rarity snorted and swung her head up in disgust.

With the doorway clear, Twilight walked in and changed the topic. “But Applejack, grafting's a perfectly valid farming technique. They use it all the time up in the Matterhoof vineyards.”

“And them mountain folk can keep their crazy technique to themselves,” Applejack spat out. “Ain't no way ai'm going to just sit around and let poor Bloombark get cut up an turned into some sort of freaky Frankentree.”

“Bloomberg? Didn't we take that tree to Appleoosa?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Not Bloomberg. Bloombark. The tree growing next to Bloombilly, Bloombumpkin, Bloomloop...” Before Applejack could finish reciting the names of every tree on Sweet Apple Acres, there was a flushing noise and Pinkie Pie returned to the room looking much relieved. She snatched the flower out of the air that Rairity had picked for her and ate it. Spike saw that and stopped putting books away. He left for the kitchen to get some real food and drinks. Fluttershy dropped Rarity's used doormat hat and walked over to Pinkie Pie to rub some ointment on her bruises.

“Hey, that tickles.” Pinkie giggled.

“Well, we're all here,” Twilight said. She held up the letter to read aloud. “Ahem;

“Dear Princess Twilight,

You and your friends simply must make ponies for next year's Summer Sun Celebration. Be sure to get started right away.

Yours truly,
Princess Celestia”

“Make ponies?” Several of them echoed.

“What do you suppose she means by that?” Rarity asked.

“We can't just create ponies from scratch,” Pinkie Pie said. “Or maybe you can? Can you just create ponies by mixing things in a lab?”

“That would be a disaster,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And unethical,” Fluttershy added. Spike returned from the kitchen with some snacks. Fluttershy grabbed a juice box to sip on. Applejack took a piece of toast and apple jam while Rarity took a bunch of grapes. Pinkie Pie scooped up an entire basket of muffins and Rainbow Dash also grabbed a juice box. Twilight Sparkle took what was left: a banana.

“Thanks, Spike. You're always so thoughtful. It's great to have an assistant like you.” Spike beamed from Twilight's praise.

Applejack lifted her head after spreading the jam on her toast. “Well shoot, we could just draw ponies or something.” She showed everyone there a crude jam profile of a pony.

“An art project?” Rarity asked. “That seems much more reasonable. Why, I could doll up my mannequins with so much clothes that you couldn't tell if there was a real pony underneath or not.” She rubbed a hoof against her chin and looked up thoughtfully. “Why if I do it right, I can debut a new fashion line as well. It'd be like making ponies and making ponies fabulous at the same time.”

“Now that's a sense of business that ya can sink yer teeth in,” Applejack said. “Pony-shaped apple fritters, apple pies, and all kinds of apple-tastic treats to sell for the Apple family.”

“Well, I've got much higher aspirations.” Rainbow Dash cut in. “I've been working on some cloud sculptures as part of my training for the Wonderbolts. So uh, I'll just refine the technique so I can make cloud ponies in the blink of an eye. With an entire sky full of cloud ponies that'll be sure to catch some attention. Yes. I can just see it now. Rainbow Dash – sky pony extraordinaire.”

“Well, I'm not much of an artist,” Fluttershy said. “I mean, I appreciate art, a lot, but I'm not very good at it myself – and the animals don't – oh, I know. I can ask the beavers to carve pony figurines from the trees they cut down.” Fluttershy paused and looked down. “It'd give them something to do other than build dams where they don't belong.”

“That's a nice, practical idea,” Applejack said. “Ai like it. What about you, Pinkie? Are you going to make balloon-ponies?”

“Nah, I think I'll bake them all into cupcakes,” Pinkie-Pinkamena Diane Pie-Pie said.

“Wha-” Applejack was so confused she couldn't even form a question.

“Well, you are what you eat right? So I figure that if I bake cupcakes for ponies to eat - I'm essentially baking them into cupcakes, in a way. And I'll make so many cupcakes that I can give one to each pony in town.” Pinkie scratched some math out on her hooves and frowned. “But I can't do it all at once, and I'd need so many cupcakes that I'd probably have to keep baking them all day. I know! I'll have every pony stop by and take a number. That way they wouldn't have to sit at the stall all day – and when their number comes up, I'll bake them into a cupcake!”

“Aw, but I want a cupcake too.” Spike said.

“Every pony – and dragon,” Pinkie Pie added. Spike nodded at that. Pinkie Pie made great cupcakes. He'd let her 'bake him into a cupcake' any time she wanted.

“That's an... existential kind of performance art? Ai guess,” Applejack said. “Just don't don't ruin their appetites,” she hissed in Pinkie's face.

Twilight swallowed the banana she'd been chewing on and dropped the peel. “Those are some pretty good ideas everypony but I'm afraid that they just won't work out.” Twilight narrowed her eyes and pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie. “Except you. Seriously? That thing about the cupcakes? Pretty creepy.”

“Hey, I liked that 'thing' about the cupcakes,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “If Pinkie Pie wants to bake all the ponies into cupcakes she can do me first.”

“Okay,” Pinkie Pie bubbled.

“Can you please stop talking about cupcakes,” Applejack said. “Twilight just what about our ideas won't work?” she asked.

“Well, it's a matter of timing and impact really.” Twilight explained. “While all of your ideas do the job of 'making ponies' – somehow – ” she added under her breath. “They aren't things that can really be started right away.

“If you doll up your mannequins now you won't be able to use them all year,” Twilight said.

“Well, I wouldn't go that far,” Rarity said. “I can just make the clothes and have them ready until then.”

“But that still wouldn't take you all year. I've seen you make a whole ensemble in a day. That's not something that you'd need to work on immediately,” Twilight argued.

“Well, that is true,” Rarity conceded.

“Applejack, I certainly wouldn't want to buy year-old food. Rainbow Dash, clouds last less than a day. Fluttershy, do you know how much wood beavers can go through? Your cottage would be buried in a huge pile of figurines if you asked them to start now. Pinkie Pie- Gaaaah!” Twilight clearly did not want to talk about baking ponies into cupcakes – let alone year-old cupcakes.

“Also, the impact: I'd be happy with an art project from somepony like Cheerilee, but this is Celestia we're talking about here. The ruler of all Equestria!

“The last time I'd gotten a vague and ambiguous command from her it was to 'make friends'. It wasn't something that I took seriously, but it's changed my life completely; even the fate of Equestria depended on it.” Twilight huffed dramatically.

“So what do you have in mind Twilight?” Spike asked. He'd gone back to shelving books again.

“Oh, uh, Spike.” Twilight spoke a bit louder and slowed her speech down a bit as if she were talking to a newborn. “Why don't you go down to the spa and ask them to fire up one of your seven hour bubble baths?”

“What? But I haven't finished my chores yet and I just had a bath a few weeks ago,” Spike replied.

“You know you should bathe at least once a week,” Twilight insisted.

“But – right now?” Twilight gave Spike her most potent of pouty-faces. “Oh, all right.” Spike walked out the door.

“Twilight, why did you send Spike away instead of answering his question?” Rarity asked.

“That wasn't very nice,” Fluttershy added.

“I'm sorry, but he's too young for this conversation – he's still just a baby. I promise I'll make it up to him,” Twilight said.

“Too young for what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, you know how Pinkie said we couldn't make ponies from scratch? Well that's not true. We can,” Twilight said.

Pinkie nearly choked on her muffins. “But we closed off the mirror pool for good reason!” She spat out – crumbs flying everywhere.

“Not that Pinkie. We need stallions,” Twilight said. Fluttershy was unfortunate enough to be taking a sip from her cranberry juice and spat it out her nose. It looked like she'd suffered an instantaneous nosebleed.

“What?” The others cried out.

“Ooh, it all makes perfect sense.” Twilight was lightly hopping up and down while trotting in place. She was certain she had it all figured out but from her frown she wasn't very happy about it. “The average gestation period is 340 days and there are 365.242 days in a year. We really do have to get started right away if we want to make ponies by next year.”

“That's absurd. Celestia would never ask us to do something like that,” Rainbow Dash said. “She'd never even ask Cadance to do something like that.”

Rarity pulled a couch out of nowhere and collapsed on it. “OooOooh,” she moaned. This wasn't dramatic enough for her, so she got up, fluffed the pillows, and collapsed on the couch again. “OooOooh.”

“Aren't we really a bit young to be thinking about something like that?” Applejack asked.

“Technically, we've been mares since our first estrous cycle,” Twilight said. Twilight raised a hoof to make that statement, but noticed the banana peel when she went to put it down again. She wondered what she'd been thinking when she dropped it and bent her head down to pick it up. Nervously, she began chewing while the others took up the conversation.

“But this is really out of the blue,” Pinkie Pie said. “I mean, the Cake twins are still just yearlings. They can be a lot of fun, but they're a lot of work too. I wouldn't want to add a foal of my own – just yet.”

“There isn't any time to form a committed relationship. We'd have to just grab some random pony and 'shack up',” Rainbow Dash said. She waved a foreleg for emphasis.

“It would be scandalous to have a foal out of wedlock,” Rarity said. “I'd be ruined.”

“And ai'm sure it wouldn't do the stallion's reputation any good either,” Applejack added.

“No sense in ruining two ponies lives for the sake of creating a third,” Fluttershy said.

“Aren't we supposed to be studying the magic of friendship?” Rainbow Dash asked. “This isn't something that we could really do together... as friends,” she added.

Twilight swallowed as she walked over to the trash can to deposit the banana peel. She looked a bit foolish when she realized that her mouth was already empty.

“Perhaps she means for us to find coltfriends?” Twilight asked.

“Um, no offense Rarity, but that would be – like, the, worst possible way to meet a coltfriend.” Applejack bumped Rarity off the couch and fell over on it dramatically. “OooOooh,” she imitated.

“It's not just them though. What kind of mother wouldn't be friends with her own foal?” Twilight asked.

“That is true,” Applejack conceded. “But ai still don't like the idea of having this thrust upon us. It'd make much more sense to get things done naturally in our own time in a normal relationship.”

“It's not like Celestia ever waited for the things she's asked of us in the past,” Twilight cut in.

“That's not really fair. Celestia has total faith in us and none of those things were even under her control anyway,” Rainbow Dash said.

“None of them?” Twilight briefly unfolded her wings. “I do, of course, have complete confidence in her. Which is why I think that we should go through with this.” It was so quiet after that statement that you could hear a seed sprout. Every pony there grimaced a little bit inside.

“Um, we don't really know for certain that's what Celestia wants us to do,” Fluttershy said.

“She's right. Oh why did you have to send poor Spikey Wikey away? We could have just asked,” Rarity pouted.

“Well, he is just a baby.” Fluttershy responded. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“A baby dragon,” Rarity replied. “He already knows a lot more than what you give him credit for. He knows what color his egg was, and I'm sure he knows where they come from.” Rarity glanced around for something that might support her argument and levitated a book off of Spike's table. She opened it up when she read the title. “Plot Pony's Guide to Wooing Mares?” Rarity flipped a few pages. “It's got three whole chapters on facial hair?”

“Oh, that's kind of a sad story actually,” Twilight said. “He'd devoted so much of his life to something that he wasn't any good at that he never earned his cutie mark.”

“But what about chapter four?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, he'd never admit it. He always said that his cutie mark almost exactly matched his coat color and that you could only tell the difference upon very close inspection,” Twilight said.

“Ugh.” Rarity's aura shrunk down to a point. She was only holding the book by the tip of it's spine. She motioned as if she were going to place it on a shelf, but dropped it in the trash can as soon as Twilight wasn't looking.

“Be sure to drink lots of water.” Twilight advised, “Once you find a stallion who will say 'yes', you'll have to let him sniff your urine to help get him in the mood; and be sure not to bite or kick when he starts to mount-”

“And you don't think that we don't already know this?” Rainbow Dash cut in.

“Eheh.” Twilight chocked sheepishly.

“Ai think we all know how foals are made,” Applejack said. “It'd be a matter who; and ai just can't think of anyone ai'd even be willing to ask.”

“What I'd want in a stallion would be someone who'd really treat me like a lady,” Rarity said. “He'd be handsome and rich and well respected.”

“That sounds more like a 'Mr. Right' and less like an actual pony,” Twilight chided. “Try thinking about what you'd want in a father for your foals.”

“Um, a unicorn, I guess? And I'll have you know, Mr. Right is indeed a real pony. He's just taken already.” Rarity eyed her couch, but Applejack was still lying there. “Ugh, this conversation is so barbaric. Can't we talk about something – anything else?”

“This isn't getting us anywhere,” Twilight cut in. “Pinkie Pie, you know all the ponies in Ponyville. Who would you pick?”

“Me?” Pinkie Pie jumped. “Um, well, I guess I'd like a stallion who's a lot of fun.”

“And which stallion would be the most fun?” Twilight edged her on.

“Please don't say 'Big Mac'. Please don't say 'Big Mac'. Please don't say 'Big Mac',” Applejack muttered under her breath.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes and tapped her chin in quiet contemplation. “Pokey Pierce,” she said.

Fluttershy spat out more cranberry juice through her nose and her wings involuntarily unfurled. “P-P-Pok-okey P-Pierce?” She stammered. “I-I can't take it anymore.” Fluttershy flew up and crashed out one of the windows. Well, she quietly unlatched the window and opened it – but for her that was 'crashing'.

“Wait, Fluttershy!” Twilight called after her.

“Aw, let her go,” Rainbow Dash said. “This is silly.”

“But we need every pony to agree to this,” Twilight said. “Come on Applejack, don't you honestly think that this is the right thing to do?”

“Well, um, er, that is, ai, um, er, well, uh, eeh, uh, ai, um, well, wouldn't ya know it?” Applejack scrunched up her face and darted her eyes back and forth. “But, uh, um, ai'm feeling particularly anestrus tonight, so, uh, ai'll be goin' now – bye.” Applejack darted out the door.

“What? That makes no sense,” Twilight said. “The estrous cycle is triggered by daylight. So a few days after the Summer Sun Celebration, the longest day of the year, every mare in the kingdom will be at the peak of her cycle. Why in olden times this was even celebrated as the 'Night of Life'.”

“A barbaric celebration that fell out of practice long ago in favor of the more socially acceptable Hearts and Hooves day,” Rarity pointed out.

“What? Did I hear this right? You somehow got Applejack to... tell lies?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“But Applejack wouldn't-” Twilight started.

“Enough,” Rainbow Dash cut her off, “is enough. I'm going to go find Spike, and we'll straighten this whole thing out lickety-split.” Rainbow Dash flew out the open window.

“I'm going to also take my leave,” Rarity said. She was too upset to use her magic so she just shoved her couch out the door with her head. “Harrumph.” She scratched up the floor in the process.

Outside, Derpy the mailmare looked up in awe at the giant balloon thing that was tied off to the mailbox. She had no idea what it was, but it looked impressive. She opened the mailbox and shuffled through her bag to find the right letters. Once she'd found them, she deposited them and closed it up. There was a cracking noise as the mailbox was torn from the ground. Shortly thereafter, the mailbox and its contents vanished from sight as it drifted above the clouds. Derpy scratched her mane and grinned sheepishly even though it wasn't her fault (this time). Somepony would still find a way to blame her for it though.

Back inside, Twilight addressed the only pony who was left. “Pinkie. I'm glad that at least you're still with me on this. Heh heh. It's good to know that I can at least count on you.”

“Cupcakes?” Pinkie asked with a smile.

“Wha? Urm. Uggh. Grumph. Graaah!” Twilight Sparkle made all kinds of strange faces and she stormed out herself.

Author's Notes:

“Wow, today's just a bad day for hats,” Fluttershy said.

You don't know the half of it.