Chapter 23 - World's Collide! Sleepover!

Chapter 22 - World's Collide! Sleepover!

The location was a barren waste field lacking life in any direction. The soil was lifeless a dull sickly green color and the trees lacking any matter of plant life. In the spot of the field stood Nightmare Moon's second command at a make shift podium. On the podium was a spell book to which she was flipping through.

"Midnight you have nerve ordering me to meet you here," With a slow descent to the ground the feisty strode her way to the dark Unicorn.

"To which you answer, as is common with a mare of your temperament." Midnight cruelly taunted back at the mare without so much as making a move to acknowledge the other mare as a threat.

Hot streak balled up her fist and wings flexed as she prepared to strike only for Midnight to toss back an arm and fire a blast of magic just short of where the Pegasus was standing the blast having left the ground singed and decaying. "You would do well to remember such insubordination runs counter to our cause."

"What cause? Nightmare Moon was defeated and Celestia is back on the throne." Hot Streak noted.

"Her Majesty," Midnight corrected, "…is not yet gone. We have two important components that can still be used to resurrect her. The remnants of her armor that were blown off from that night and retrieved by her guard and the Alicorn Amulet can be used to restore her. Her majesty prior to her purification used the last of her power to send me the amulet; it's the only explanation for how it arrived to my possession."

"Speaking of which, where were you? It's funny that you up and disappeared when we were fighting against Celestia's servants."

"Do not presume to question my loyalty," Midnight spoke in a cold whisper. "My hands were full directed our forces, to which most of them lacked the formal training to have been usual against the Sun Tyrant's soldiers."

"Look, whatever, and say we resurrect Nightmare Moon and then what? What's to stop her from being blasted from the elements again?"

"We made the mistake of assuming that Celestia was the only threat, but we now know who to target. We now have an idea on who we need to eliminate. The bearer of the six elements, without them the Elements of Harmony will be useless."

"And you think you can turn Princess Luna back into Nightmare Moon?"

"No, Luna is a whipped mongrel at the heels of her sister. A weakness, we will remove from her majesty in the form of a fresh body, but in the mean time we need to study the strength and weaknesses of the bearers."

"Alright so why call me here? You have a plan right?"

"Indeed, I have a plan for magic. One of our agents is taking time to observe the others to give us more intel to go on. From what I understand you would like a second shot at the mare known as Rainbow Dash correct?"

This peeked Hot Streak's attention. "I'm listening!"

In the Ponyville area today was a contrast from the usual clear and sunny days that followed the Summer Season. According to the weather management team, there was supposed to be some light rain last week, but they accidentally forgot about that. To make up for it, it was decided that a downpour would be made today. As such many Pegasi were in the sky preparing the rain clouds being instructed by Rainbow Dash.

While on the ground the town's earth ponies and unicorns were taking care of the ground preparation. That meant all loose tree branches and twigs had to be removed.

Rarity however seemed more interested in using her magic to create beautiful designs, rather than actually taking down the branches. "Ah, simply beautiful." she said to herself "And whoever said nature couldn't be pretty?"

She had little time to admire her work however as a lasso, courtesy of Applejack brought the branch Rarity had recently prettified crashing down. Applejack was, needless to say, furious. "Just take the broken limbs down, Rarity." Applejack said. "Don't y'all care about nothin' other than prettifyin'?"

"Somepony has to. You are making an absolute mess of the town square, Applejack."

"Yeah, well, the storm's gonna make an even bigger mess if we don't prune all these loose branches so they don't tumble down on anypony."

Rarity looked up at the sky as pegasi moved more clouds in to plug the holes and block the last of the sun. "I simply cannot imagine why the pegasus ponies would schedule a dreadful downpour this evening and ruin what could have been a glorious sunny day."

"Come on Rare you heard the reports," Naruto interjected, "Because of the lack of rain the previous week they need to make it up. Right now the town can't afford any of its crops not being watered. Besides I'm sure it won't be made."

"Oh, no!" Rarity began to complain. "My wonderfully styled mane shall be ruined!"

"You shoulda hurried up and finished the job already." Applejack said as the prissy unicorn cried out and tried to duck every raindrop that came her way.

"It's coming down too fast! …Help me!" Rarity pleaded.

"Over there," Naruto called out as he took notice of a nearby picnic table. .

Applejack looked to each side for shelter, locating only a picnic table. "Uh, there! Hunker down to your heart's content whilst I finish things.

Rarity ran across the square, but suddenly skid to a stop by the table, which had a sizable puddle underneath. "Ooh! No, no, no!"

"What now?" Applejack asked as she and Naruto joined her.

"I'd prefer not to get my shoes muddy."

"You're going to have to make a choice Rare, you're mane or your shoes."

Applejack grunted disgustedly. "There is just no pleasin' you, is there? Everything's gotta be just so."

"Well, and how does muddying myself serve any useful purpose?", Rarity countered.

"Y'all wouldn't know useful if it came up and bit you."

Rarity gave a laugh. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Will you two focus for a minute!" Naruto snapped, "…this isn't exactly solving anything." Despite the reaction their bickering drew from the blond the two mares simply glared at each other.

Rarity was the first to break the silence. "What say we go our separate ways before one of us says something she will regret?"

"I reckon y'all are gonna say something you'll regret first!"

Naruto groaned as he face palmed, strong personalities like AJ and Rarity were inevitably going to clash, especially considering how they were opposites in nearly everything.

"On the contrary, I believe it shall most certainly be you who says something you will regret first."

"I'm not sayin' anythin'!"

"Nor am I!"

"Y'all just be on your way, then!"

"After you!"

They slowly backed away from each other in opposite directions, neither taking their eyes off the other the whole time. "Don't you two think you're being a bit…" Naruto's voice was muffled by the sudden crack of lightning, and they were back where they started with a cry of fear, and nearly smothering the blond in their embrace. 'I miss the days when I wasn't the voice of reason.' Naruto lamented, thinking back to his youth and realized this is how Kakashi must have felt when dealing with him and Sasuke.

"Perhaps we should all stick together for now and find some shelter." Rarity suggested.

"Uh-huh." Applejack agreed as the storm continued to intensify. "Perhaps we should. And fast!"

"Look Twilight's home is closest to us. We need to make our way there." He suggested as the weather began to kick up. Something didn't seem quite right; the weather seemed to be picking up rather quickly. Thankfully Twilight had been on the lookout, having factored in that at least Applejack would need shelter considering the distance of Sweet Apple Acres from the town.

While Naruto and Rarity were happy to stroll on in Applejack seemed hesitant. "Whoa, nelly." She said. "Is inside a tree really the best place to be in a lightnin' storm?"

"It is if you have a magical lightning rod protecting your home, like I do.", the bookish pony replied. "Come on in!"

Rarity gave a happy sigh. "We are most grateful for your invitation." She then looked worriedly over her shoulder as Applejack stepped in, muddy boots and all.

"Thank you kindly for your hospitality." she said before being stopped by Rarity, who then pointed down to the four spattered appendages.

"Uh, do be a polite house guest and go wash up, please, won't you?"

Applejack snarled to herself. "If I gotta spend one more second with that fussbudget Rarity today, I can't be held responsible for what I'm gonna do!"

"Twilight mind if I use your bathroom to clean up?"

"Sure, you remember where it is right?" she asked as Naruto nodded and strolled right to his destination.

Meanwhile, Twilight was in quite a perky mood. "Some storm, huh?", she said. "The Pegasus ponies sure have outdone themselves this time. I hope you, Naruto, and Applejack don't have any trouble getting home."

"It may indeed be a problem." Rarity answered.

"Well, you're welcome to stay if need be. Spike is away in Canterlot on royal business. I'm home all alone tonight." Suddenly, she gave a happy gasp. "You and Applejack should totally sleep over!" Twilight clapped her hooves at this. "We'll have a slumber party! I've always wanted one of those."

The suggestion caught Rarity off guard for a second before she started trying to put together something resembling a coherent response. "Oh! Goodness, uh, I do believe I have another engagement scheduled for this evening that completely slipped my mind until just now." She gave a fake chuckle. "Oh, silly me, I can't possibly stay here all night." She then added under her breath, "With Applejack."

Taking a quick look over the bookshelves, Twilight levitated one of the uppermost volumes from its resting place and down to her before 'passing' it on to Rarity. The cover showed a couple of pillows.

"Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties, But Were Afraid to Ask." Rarity read the title.

"This is my own personal copy." A proud and happy Twilight stated. "It's a fantastic reference guide. You should see the table of contents. I've been waiting for a chance to use it, and today's the day! This is going to be so great!

"Yes, uh…great." She managed the best polite laugh she can, and then turned her gaze to a window, through which Applejack can be seen wrestling with a garden hose; she eventually gets the water going, only to have it spray her in the face and knock her hat off.

"Hey Twilight do you have any hot cocoa? I'm still kind of chilly and with no spare clothes to change into it didn't seem to make sense to take a shower so I just hung up my shirt to dry."

Twilight upon seeing Naruto's shirtless quickly averted her eyes with a twinge of pink on her cheeks. Rarity all the while was taking in his form as her cheeks took a deep color of scarlet as she continued 'appreciating' what she was seeing.

"S-Sure…I can get some started."

Tearing her eyes off the blond Rarity realized she had an excuse. "Naruto! Naruto is here and we certainly can't have him here for a sleep over. It wouldn't be proper!"

"What? Like a sleep over or something?" he asked as Twilight nodded.

"Yeah, when I was still a filly and before I took up the belief that friends were just a distraction I always wanted to have a sleep over."

"I never been to one either to be honest." Naruto admitted as Twilight looked up at the blond in surprise. She couldn't believe it, Naruto seemed to be like some sort of friendship expert. "I have no interest in the make-up part or talking about boys, but I'd be happy to do any of the neutral activities, hey for all we know it might prove interesting."

What followed was Twilight letting out one of the cutest little squeals of excitement Naruto ever witnessed.

A bit of time passed when Applejack had finishing cleaning up her boots, retrieved her hat, and was entering the second-story room in the library. However, she was now tracking water across the floor instead of mud. A nearby mop was covered in a blue aura and it came to life and started to clean up after Applejack. Just as she looked ahead, she pulled in a sharp gasp, her eyes going wide and her tail briefly standing up of its own accord.

"What in tarnation?" She gasped as she saw Twilight and Rarity with a beauty treatment smeared on their faces, and the latter was slathering on some more. Naruto meanwhile was sitting opposite of Rarity with her feet in his lap as he was massaging them.

"Now wait just a goldarn minute. You make me wash the mud off my hooves, but it's okay for y'all to have mud all over your faces?"

"This mud is nothing like the one you washed off, you know.", said Chronicle.

"Yeah, silly." Rarity answered as a content moan escaped her lips. Having Naruto learn massage technique from Aloe & Lotus was definitely one of her most brilliant ideas. While he was far from as experienced as the spa sisters, lacking both their knowledge and experience he made an adequate substitute in exhausting times like this. "This is called a mud mask. It's to refresh and rejuvenate your complexion."

"We're giving each other makeovers!" Twilight added giddily as she levitated the book past herself and towards Applejack. "We have to do it. It says so in the book."

The open tome reached Applejack and she read through it Slumber 101: Everything You—" She cut herself off with a sudden grimace as Twilight seemed to be readying up a face mask just for her.

"Oh, hey, heh. Would you look at the time? I gotta skedaddle on home quick; I'm powerful late for, uh, for somethin' …uh…good night!" She began to run off, but yelped and beat a hasty retreat when a fresh bolt of lightning cracked the sky. Her startled and fearful expression then gave way to a shaky smile after a moment. "Or maybe I'll set here for a spell."

Twilight clapped in glee. "Hooray, slumber party!"

The earth pony's unease as interrupted when a hoof-load of mud mask was thrown onto her face and Rarity rubbed it in. "Blecch!" She then got a cucumber slice slapped onto each eye. "What in the world is this for?"

Rarity gave a weary sigh. "To reduce the puffiness around one's eyes, of course."

"Puffiness, schmuffiness!" Applejack scoffed as she pulled them into her mouth with her tongue and gulped them down. "That's good eatin'!"

Rarity just aimed a vexed stare her way as Chronicle resisted to laugh.

"Correct me if'm ah'm wrong but ah thought fellars and fillies don't have slumber parties together."

"Not like we can help it, besides, Twilight's never had a slumber party and we don't want to take that experience from her.

Meanwhile, Twilight continued to read from the guide, now having propped it to a stand as she giggled. "Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book, with a tweak here or there to compensate for Naruto and that will make my slumber party officially fun!"

"Did you hear that, Applejack?" Rarity said to the farm mare as the latter tried to scrape her face clean. "You certainly would not want to do anything that would ruin Twilight's very first slumber party, would you?"

Having finished massaging Rarity's feet Naruto got up to go wash his hands.

"Of course not." Applejack ground out between clenched teeth. "And you wouldn't either, I reckon."

"So do we have an agreement?"

"You betcha." Applejack then spit on one front hoof and offered it to shake. As expected, Rarity was horrified at this.

"Oh, gross!" she cried out as her face scrunched up in disgust. "You know, there's messy, and there's just plain rude."

"You know, there's fussy, and there's just plain gettin' on my nerves!"

"Fortunately, I can get along with anypony, no matter how difficult she may be."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm the get-alongin'est pony you're ever gonna meet!"

"That's not even a word."

Suddenly, Twilight popped up between them and hugged them both. "This is gonna be the bestest slumber party ever! Yay!"

Her two friends gave a wooden, "Yay." in response as they gave each other dirty looks from the corners of their eyes.

Naruto had returned just in time to see Twilight's reaction. The mare was just too adorkable for her own good.

Seeing as the next part was the make-up and styling portion of the sleep over Naruto excused himself to go make something to eat.

"Sooo…how are you getting along over there, Applejack?" Rarity asked.

"Just fine, Rarity." the farmpony replied wearily.

"This is so awesome!" Twilight said with a giggle as she levitated the book and a quill over to herself. "Makeovers, check." In a flash, all the curlers disappeared in a flash, leaving the two guests to trade a thin smile. In another flash a confused and startled Naruto was there. "Ooh! It says here we have to tell ghost stories! Who wants to go first?"

"Me!" Applejack then spoke in a hushed tone. "I'd like to tell y'all the terrifyin' tale of the Prissy Ghost, who drove everypony crazy with her unnecessary neatness!" She aimed a few of these words at Rarity, then waved her front hooves about while making ghostly moaning sounds for effect. "I'm sure y'all are familiar with that one?"

"I should have stayed home. I felt it in m my bones but I ignored it. Why did I ignore it?" Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Never heard of it.", said Rarity. "But I have a much better one." She then spoke in an ominous manner. "It's the horrifying story of the Messy Inconsiderate Ghost, who irritated everypony within a hundred miles!" It was obvious that this was aimed at Applejack as she added her own sound effects.

"That's not a real story." the farmpony replied. "You made it up!"

"It is a ghost story. They're all made up!"

"You both are acting like foals. Now everypony just…" Naruto was once more cut off as a lightning strike took out all the lights, leaving everything black and eliciting gasps of fright, one of them as high as a filly's. A moment later, a firefly lantern was produced, illuminating everypony as they hunched around it. "But…magically enchanted…how…?" Didn't Twilight say the tree was magically protected? How the hell did the Lightning knock out the lights? Did the magic overpower the crystal which the light shined from?

"I've got one." Twilight eagerly volunteered. "This story is called…The Legend of the Headless Horse." More lightning tore through the night at the end of this. "It was a dark and stormy night, just like this one. And four ponies were having a slumber party…just like this one."

Twilight's ghost story began drawing to a close. Rarity was visibly unnerved; evidently Twilight's story has gone to work on her. Applejack was doing no better. Naruto was intently listening unaffected by the tale. Then again having to a fight a crazed alien warrior goddess that had dimension hopping abilities dulled your senses on what you find frightening.

"And just when the last pony thought she was safe…", Twilight said. "…there, standing right behind her, just inches away, was… THE HEADLESS HORSE!"

There came a lightning strike, and all of a sudden Twilight had reared up before her guests with a blanket covering her head. Applejack and Rarity screamed in terror. Everypony fell quiet as Twilight then peeked out with a 'gotcha' smile. Naruto began laughing his ass off; having no idea Twilight had it in her.

"That was pretty good Twilight."

"Ghost story, check." Now that the danger was past, Rarity and Applejack drew apart with suspicious glances at each other.. "Now, who wants s'mores?"

Everypony moved to the kitchen. Naruto and Applejack were at the fireplace, toasting two marshmallows a piece while the two unicorns were standing at the table.

"Then you place one marshmallow on the top of the chocolate…", Rarity was explaining to Twilight. Plates of graham crackers and chocolate squares were laid out. Rarity has a nearly-completed s'more on a saucer before her, missing only its top cracker and she was levitating both that piece and all the parts for a second. "…and be sure it's centered, that's critical, and then carefully put another perfectly square graham cracker on the top." With that, she floated the second cracker down and squished it gently into place. "And…done! Ta-da!"

"Ooooh!" Twilight said as the fashionista gave a soft laugh.

Applejack, however, was less than enthused at Rarity's meticulous explanation. "Nah, you just eat 'em!" And she does so, scarfing down half the treat with a large bite as noticeable noises escaped the mouth from her cheek-bulging display. Rarity reacted to this display of bad table manners and the burp that follows did nothing to endear her. .

"You could at least say, 'Excuse me'." Rarity stated as she regarded the farmer with a look of distaste.

"Ah was just about to, but you interrupted me.", Applejack countered. "Pardon." The fastidious unicorn wasn't exactly thrilled by this.

Meanwhile, Twilight was marking off in her book. "S'mores, check. Now the next item of fun we have to do is…truth or dare!"

"I dare Applejack to do something carefully and neatly for a change." Immediately leaping at the opportunity Rarity immediately suggested the action for Applejack.

"Oh, yeah? Well, ah dare Rarity to lighten up and stop obsessin' over every last little detail, for a change." Applejack countered.

"I think the truth of the matter is that somepony could stand to pay a little more attention to detail." Twilight watched with mild shock at this display.

"And ah think the truth is somepony oughta quit with her fussin' so the rest of us can get things done!"

The slightly bewildered slumber party host then turned back to her guide and flips pages quickly with her magic.

"Um, I don't think this is how the game's supposed to work."

Naruto was going to step in to stop the two from fighting, but what good would it do. Rarity and Applejack were both stubborn and it was going to take something major to knock some sense into their heads that this whole issue of theirs was silly. He only hoped that Twilight's emotions wouldn't be hurt before they realized how silly they were acting.

Applejack then told Rarity, "Ah dares you to step outside and let your precious tidy mane get ruined again." The owner of said mane shuddered in fright.

"You have to." Twilight clarified, Twilight. "It's the rule."

"Ha!"

"Fine!" Rarity conceded as she skulked out, Applejack grinning wickedly after her.

As there were sounds of the door opening, rain pours down, and Rarity yelping in barely contained panic, while Applejack put a hand to her mouth to stifle a guffaw.

"Whoopsie. Can't believe ah skipped that part."

Just then, they heard the door close again and there stood a very soggy Rarity, her mane and tail having lost all semblance of their usual elegant curl with her clothes soaked through. Blushing, Naruto averted his gaze at Rarity's wet look was not only appealing, but her bra was showing through the wet shirt that was clinging to her form.

Applejack had a laugh as Rarity squished back into the room, but clammed up and started backing away before the latter's steady advance. "Okay I dare Applejack to play dress-up, in a frou-frou, glittery, lacy outfit!"

Now Applejack was the one to react badly, sucking in a sharp gasp. She threw Rarity a dirty look and walked off. A quick rustle of clothing later, she returned to the kitchen. Her light blue outfit was that of a typical fairy-tale princess, complete with earrings and necklace, pink ribbons on her hooves, a tall pointed hat, and a full-length gown with a pink saddle trimmed in yellow and white. Her mane had been curled and flowers were put into it. Needless to say, she wasn't the slightest bit pleased at having to do this. "Happy?"

"Very." Rarity gave a chuckle.

"Um…do I ever get a turn?" Twilight asked, but was cut off by Applejack.

"Ah dare you to enter the next rodeo when it comes to town!"

"I dare you not to enter the next rodeo that comes to town!"

"Ah dare you to not comb your mane a hundred times before bed!"

Twilight gave a nervous smile as she levitated the book. "I think we can check off 'truth or dare' and move on. Let's see what our next fun-fun-fun thing is, shall we?" She eyed the pages for a long moment in a puzzled manner. "Hmmm, what does this mean? 'Pillow fight'?"

Rarity, by now properly dried and styled, said, "Oh, please. I am not at all interested in participating in something so crude." She promptly caught a flying pillow with her face and spat out a few loose feathers, changing her attitude in a heartbeat. "Ooh! It is on!"

One quick nip and head snap sends the pillow flying across the room and into Applejack's face. Shaking the feathers away, the latter kicked three from a pile in front of her that Twilight 'summoned'. It was a triple bulls-eye; now the fashionista kicked the pillows back across the room, missing with each one. The farmpony countered by cinching several of them in a lasso and twirling them overhead. She then whipped them loose a salvo of three but Rarity used her magic to bring them to a hovering rest on either side of her. Another spell then hurled them back across the room.

As pillows went flying in both directions, Twilight stood up with a look of sudden understanding. "Ohhh, I get it! Pillow…fight! Fun!"

Just before two pillows could slam into the side of her head, Twilight stood confused. Twilight then got up and spat out some feathers that came from the pillows. "Maybe we should just call it a night and get some sleep?"

Rarity and Applejack found themselves having to borrow some Pajamas from Twilight to which Rarity altered with a size changing spell. Impractical for permanent outfits, but useful enough for something like overnight wear that one would need to use say once or twice.

Applejack and Rarity were sequestered to the guest room while Naruto slept on the couch in the other room. The two mares were never going to get along until they had their grievances about each other out of their system.

"Keep your dirty feet on your side of the bed!" Rarity whispered to Applejack.

"My feet ain't dirty!"

"They were. Considering how well you handle their hygiene there's no telling what you missed."

"There ain't! See?"

"Ewww!" Rarity gripped the blanket with her teeth and yanked all of it to her side.

"Now who's bein' inconsiderate? " Applejack yanked the blanket off Rarity, who glared over her shoulder and then got out of bed.

"I have to make the bed again so the blanket will be right!" She then butted Applejack off. "Get up!"

"Hey!"

Rarity 'tucked' the blanket's corners neatly over the mattress and smoothed out all the folds, leaving a perfectly made bed that didn't placate Applejack in the slightest. The latter motioned to get on the bed, but Rarity waved her back. "Ah-ah-ah! You'll ruin it. You have to do it like this." Sitting down plot first on her pillow, she eased her hindquarters under the blanket without turning it down, and eventually wound up lying on her back. "Ahhh…"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Applejack then jumped up, with full intent on pouncing on the bed. "GERONIMO!" She landed on the bed with enough force to throw both Rarity and her pillow out as the suddenly vacant half of the blanket settled over the farmpony.

"Hey!" She then got up from her being thrown off. "You did that on purpose."

"Um…yeah."

"Get up so I can fix it again!"

"Can't hear you. I'm asleep." Applejack then gave a few loud fake snores as Rarity fumed quietly for a moment, after which the irate unicorn whipped the blanket off the bed with her teeth. "Ah ain't budgin'."

"You will if you want any blanket!", Rarity said through her teeth. The blanket was swiftly yanked away by Applejack, leading to a tug-of war.

"Give it back!"

"I will not!"

"Yes, you will!"

"Won't!"

"ENOUGH!" They were cut off by Twilight, who had gotten up due to the entire racket.

The two 'combatants' slackened their pull on the blanket as the book, open, was levitated up for them to read.

"It says right here that the number-one thing you're supposed to do at a slumber party is have fun." Twilight said as she then 'slammed' the book shut and 'dropped' it. "And thanks to you two, I can't check that off!"

Applejack dropped her end. "Ah've been tryin' my darnedest to get along!"

Rarity dropped hers. "No, it is I who have been trying my best."

"No, it was me."

"No, it was I."

"Me!"

"I!"

"I hope you're happy…" the upset unicorn snapped at them. "…both of you! You've ruined my very first slumber party! The makeover, the s'mores, truth or dare, the pillow fight. Let's just go to bed and forget the whole thing." The look on Twilight's face was absolutely heartbroken. "Goodnight everypony." She mumbled as she went off to her room.

Both Rarity and Applejack were rather ashamed at what their actions caused. They were so angry and petulant to each other they completely ignored what their actions were doing to Twilight.

"I'll talk to Twilight." Naruto volunteered as he followed after the Unicorn. Hoping that the other two mares would have a heart to heart and that he made the right decision.

Naruto came across the sadden Twilight whose expression was so sad he had to stop himself from giving her a hug. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that Twi. "

"I just don't understand why they were acting that way. All of us are friends right? Why would they be so mean each other?"

Naruto sighed as he stretched out his arms before placing them on his knees. "Sometimes you lose sight of things when you become emotional. I'm sorry this happened to you Twilight, I could have stepped in, but I was hoping AJ and Rare would hash out their issues. Sometimes its good t to let ponies hash out issues on their own, but the unfortunate result can lead to others being hurt. You can have the best intentions but things don't always work out. Despite their issues with each other I'm sure they didn't mean to ruin the slumber party for you. Hopefully this is the experience that knocks them back to their senses."

"If you had decided to talk with them what would you have done?"

Naruto looked back to Twilight who was looking at the stallion expectantly, waiting for the answer of her inquiry. "I'm not sure if simply talking would have solved their deep seated issues. Both of them are strong, stubborn, and proud in whom they are which makes them being opposites in so many things an easy issue to butt heads with. Rarity cares about beauty and cleanliness and Applejack working and freedom. One would be horrified at the thought of a trek through mud and the other would just wear a determined grin. Normally you'll need a strong incident in order to snap them out of it. Anyway I'm pretty sure the two of them are waiting out there for their chance to apology." He finished with a grin. "I'll send them in." he said as he got off the bed and went to the door. The sudden jolt from the other side of the door showed that the two of them had been eavesdropping. "She's all yours," Naruto answered as the two of them tried to play off what happened as they went to apology to Twilight for their behavior and dragging her into their spat.

Naruto went down stairs and began checking out the condition of the storm. What followed was the sound of thunder and then not too long after a tree had crashed through a section of the library exposing it to the elements. The trio of mares ran down and gasp at the destruction.

"You see?" Applejack scolded a chastened Rarity. "That's why we needed to take down all those loose branches in town, not spiffy 'em up!"

"But I—"

"Out of my way, missy!" Applejack dashed to the window. "Time's a-wastin'!" She pushed it open with one hand and her lasso began to spin.

"Wait! Stop! Don't!"

"No waitin', no stoppin', doin'!" And with that, she let the rope fly and caught the loose section at its top. "And that, my friends, is what we call 'gettin' 'er done.'"

As she then yanked down on her end, the entire leafy expanse of the snapped-off piece tumbled squarely through the window. The foliage was expansive enough to nearly fill the loft, and Applejack wound up hanging over the balcony by the rope still in her hands.

Rarity was crying out from the wind-blown mess at the bookshelves, which have been reduced to a scramble of open volumes, torn-out pages, and broken junk. She was holding an open book over her head to shelter herself in spite of the fact that no wind was blowing inside anymore.

"I tried to tell you it would come crashing down in here!" the fashionista warned as Applejack climbed up the steps.

"Well, you shoulda tried harder!" Applejack's eyes then popped upon seeing that Rarity was trying to gather up the bits of furniture. At the other end of the fallen timber, Twilight poked her head up dizzily and shook it clear. Still dazed she was helped up by Naruto. "I'm mighty sorry, Twilight."

"It's…well…it's not okay! There's a giant tree branch in the middle of my bedroom!"

"Twilight, can you create a barrier to stop all the wind and rain from pouring in?"

"I can, but if I make the barrier too small it will keep the tree immobilized. I will have to extend its range so it can be removed, but I won't be able to keep it up all night."

"Is there any supplies we can use to make a makeshift wall or such?" Naruto asked her.

"Down in the basement. There's still some left from when the Library was expanded a few days ago." Twilight answered as her horn began to glow. Slowly a crest like image formed and began to grow in size as Twilight began to extend it outwards towards the hole the tree made. She began to form a protective shield to protect them from the storm.

He then turned to Rarity, who was putting books back on the shelves, and saw that her priorities were also skewed.

"What in tarnation are y'all doin' over there?" Applejack asked her, seeing it too.

"Cleaning up this mess somepony made! Who was that again? Oh, right, that's you!"

Applejack grimaced for a moment, pulled her head into the leaves, and put it up behind Twilight. "We gotta do somethin'!"

"We need to come up with a way to get it out of here without causing any more damage. Look, I'm going to get the supplies from the basement. Applejack and Rarity we need you two figure out how we're going to move that tree." Naruto suggested as he went downstairs to get the tools.

Applejack used her rope to pull on one section, then bucked at it and stomped before diving back in. A moment later, she looked out across the room. "Rarity for pony's sake! Stop sweatin' the small stuff and help me get rid of this thing!" Rarity ignored her as she continued shelving. "I said, hustle over here and help me!"

"Come on, Rarity. We can fix up the books later."

Again, there was no response. At this moment, Applejack strained against the trunk's weight and/or her own attitude. When she spoke next, her voice has lost some of its angry edge. ""Look. Ah'm sorry, all right?"

"What was that?" Rarity asked.

"Ah said ah'm sorry! Ah shoulda listened to you when you noticed where this here branch would end up. Your annoyin' attention to detail woulda saved us from this whole mess. But right now, you need to stop bein' so dang fussy pickin' up all those little things and help me move the one big thing in here that actually matters!" There was no immediate response. "Please!"

Taking a long moment to think, Rarity tossed her head to get the book off it and moaned uncertainly before a determined smile came over her face. "Let's do this!"

When Naruto returned the two of them discussed their plan to move the tree.

A few seconds later, they put their plan into action. Rarity was now back at the bookshelves and she concentrates deeply, and unleashing a burst from her horn. In two swift flashes, the leafy limbs became topiaries similar to the ones she made prior to the storm, but with a wider assortment of shapes. They floated before her and settled gently into the suddenly cleared floor space.

At the window, one stub of trunk still hung on the sill. Applejack having finally put her hat back on was set to buck it out, but a stern look from Rarity changed her mind. Both ponies are now filthy with twigs and tree sap. Instead of using leg-power, Applejack caught a small side branch in her hand while Naruto helped heaved the other over the side. Gathering the pieces of plank Naruto and Applejack went to work mending the hole with the planks the former had gathered from the placement. Mending the hole took no time as Rarity floated the nails up to the two as they quickly patched up the destruction.

Rarity smiled approvingly as Naruto nailed the final plank to which Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Keeping a spell of that level for so long was rather draining. Rarity then got a full look at the splatters that have ruined her own impeccable grooming. "Oh…I look awful."

Applejack thought hard for a moment before getting a brainstorm. She then took up some cucumber slices and put them on Rarity's eyes. "Better?"

Rarity smiled and laughed softly. "Thanks." She reached forward blindly with a hoof, trying to touch Applejack's cheek. The latter leaned forward to put herself in the right place, and the two shared a hug. "I am sorry Applejack. You were right, removing branches and tending to the trees was a far more important issue than my efforts to add a little culture to them. I would hate to think if something like this were to happy to anypony else.

"Is fine, as long as ya understand the importance of it."

Hours later they all began to play the next game in the book's list: Twenty Questions. They were sitting on the floor and laughing and the unicorn mares had their curlers in.

"Is it bigger than a barn?" Applejack questioned.

"Is it smaller than a saddle?" Rarity added.

Twilight giggled again. "No. Only three of your twenty questions left."

Applejack sighed. "We're never gonna guess what you're thinkin' of! It could be anything!"

"Are we getting warmer?" Rarity asked .

"Why? Is it too cold in here for you?" Twilight asked. "I can turn up the heat."

"She means, are we gettin' any closer with our guesses?" Applejack clarified.

"Oh! No. And that technically counted as a question, so only two more left." Twilight said.

"Is it…", Applejack said, then in rapid fire, "…a six-legged pony with a purple polka-dotted mane and shootin' stars comin' out of his eyes…"

"…who flies through the air all over the world to hide magic sparkly eggs?" Rarity finished in the same manner.

"That's it!" Twilight exclaimed with a look of enthusiasm.

"It is?" Both of the guessers asked with a look of confusion.

"No." Twilight simply stated she pointed to something at the bedroom window. "It's a telescope. Really, girls, but it was just so nice to see you two finally getting along, I wanted you to be able to win together." Twilight said, and the two guessers laughed, proving her point. "See? We could've been having fun like this all along."

"If only somepony hadn't been so persnickety." Applejack snarked.

"Well, maybe she wouldn't have been if somepony else hadn't been so sloppy." Rarity snarked back.

They traded sidelong, riled-up glances for a moment, and then smiled again. "Sorry for bein' such a pain in the patootie."

"Oh, no, I'm sure I was much worse."

"That's kind of you to say, but I'm the one who's sorry."

"Oh, I'm much sorrier than you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

Both of them began to laugh, and Twilight popped up between them, the curlers gone from her mane. "I declare my first slumber party a success!"

The three of them "high-fived" and gave out a "Yeah!" before laughing again.

Twilight then levitated her book. "Have fun, check!" There was another round of laughter as it was closed.

Naruto returned back from the bathroom. "Alright so whose turn is it?"

Early morning at the main room, the table was set aside as stacks of books and pillows–as well as the topiaries–filled the floor.

"Now take two steps to your left." Rarity–curlers off her head–instructed Applejack as she walked into the 'obstacle course', her motions hampered by the cucumber slices on her eyes. "Uh, no, my left."

Applejack tried to correct herself in her walk. "Well, which is it?" She then stumbled into the books, toppling them over. "Whoa!" When she stood up from the collapse, she had lost the slices but gained a pillow on her head. She gave a smile as Rarity walked to her. "That mess is your fault, not mine." Both of them began to laugh.

"Sorry."

Meanwhile, Twilight was composing a report at a worktable.

"Dear Princess Celestia," she began. "It's hard to believe that two ponies that seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you just might be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all." She then floated the quill away from the scroll and addressed herself across the room.

"So, who's up for another slumber party tomorrow night?" She was answered with a pair of pillows being flung into her grinning face. "How about a week from Thursday?" A few more pillows were thrown. "Oh! How about two weeks from Saturday?" There was laughter from her guests. "A month from now?"

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at what was going on. "Yeah I think you might want to wait awhile before having another one."