Disclaimer: I do not own MLP

Chapter 1:

"TWILIGHT!"
The purple pony's head shot up in alarm, her copy of Aptitude, Belief, Commitment: The ABC's of the Cutie Mark flying across the room as a panicked voice caught her attention. She leapt to her hooves, knocking over another stack of books positioned by her reading chair, as she galloped to the door.

"Twilight!"

The voice was closer now, approaching from the center of town. Twilight Sparkle flung open the door, calling to her oldest friend as she did so.

"Spike! Something's happened. I'll be right back. You're in charge!"

A small purple and green head appeared from the kitchen doorway. "Aww…" the baby dragon protested. "But, Twilight, I was just about to finish our lunch. You said we could eat it outside since it's so nice."

"Sorry Spike," the pony said. "Duty calls." Twilight disappeared out the door, only to return a moment later. "Rain check on that lunch." The image of the small dragon's smiling face remained with her as the unicorn – now alicorn – rushed outside in search of the pony in trouble.

"Twilight! Twilight! TWILIGHT!"

A pink hurricane came out of nowhere, almost knocking Twilight to the ground. The alicorn opened her wings and struggled to steady herself as the hurricane, otherwise known as Pinkie Pie, came to a skidding halt outside the library door.

"Twilight!" The pony screeched at the top of her lungs, still pointed at the library. "Twilight, do you have any cake batter?"

Twilight sighed. This was the big emergency? A shortage of cake batter?

"Over here, Pinkie." The pink pony whirled around, a grin erupting on her face.

"Oh, hey Twilight. I didn't see you there. You see, I was over at Sweet Apple Acres helping Applejack make some apple pies. And we were looking outside her window at all the birds making their nests in the trees by her house. And all of a sudden, we saw somepony walking through the orchard, Applejack thought that was weird because ponies from Ponyville don't normally walk through the orchard, so then I figured it must be somepony new, and they just got a little lost. So I was going to welcome them, but then I realized I didn't have any cake, and I can't welcome somepony to Ponyville if I don't have a cake to put in my cake cannon. So you have to have some cake batter, because then I won't be able to welcome the new pony, and then she'll think we don't want her here and she won't have any friends and then she'll be all lonely and sad FOREVER!"

"Pinkie." Twilight, who had been attempting to interrupt her friend for the past few minutes, finally was able to get a word in. "You live in a bakery. Surely the Cakes have some batter you could use. Or you could make some of your own. Did you think about asking them before rushing over here?"

Pinkie took a deep breath and Twilight almost wished she hadn't asked. "I did think about going over there, Twilight, but then I remembered it's naptime for Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. So then I figured I'd be super quiet, but the last time I was super quiet during nap time, I accidentally knocked over a stack of dishes into the sink and all the clanging and clattering woke them up. Mrs. Cake asked me to run a few errands for her while they were napping, and one of the errands took me over to Sweet Apple Acres. I ran into Apple Bloom there and she said today was pie making day. And I absolutely love making pies, so I figured I'd stop by and help and – "

"That's where you and Applejack noticed the new pony," Twilight cut in, unable to bear her friend's chattering any longer. "Sorry Pinkie, but I don't have any cake batter here. Only a couple of daisy sandwiches Spike made."

Both ponies turned around as another familiar voice caught their attention. Applejack was making her way up the dirt road toward the two of them. The orange pony was panting and sweating quite a bit, her hat flopping to one side of her head. Twilight wondered for a second if there was really something going on the ponies of Ponyville needed her help with. Surely Pinkie would have thought to mention that first, right?

"Everything alright?" Twilight called out as the farm pony stopped to catch her breath.

"Yup. Sure is. I just followed Pinkie Pie over here to help her look for some cake. I reckon she's a bit faster than I am."

Twilight shook her head. Applejack was a fast pony. She had seen evidence of that in the Running of the Leaves every fall. But for some reason, nopony – not even Rainbow Dash – could keep up with Pinkie Pie on a mission.

"A bit…" Twilight trailed off and glanced over at Pinkie, who was now peering through the window, as if Twilight was purposefully hiding the cake batter from her. "But as I already told Pinkie, I don't have any ca – "

CRASH! Applejack and Twilight leapt up into the air as a mass of blue feathers crashed into the ground beside them. The alicorn opened up her wings and lightly began fanning the cloud of dust away. When the air cleared around them once more, she saw Rainbow lying in a heap on the ground, a dazed look on her face.

"Oh dear," the soft voice of Fluttershy said from above them. "Rainbow Dash, are you alright?"

"Just fine…" The pegasus managed to get out as she struggled to her feet. "Took that turn a liiiitttle bit too fast. I'll give it another go in just a sec."

"But you could hurt yourself," the yellow pony protested. "You should rest up a while before you try that trick again. Let me look at your wings to make sure you didn't injure yourself."

Rainbow Dash huffed and plopped her head into her front hooves, stretching her wings out for Fluttershy to examine. "I think I would have noticed if I injured my wings."

"What were you two doing up there?" Twilight asked, glancing upward at the sky. A lone cloud hovered above them in an otherwise clear blue sky.

"I was practicing some of my moves on that cloud," Rainbow explained. "Took one of the turns too fast and spun out of control. Fluttershy was helping."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her quiet friend. "Helping?"

"Oh," the shy voice murmured as Fluttershy stepped away from Rainbow Dash. Her long pink hair fell to cover one of her turquoise eyes, and Twilight had to strain to hear her. "Not helping really, just keeping some of the younger ponies out of the sky so they wouldn't get run over."

A smile graced the purple alicorn's face. "That was awfully nice of you."

Fluttershy echoed Twilight's smile as Rainbow stood up and pointed a hoof in Pinkie's direction. "What's she doing?"

Funny. Twilight had almost forgotten Pinkie was there. Almost. "Pinkie is looking in the library for some cake batter."

Applejack shook her head gently and Fluttershy smiled. Rainbow Dash simply looked confused. "Why? Doesn't she know that cake batter is found at bakeries, and books are found in the library?"

"One would think."

At that moment the door opened and a small purple and green dragon peered his head out. "Did you fix the disaster already?"

"What disaster?" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash asked at the same time Twilight responded with "false alarm." She blushed and turned toward her friends. "Pinkie was asking for me this morning. She sounded so frantic, I thought there was some kind of emergency."

"There was an emergency, Twilight," Pinkie said as she tore her eyes away from the library window. "How can I give the new pony the traditional welcome to Ponyville without any cake?"

Twilight shook her head. They were getting nowhere with this cake dilemma. Normally, she didn't mind giving up an afternoon to help a friend in need, but this morning she had been preparing for tomorrow's Twilight Time lesson with Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. She didn't want to give that up for missing cake batter.

"Did you try saying 'Hello'?" Rainbow Dashed asked, stretching her wings out. "Most ponies prefer a simple greeting over an explosion of cake and streamers. Although I would never say no to some cake."

Shaking her head once more, Twilight turned to her faithful sidekick as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash began discussing the best way to welcome a new pony, with Applejack chiming in every once in a while. "Want to make some more sandwiches? We could all eat together now that everypony's here."

"Wait," the young dragon protested. "Where's Rarity?"

Naturally her oldest friend would notice the absence of the beautiful fashionista. "Probably at her boutique. Make an extra for her and we'll all go over and have lunch at Rarity's. How does that sound?"

The dragon beamed, and Twilight could almost see little pink hearts floating around his head. She chuckled to herself and turned back to her friends. Somehow they had gone from discussing welcoming tactics to telling stories of the best desserts they'd ever had. Applejack was currently describing a caramel apple cobbler her cousin Apple Fritter had made at one of their family reunions.

A deep rumble emerged from Twilight's stomach. She blushed again and placed a hoof on her lower abdomen to soothe it.

"AJ," Rainbow complained, "you're making me hungry with all of this dessert talk…"

Twilight had to agree. She was quite hungry. "Spike's in the kitchen making some extra sandwiches. I thought we could all go over to Rarity's and have lunch together."

"Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed, shooting several feet in the air. "Rarity might have some cake batter!"

And with that she was gone. Twilight didn't realize she was staring open-mouthed at the place Pinkie had been until AJ reached over and closed it for her. The alicorn still didn't understand how that pony could move so fast.

"We'd better go on and catch up with her," Applejack sighed. "Come on Dash."

The blue Pegasus was already in the air. In the blink of an eye, she was gone. Applejack reared up on her hind legs and galloped after her two friends. "See you over at Rarity's!" She called over her shoulder as the mare disappeared behind one of the buildings across from the library.

For a moment, Twilight stood outside the library next to Fluttershy wondering how it was her friends came and went so fast. Then she shrugged and smiled to herself, turning toward the library door.

"Shall we go inside and give Spike a hand?"

Fluttershy giggled softly, her eyes lighting up just a bit. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Together, the two mares entered the building to begin what was sure to be a wonderful day.

Today was turning out to be a horrible day.

Rarity's alarm hadn't gone off, causing her to sleep in way past the time she normally woke up. She had to rush through her morning routine, so her mane had been a mess when she arrived at the train station to pick up her new shipment of fabrics. And now, she was furiously working on costumes for Sweetie Bell's class at school, and everything was wrong!

"It's a disaster, Opal," Rarity moaned to the unimpressed cat. "A complete disaster!"

When she had been approached a few weeks ago by her younger sister, Rarity had happily agreed to help with the costumes. Their spring play, she could never remember the name, seemed like the perfect change for Rarity. She had been focused for so long on creating fancy outfits for the upcoming gala, she had grown tired of designing. Sweetie's play had been the perfect excuse for her to spend some time creating something fun instead.

She had been sorely mistaken. "Everything is completely wrong, Opalescence." The white pony paced across her floor, examining her latest creations. "The wings won't stay up at the right angle and the beading patterns look absolutely ridiculous. I don't know what I was thinking. No, this simply will not do. I'll have to start all over again."

A halo of blue magic encircled the clothing and levitated them over to the large hamper Rarity had set up in the corner of her room in the common and rather unfortunate event that she would need to scrap an entire project.

"Oh, don't worry," she explained as the fluffy white cat blinked her eyes and yawned. "I'm not throwing it away. That would be such a waste. I'll go through these pieces and salvage what I can later. But for now, I think I need to go back to the drawing board."

Rarity winced as a loud bang sounded from her front door. "Honestly," she huffed, "I know Applejack was raised in a barn, but one would think the other ponies here in Ponyville would have learned some proper manners."

"RARITY!" The pony stopped in her advance the moment an all too familiar voice reached her ears. She surely hoped some of her other friends were on the other side of the door besides Pinkie Pie. Rarity loved the energetic pony to pieces, but she wasn't sure she was mentally prepared to handle Pinkie on her own.

"Hang on one moment darling," she called as she magically swept her most valuable materials into their proper cabinets and drawers. "Just straightening up a bit."

Heaving a sigh, and realizing there was nothing left to clean up, Rarity opened the door of her shop to see Pinkie waiting patiently with an out of breath Applejack and Rainbow Dash by her side.

"Can I help you…?" The white pony was very puzzled. What in Celestia's name were they all doing here?

"Rarity, pleeeeaaaassseeeee tell me you have some cake batter." The pink pony was down on her knees, looking up at Rarity with wide blue eyes. "It's an emergency."

"An…emergency?" Rarity could hardly see how cake batter could be thought of any sort of emergency, but her friend looked simply distraught. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't help?

"Well, I don't have any cake batter, per se. But I'm sure if you went into the kitchen, you could find all the ingredients to – "

In an instant, Pinkie was gone. Rarity thought she had seen a pink streak whiz by her, but it could have been just a trick of the light. Shaking her head, the pony turned back to her winded friends still collapsed on her doorstep.

"-make some," she finished. "Would you two like to come in?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash heaved. Applejack simply nodded her head. Rarity turned around and entered the building once more, her exhausted friends following close behind.

"Twilight…Spike and Fluttershy…are on their way…with lunch…" Applejack heaved, still trying to catch her breath.

Rarity's eyes lit up as she took a seat on her favorite love seat. "Lovely, absolutely lovely," she gushed. "Oh, we haven't had lunch together in ages. We're far overdue. What time did you say they were coming? I could set out some drinks on the picnic table out back. That way, we'd be prepared to eat by the time they arrived."

Hopping up from her seat, Rarity trotted over toward the kitchen, pausing only when she heard Rainbow's voice from behind her.

"You might not want to go in there just yet." She turned, raising an eyebrow at the two mares passed out on the floor of her boutique. "Pinkie Pie's still in there."

"No worries girls," the pink mare responded, bouncing across the floor toward them, a completely baked and iced cake perched neatly on top of her head. "I'm all done. I cleaned up too, Rarity. Left everything squeaky clean."

In a fraction of a second, Rarity was in the center of her kitchen, looking everything up and down. It wasn't that she didn't trust Pinkie Pie. Of course she did. She simply equated the words "cleaned up for you" to "destroyed" in her mind, thanks to her sister.

Yet, Pinkie had been true to her word. The entire kitchen was sparkling. And when Rarity dragged a perfectly manicured hoof across the counter, a small squeak reached her ears.

"Well, I'll be…" the mare murmured.

Upon returning to the other room, Rarity was met with an angry Rainbow Dash and a plum-tuckered out Applejack.

"How does she do that?" Rainbow was asking, blue hoof pointing at the empty door Rarity assumed Pinkie Pie had just left through. "We were literally here for less than three minutes. That defies the laws of nature!"

"Oh calm down, sugar cube," Applejack responded. "This is Pinkie here we're talking about."

"Yeah," Rainbow protested, "but still."

"What did Pinkie want with the cake, anyway?" Normally, Rarity hated to interrupt. She would never be caught doing something so unladylike. But she was curious. She'd never known the party pony to be short on cake in all her days living in Ponyville.

"Pinkie and I spotted a new pony headin' toward Ponyville earlier this morning," Applejack explained, finally able to catch her breath. "Pinkie realized she didn't have a cake for her cake cannon and went a little off her rocker looking for some."

"Ahh." Rarity could understand that. Pinkie was very…particular with her welcomes. "I see."

The three were silent for a moment, each absorbed in her own thoughts. Rarity wondered who this new pony was. Sure, many ponies traveled through Ponyville. Many didn't stay for more than a night or two before continuing on to their next destination. Was this pony traveling through as well? Or would she be staying for longer? They hadn't had a new pony move into town since Twilight had arrived several years ago. Not that it mattered to Rarity what this pony was here for. She was quite happy the way things were now, thank you very much. Still…it never hurt to make a new friend…

"I'll go get those drinks," she said, pulling the other two mares out of their thoughts as well. "You dears go outside and wait for the others."

Rainbow and Applejack nodded their heads and stood up, racing each other to the front door. Rarity scowled in their direction. Why couldn't they walk like normal, civilized ponies?

By the time Rarity arrived with the drinks, everypony, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, was waiting for her.

"There you are, Rarity," Twilight greeted warmly. "And you brought drinks, great. Is Pinkie on her way?"

"She's on her way to something, that's for sure," Rainbow Dash muttered, still obviously upset at Pinkie's mystifying cake baking skills.

"Pinkie Pie has already come and gone, I'm afraid," Rarity responded, setting the drinks down on the table beside them.

"You didn't have any cake batter either?" Fluttershy's concerned voice floated over to her.

"Oh no," Rarity corrected her friend. "I had plenty. Well, plenty of ingredients anyway. Pinkie already finished her cake. I'd imagine she's venturing out to find the new pony as we speak."

"I recon she's already found her," Applejack murmured as Twilight shook her head in amazement.

"There's no way," Dash argued. "She can't have found her already. You two didn't even know where this new pony was going."

"Ha!" Applejack laughed, hoof pointing down the road. "You should know by now, Rainbow, that's never stopped our Pinkie Pie."

All five heads turned to look where Applejack was pointing. Two ponies were making their way toward the boutique, one bouncing up and down, chattering away as they went. The other lagging behind, a slight limp in her step, silent as bird in wintertime.

"Oh no," Spike moaned, face slamming against the table. "I only made enough food for one dragon and six ponies…"

The five mares laughed as Rarity took a seat next to her favorite dragon. If they ran out, she could always go inside and make more. Running her hoof under her hair, she gave it one last flip before putting on her best smile. Time to meet Pinkie's new friend.