by G. M. Berrow
Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle burst into a fit of giggles.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Twilight replied. “I think, from now on, our lines of communication about everypony’s personal needs will be wide open.” She met Starlight’s eyes. “Deal?”
Starlight nodded. “Deal.”
The Ponyville Game Night Parade
“If you wanted to host us at the castle so bad, Starlight, you should have just told us!” Pinkie Pie stood up and brushed herself off. Her fuchsia mane had a toy boat stuck in it. She gestured to the wreckage and crowd of very confused ponies with a giggle. “You didn’t have to do all this super-speedy-super-slow-down magic to get the whole town to come over and hang out with you ponies on Game Night!”
Several ponies looked crushed. They’d been looking forward to the evening so much, and now all the work they’d put into it was ruined. Starlight felt terrible. “I’m so sorry, everypony. What a mess I’ve made. And for what?”
“I don’t know…” Pinkie’s eyes narrowed as she rubbed her chin in thought. “Unless… this was all just an elaborate surprise to start off the very first group challenge of Ponyville Game Night?!”
“Not unless the challenge is ‘which pony can pick up the most litter the fastest,’” Starlight Glimmer said and hung her head. “Not likely…”
“Hey, now! I don’t see why this can’t be our first challenge,” Applejack replied with a shrug. “What d’ya say, ponies? This town will be back to spiffy faster than a tomcat can lick a bowl o’ cream!”
A murmur of excited conversation broke out through the crowd. Soon, the townsponies began to nod in agreement. Some stomped their hooves on the ground.
“And we can make the grass even cleaner than before!” Fluttershy added with a sweet smile. “I know the animals would appreciate it, too.”
“I’ll… um… supervise.” Rarity forced a laugh.
Applejack shot her a look.
“What? There needs to be a neutral pony to judge the competition, no?” Rarity gave an embarrassed chuckle as Applejack rolled her eyes.
“All right, Ponyville!” Applejack called out. “Let’s do it!” She raised her hooves high above her cowpony hat. “On yer marks… get set… go!” Her hooves fell and the ponies sprang into action. It was like an odd parade mixed with a swap meet as the ponies combed the terrain, picking up items as they made their way back to the Ponyville Town Square. But everypony was having fun!
A little later, with some hoof grease and teamwork, the townsponies had soon cleaned up the Color Challenge arena. Crates were firmly back in place and water balloons were refilled. Spike and Big Mac busied themselves fixing up their gaming tables. And Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash even found the Ponyville Game Night flag and flew up to the flagpole to reattach it.
“Look, Starlight,” Twilight said, picking up a sparkly yellow water balloon. “Everypony’s having fun together, and it has nothing to do with spells!” She laughed as she playfully tossed the balloon at Applejack. “What was I thinking trying to use that Mooncurve’s Minutiae in the first place?”
“And what was I thinking trying to practice magic in a random room that appeared out of nowhere?” Starlight replied. She cocked her head to the side. “Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure it was one of those Andalusian Amplifiers.…”
“Starlight!” Twilight gasped in astonishment. “Of course it was!” Her eyes were as wide as carrot cakes. “A room that amplifies everything that happens inside it… Starlight—that’s why your magic was strong enough to create a vortex!” Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “It all makes sense now. An Andalusian Amplifier—in my own castle! And I didn’t even know it. Wow, I really need to pay more attention to my surroundings.…”
“Yeah… you do!” Starlight shrieked as she hurled a blue water balloon in Twilight’s direction. The princess ducked behind a crate with a squeal of laughter as the other ponies joined in, tossing balloons at one another. Starlight Glimmer galloped to another crate, laughing as she hid from the colorful balloons.
Even with everything that had happened in the past few days, Starlight Glimmer couldn’t remember another time when she’d had this much fun. It was true that a part of her wished the moment could last forever, but deep down she knew it wasn’t meant to. And that was what made it pretty magical.
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CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
Over Booked
CHAPTER 2
There’s a Friendship Lesson in Everything
CHAPTER 3
Starlight’s Suite
CHAPTER 4
The Hyper Boost
CHAPTER 5
Light-to-Light
CHAPTER 6
The Shortest Journey Ever
CHAPTER 7
The Slow Down
CHAPTER 8
Comet Tail’s Curse
CHAPTER 9
Snack Attack
CHAPTER 10
Short and Suite
CHAPTER 11
The Accidental Vortex
CHAPTER 12
Dragon Knows Best
CHAPTER 13
The Ponyville Game Night Parade
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
HASBRO and its logo, MY LITTLE PONY and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2016 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
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Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: August 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-26629-1
E3-20160725-JV-PC