“I think I can accommodate,” said Principal Celestia, as Twilight told her about the favor. “It’s a cheap price to pay, considering. And I have to say, I’m surprise and delighted to hear you’ve been making progress.”

“Let’s not celebrate just yet,” Twilight replied. “First I need to get this thing off the ground; then we can start talking about progress. To be honest, I feel like I might be crossing some ethical line here.”

“Compared to Sunset, you’re a saint. Don’t worry about it; I’ll see it done.”

“Thank you, Princess—Principal.”

“That’s the second time you’ve called me Princess,” Celestia said, a curious look on her face. “Do I perhaps remind you of someone you know?”

“I… yeah, kind of. My, uh, my mentor, so to speak. Back in my home town…” The line between truth and fiction was proving a hard one to walk. She mentally prepared herself for the follow-up questions, but to her surprise, they didn’t come.

“I see. Well, I’m honored you would treat me with the same respect as this ‘Princess’ of yours. I’ll do my best to measure up.” And with that slightly awkward exchange, Twilight excused herself.

Before long, she was walking through the corridor once again, towards the northwest wing. Her goal wasn’t Rarity, but just about anyone else who belonged to the same club. Luckily, the girl who had been there the first time was sitting in almost the exact same spot.

“Oh hey, it’s Fall Formal Princess to-be!” she said. “Looking for Rarity? Good luck getting her attention now; she’s in the zone.”

“Actually, I’m not here for Rarity.” How to go about asking this… “Would you say you’re as good as Rarity when if comes to sewing”

“Hah! Not even close. I mean, I’m good, but Rarity is the queen of the needle around here.”

“Okay, so, maybe you could help me out instead?”

“Depends. How hard’s the work, and what’s in it for me?”

“You know the stuff Rainbow Dash wears? I just wanted three extra pairs of those…”

“Oh, that’s it? I could churn that out in no time at all! If it’s for operation Get Back At Sunset Shimmer, I’ll even do it for free.” On the inside, Twilight sighed in relief; the issue of compensation was a kink she hadn’t entirely worked out yet. “They’ll be done in an hour.”

“Thank you.”

Out of the west wing, Spike asked in a whisper. “Are you going to tell let me in on the plan yet?”

“You’ll see. Next stop, Pinkie Pie.”

***

The pink party planner, on special leave from the Principals, had been allowed to start the cupcake preparations early, so Twilight was walking down a street near the outskirts of town, trying to find the right house.

“It’s times like these I wish I was back in my pony body,” Twilight complained. “These legs are pathetic! You’re lucky you got four of them, Spike.”

“I’ll take two strong dragon legs any day. Did she say Fullberry Road, number five? That’s four over there, and that’s the river…”

All in all, the town wasn’t much bigger than Ponyville, the biggest difference being there were roads everywhere. It made sense; with legs like these, humans needed alternate modes of transportation. Looking up at those mountains, she could almost imagine she was back in Equestria. Except she was watching them from higher off the ground than her pony self. And the air tasted different. It was the little things that tripped her up.

“So yeah, I think that’s her house,” Spike said, pointing ahead. The house was painted bright pink, which should have been a dead give-away if she’d been paying attention. Also, the mail box was shaped like a cupcake.

Twilight knocked on the door.

There was the sound of rummaging, and with a click, the door opened. “Heya, Twilight. Come to oversee the production? It’s going pretty great; can’t let you taste them just yet, but you’re welcome to marvel at the sight!”

This was where the Cakes lived, but not where they ran their business: they had a café downtown for that. That’s not to say their home kitchen wasn’t impressive, even more so right now with all kinds of bowls containing all kinds of ingredients placed around it.

“As you can see, batch one and two—that’s thirty cupcakes—are done and done, and I’m in the process of mixing up the third and fourth. This is delicate work, so I can’t chat for long. And don’t get any funny ideas, Spike; I’m onto you. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit of you’re one of those talking dogs from another dimension that has the sweets for cupcake frosting!”

At that, Spike shifted his eyes nervously, and let out a meek ‘woof?’

“That’s what I thought.”

“It’s okay, I was only came here to ask you something,” Twilight said.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Do you think you could make one of the batches banana flavored? I do like banana.”

“Banana flavored, eh? Interesting concept, but I’m not sure that would work well with the recipe. Then again… I don’t need to replace all the vanilla with banana powder, maybe just about half of it? What do you think, Spike?”

“Uh, sure?” Spike answered without thinking.

“Yeah, that would… wait a minute!” She turned around and stared right into Spike’s wide opened eyes.

“Woof! Woof!”

“That’s more like it. Whew, the sugar must be going to my head. I need to cut down on the taste testing. Alright, one batch of banana cupcakes, coming right up!”

“Also, do you think you could bring some samples for this evening?”

“Absotutely!”

“Then I won’t take up more of your time. Keep up the good work.”

Eager to leave, they left Pinkie to her cooking. Once they were far away from the house, Spike said. “So is she on to me or not?”

“Who knows with Pinkie. Hopefully, no one will believe her if she told anyone.”

After a few minutes more walking, Spike said, “Banana cupcakes, though? I thought you didn’t like banana.”

“Oh I don’t, but Fluttershy does. At least, her pony version does, so I’m assuming the same goes here.”

“Ooh, now I’m starting to see what you’re doing. But do you really think they’ll fall for it?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see. But first, I gotta pass by the library again, and send a couple of email. At the end of the day, it’s show time.”

The end of the day rolled around without any hassle. One by one, her friends came to join her in the classroom where the meet-and-greet would take place.

“Alright, before we do the progress report, we need to to move these desks and chairs.”

They set too it. For the first few minutes, the work was done mostly in silence, though Rainbow Dash seemed to want to out-stack Applejack at any cost. Twilight was worried that this would take up all of her focus, but soon enough, her priorities shifted, and she said, “Hey, by the way, Rarity, thanks for finally fixing my clothes. You didn’t have to make me new ones, but I appreciate you going the extra mile.”

“I did?” she replied, looking somewhat confused. “I don’t remember getting back around to your order… then again, I take so many, it’s hard to keep track sometimes.”

“You left a note and everything, saying you’re sorry for being late.”

“That does sound like something I’d do; customer satisfaction first, and all that.”

“Guess you’re not so bad after all.” Rainbow Dash said, smiling. Twilight held back a smile of her own. So far, operation Friendship Push was a go. Now for part two.

“Whew,” Twilight said, the task of moving tables over. “That’s that. Pinkie, did you bring the samples?”

“Did I ever!” And in no time at all, an array of cupcakes were sitting on one of the desks by the wall. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“Did… did you bring the banana ones?” Flutershy asked meekly.

“I sure did!” Pinkie said, and presented one with yellow topping. “Enough for everybody! Apparently, Twilight is really into banana, so she asked me if I could make an extra batch of… but hold on, how did you know I was making them?”

“You told me yourself. I was surprised when I got an email from you, since, you know… we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot.”

“Huh. Did I do that…? Oh well, must’ve been during one of my sugar blackouts. But I wouldn’t even have brought you any at all if you hadn’t send your email, apologizing for that mean comment you made.”

“I…” Fluttershy seemed more than a little confused, but decided to just nod and say, “oh yes, uh, I did that.” She took a bite of the cupcake. “Oh my! Pinkie, this is amazing!”

“Speaking of amazing and apologies,” Rainbow Dash said, patting Applejack on the shoulder. “Sure, I’ll come watch the Canterlot Soccer League match with you this weekend. I dunno how you managed to score those tickets.”

“Was that what the tickets were for?” Applejack asked, eyebrow raised. “I found them in my locker this morning, with a note that said ‘from an ally’. I thought they were from you.”

“No way; you even sent me an email and everything: look.” She showed her the phone, and Applejack read the screen.

“I didn’t write this!”

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “I call shenanigans! Rainbow Dash gets new clothes Rarity didn’t remember making? Applejack making an invitation she doesn’t remember? And worst of all, now that I think about it, I never even had any sugar blackouts this time!”

“Yeah, and this email is sent anonymous, with a ‘signed, Applejack’ at the end! It’s weird enough that I’d use email; I usually just send texts.”

“Oh yeah, same here, actually,” Pinkie Pie agreed.

“And, uh… I never sent an apology,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sorry…”

“But if we didn’t send those emails, then…” As if a giant light bulb had lit over all of their heads at once, they turned around. “Twilight!”

“Who me?” she played dumb, but doing a poor job of it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Drop the act, Twilight!” Rainbow shot. “Geez, do you think we’re stupid?”

“Yeah, Twi,” Applejack agreed. “I get that you wanna give us a ‘push in the right direction’, but honesty is a virtue!”

“Yeah, you can’t just force people to be friends. It’s gotta happen on its own, or it doesn’t count.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Pinkie Pie there,” Rarity said. “If we are to trust you, you are going to have to promise us never pull a stunt like that again.”

Twilight made a sighed. “You caught me. I’m sorry, girls, I just really wanted you to stop arguing. But you’re right, I shouldn’t have tried to force it.”

Well, as long as you’re sorry,” said Applejack. Then a silence filled the room, that awkward ‘now what?’ kind of silence. Spike looked up at Twilight with an expression that communicated ‘was that your whole plan?’. Twilight returned a look with the hint of a smile, though her heart was threatening to burst from the anticipation.

“But, uh,” Fluttershy spoke first. “It, uh… it was a very delicious cupcake…”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Glad you liked it…”

“Uh-huh.” She took another bite.

“And, um…” Pinkie Pie continued. “You did kind of give me an apology just now. Remember, ‘I never sent an apology, I’m sorry’?”

“Oh, I-I guess I did.” Another silence, though this time it didn’t last as long. “Listen, Pinkie Pie, I don’t think you’re annoying as a person, just sometimes, when it’s quite inappropriate…”

“When’s it ever inappropriate for a party?”

“When the animals in the shelter are trying to sleep? It was supposed to be a silent auction.”

“Ohh… I remember now.” She averted her gaze, looking very uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Mayhaps I mighta sorta jumped to a teeny tiny bit of conclusion there…”

“To be fair, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Rarity spoke up. “You do have a bit of a reputation, dear.”

“I know, I know. I just wanna help lighten up the mood, you know, and… maybe I’ve been trying too hard, what with Flash Sentry’s band always drawing these big crowds, and only a handful of people seem interested in my parties anymore.”

“It’s not really a competition, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash offered. “It’s a different type of entertainment for different folks, and these days, Sunset doesn’t really like to set the mood for joyful fun celebrations. But hey, that’s what we’re here to change, isn’t it?”

“‘Not a competition’, says the sports nut,” Applejack chuckled. “Guess you’re not all one-track.”

“Hey, my grades are actually pretty darned decent. They have to be, or they won’t let me skip so many classes to play all those sports. My homework is insane.”

“Really?” Applejack said, looking genuinely surprised. “And you still take time off yer busy schedule to help out here.”

“Duh, It’s for the school. But you know… I got some time this weekend, and since you got those tickets anyway…”

Applejack hesitated, thinking it over. “Aw what the heck, let’s give it a whirl.”

It was a subtle change, but it made all the difference in the world. Twilight smiled as she watched that familiar spark ignite between the five friends. With any other group of people, her plan would have been foolish, idiotic even, but she knew these five better than she knew herself, and she knew how fundamentally compatible they really were.

Now it was up to her to make sure that spark would turn into a fire.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Rarity said as she opened the door to her room. Applejack wasn’t the only one who had offered up her home to Twilight for the night, and Rarity in particular had insisted she stayed with her.

Being in school, Rarity obviously had no time to run her own fashion boutique like back in Equestria, but the interiors were nonetheless of a similar style, making it obvious she spent just as much time working on her craft at home as she did at school.

“It’s a bit of a mess,” she admitted, “but I like to call it organized chaos. You can sleep on the sofa.”

“Thanks a lot for this, Rarity,” Twilight said.

“Oh don’t thank us, you’re the one putting the school back together.” She sat down on her bed, and Spike promptly hopped up onto her lap. Petting him lovingly, he looked like he was in heaven. “And after what I’ve seen today, I’m more convinced than ever that you are the right girl for the job. You knew exactly what you were doing with that little scheme of yours, didn’t you.”

“Kind of,” Twilight said, seeing no point in hiding it. “I hope you’re not mad.”

“Not at all… well, it wasn’t exactly the most honest things to do, but you can’t argue with results. It’s like you knew exactly what would make us tick. I thought it was just a joke when you said you were psychic.”

“I’m not, really, but I like to think I’ve got a pretty good sense for this sort of thing. Sorry if I come off as invasive.”

“I like that you’re being humble about it; it’s a nice counterpoint to Sunset Shimmer’s high horse. I do look forward to the meet-and-greet; why, I bet half the school will show up.”

“I’m worried half the school won’t be enough,” Twilight said. “We’ve showed the school that I won’t back down, but other than the endorsements from you and Rainbow Dash, I haven’t given them a reason to believe in me yet. That’s what I intend to change tomorrow, in what I’d like to call ‘Operation Helping Hoof’.”

“Hoof, darling?”

“The school mascot is a horse, isn’t it? I’ve been thinking maybe we should have a proper name for this movement. Something for our ‘followers’ to rally behind.”

“Not a bad idea. So, horse themed, hoof… The Pegasus? The Unicorn?”

“No, it has to stick out.”

“Hengroen? As in, King Arthur’s horse?”

“The Wondercolts,” Twilight said, nearly whispering. It came in a flash of inspiration, and it clicked perfectly. “We’ll be the Canterlot Wondercolts!”

“That works too, I suppose,” Rarity said. Then her eyes lit up; Twilight thought she could see stars in them. “I’ve got it!” she yelled out triumphantly, standing up so quickly that Spike tumbled to the floor. “I mean, uh, perhaps I have something to add. Let me see where I put them.” She dug through a few drawers, then a stack of clothes, until, “aha!” She held up what looked like a pair of clip-on accessories. Horse ears, and a tail. “What if we we all wore these as a sign of unity? It will turn heads, let people know that the Wondercolts have come to bring the school together!”

“That perfect!” Twilight beamed. “Rarity, you’re a genius!”

“I know, but thank you. So tell me more about the operation.”

“As it stands, there is a huge split between the big seven clubs at Canterlot High,” Twilight said. “And I’m convinced Sunset Shimmer herself created this split for her own selfish desires. Operation Helping Hoof, in short, aims to show everyone at this schools the benefits of working as a team.”

Rarity clapped. “Sounds marvelous! How can I help?”

“Oh, I have plenty of ideas. Hear me out…”