In ponyville, things were getting serious. Twilight was in the Carousel Boutique helping Rarity, who was very busy working on an important order of new designer dresses, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who had also agreed to come along, were standing in one corner, immobile, having a staring competition to determine which one of them had the most endurance.

"Come on, you two…" Twilight sighed as Applejack gave an involuntary twitch "…you both agreed to help Rarity with this order, but you haven't done anything since we got here but argue and stare at each other…" She turned away, looking at the rest of the boutique

"…not to mention that you knocked over half of Rarity's mannequins while running that 'endurance race' you set up throughout the boutique to test each other"

"Lighten up, Twilight" Rainbow Dash said

"…and we put the mannequins back where they were afterwards, didn't we?" Twilight sighed again, and rolled her eyes; some ponies just never change.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity screamed

"Sweetie Belle, where are you? You were supposed to bring me that light yellow satin material half an hour ago! Oh… Where IS she?" Rarity's voice was gaining a hysterical edge.

"I'm sure she's on her way." Twilight reassured her friend.

"See, here she is!" Two seconds later the young filly walked through the door dragging a roll of a soft and shiny, yellow material.

"Oh I knew you'd get it for me!" Rarity said to her sister

"Thank you, Sweetie Belle; I don't know what I'd do without you!" Rarity's demeanour had immediately become lighter. Her sister, on the other hand, looked a bit irritated.

"If I weren't here, you'd probably do some work yourself for a change." She grumbled.

"Sorry, what was that, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, although she was too absorbed in the measurements she was making at that moment to really listen.

"Nothing" Sweetie Belle quickly blurted out, putting on her best smile. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not right now, Sweetie Belle. Thank you for your help." Rarity replied as she carefully put the measuring tape on the table.

The work was long and hard, and it didn't help that Rainbow Dash insisted that, to make up for lost time, she would help Rarity with the designs, trying to make the dresses cooler, adding unnecessary bits and colours to the designs. Despite these setbacks, they had made quite a bit of progress.

They had just started working on the fourth dress when Spike burst through the door of the boutique and ran straight into Twilight, who was holding some material up for Rarity to inspect.

The confusion that reigned thereafter was short but painful: Twilight yelped, lost her balance and fell over, losing her magical grip on the material, it fell over Rarity, neatly covering her like a blanket, who ran, screaming and confused, right into Applejack, who was trying, with the help of a laughing Rainbow Dash, to get Twilight back upright again. They landed together in a tangled heap. They looked at each other and shared a moment of laughter.

"What in Equestria is the big rush, Spike?" Applejack asked Spike after they had all gotten back up again.

"Princess Celestia sent you an urgent letter, Twilight. I brought it here as fast as I could."

Twilight's face had immediately become serious when Spike had said "…urgent…" She grabbed the letter, opening it magically so that her friends could also see it.

"My dearest Twilight Sparkle…" she read aloud "…I have an urgent task for you and your friends. Please board the next train and meet me in Canterlot. We have a problem that will require your combined abilities and skills. Yours faithfully, Princess Celestia."

The group of friends looked at each other, worried expressions on their faces. Twilight was the first to break the silence:

"We're going to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash, can you and Applejack find Fluttershy for us, while Rarity and I get Pinkie Pie?"

"I'm already there, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash replied.

"We'll find her, Twilight, don't you worry." Applejack agreed

"Meet us at the train station, ok?" Twilight said as her friends zipped out the door of the boutique, and Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, and both of them headed in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.

She turned to Rarity. "Do you know where we could find Pinkie Pie?"

Rarity furrowed her brow in thought. "I think she said that she was going to be busy baking with Gummy all day again. That's why she couldn't come help me here."

And so they set out to find Pinkie.

A few minutes of explaining later, Twilight, Rarity and an overexcited Pinkie Pie finally reached the train station. "Where have you BEEN? We've been waiting here for, like, ever!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed when she caught sight of the three ponies running to the train station.

"We're sorry, we had to explain what's going on to Pinkie Pie and she got kind of excited…" Twilight said.

"Ooooh! What do you think the Princess wants us to do?" Pinkie Pie giggled as the group moved onto the waiting train. "I bet she needs us to plan her a PARTY!"

"Pinkie" Applejack said, exasperated already. "Her letter says that it's urgent. Why in Equestria would the Celestia need us to plan her a party?"

"Maybe it's an URGENT party! Like an ultra-urgent-super-surprise party! I've never thrown one of those before."

"But Pinkie…" Applejack tried to reason with Pinkie Pie, but she was cut off when Pinkie gasped, suddenly a serious frown upon her face. "I've forgotten the party goods!" She screeched "We're going to need confetti and candy and balloons and…."

"Pinkie Pie!" The friends shouted in chorus.

"Sorry." She blushed and smiled at her friends.

The train chugged on and on, passing trees, fields, rivers and lakes. Now lit by the moon, they looked strange and exotic, like shapes and colours they had never seen before.

The group of six ponies and one dragon were slowly falling asleep on their seats, yet each one wondering what this meeting with Princess Celestia would hold in store for them, what challenges awaited them when they finally got to the palace.

Little did they know that the reason they had been called up to the palace was, at that moment, finding himself a nice place to sleep, in the branches of a tree just outside a small town called Ponyville.