Sunday nights are literally the most boring things ever. Mostly because Celestia always tries to get me to make friends by holding a big banquet or something. I mean, it only ever happens once a month. Reminds me of periods.

Of course, I don't care, it never works, but she thinks it's actually gonna happen if I 'try'. But I do try. Or, well, I did. Now I'm sick of trying, I don't even dress up or anything.

I just end up embarrassing myself, one way or another.

This time, however, Celestia has persuaded me to go by letting Zoe sleep over after the party, so I make an effort to at least brush my mane and add a bow in it with a silver chain necklace. I also add some foundation to try and cover the cut on my cheek. It doesn't work very well, now it looks like a scar, the thin, slender scab now, instead of deep red, a pale peachy orange, like the rest of my body.

I lay on my bed and wait in my room for Zoe, once again blowing my fringe out of my eyes and waving my legs in the air. I'm still thinking about Loki the other day. I haven't seen him since then, and I hope he's miserable.

... No, I don't.

In all honesty, I hope he's glad he said I have chicken wings. I hope he's glad he's insulted me because if not, then he wouldn't have gotten anything out of it.

I hear a knock at the door and jump up, flying over and crashing into the pony who opened the door, expecting it to be Zoe. It's not Zoe.

Instead, it's a pegasus guard. I jump off of him, blushing profusely of embarrassment. I help him up. "Sorry," I apologise, "What is it?"

"Princess Celestia requests your presence at the banquet," he replies formally, closing my door and leading me down the hallway. "Now," he adds when he sees my face waver.

"But... but Zoe hasn't arrived yet!" I exclaim.

The guard furrows his brow. "I don't believe she was on the guest list," he says, confused.

My eyes widen. Oh, great. Celestia just conned me into going. I open my mouth to say something, but am stopped by the guard grabbing my shoulders and ushering me forward. "Hey!" I cry, "What's the big idea?"

"You must attend, Celestia's orders," he answers blankly, leading me into a large room with purple, marble flooring.

In the centre of the room is a big, mahogany table going long ways with a red tablecloth that has gold tassels, the table itself full of different food like vegetables, fruit, desserts and other stuff I can't be bothered naming because I'm now looking at the magnificent chandeliers on the ceiling. Note to self - do not swing on them. I smirk and put a hoof to my cheek, feeling the cut.

Ponies dressed in all kinds of fancy shmancy clothes stand around the room, talking, some holding glasses of things that I hope is apple juice, unicorns levitating them with their magic.

A lot of ponies crowd around the princess, though it does make sense that they'd do that, I mean she is our god after all. I'm not sure Luna was invited, though...

A few ponies turn their heads at me when I walk by, probably because I'm too underdressed. I'm just heading for the buffet to pick up a pudding tub. I see a cluster of them at the table, grab for one, but a hand comes out and wraps around the cup, grabbing it at the same time as me. I glance up abruptly to see Loki trying to grab the same tub as me, his fingers touching my hoof. Oh my god, how did he get here?

He looks at me, his eyes widened. "L... Loki? I... didn't see you come in," I mutter, both of us pulling back and looking at the floor.

Loki bites his lip. I notice he's in formal stuff- well, more formal than usual. He's in a black tux with a green collar and cuffs. "Well... I was invited. A few minutes ago. Unexpectedly." I give him a confused look. "By Celestia," he explains, "She sort of... teleported me here. Wants me to meet and greet people, I suppose. But uh... there's no people here. That I know of. Just you," he stammers. I breathe out my nose and nod once. Surely he doesn't think I'm daft enough to forget the other day, does he?
He steps forward. "I also want to... take this as an opportunity. To, of course, apologise for my actions, I was most ungrateful and... I'm sorry."

I narrow my eyes. I don't know whether he's being sincere or not. And I sure as hell don't know if he can read minds. "I'll only forgive you on one condition," I reply after a few seconds. Loki nods quickly. I fly up to his level.

"Yes, what condition?" He inquires.

I whip a camera out on my armpit, holding it in front of us, putting an arm around Loki and pulling him towards me so he has to lean inwards.

"Lemme take a selfie!" I screech. I accidentally left the flash on, making step back in shock, blinking obviously, me giggling like a mad person. That is, until I realise that giggle actually isn't mine. I turn to see a bright pink pony with poofy hair and icy blue eyes laughing next to me. I raise an eyebrow. "Uh... what?" I mutter.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I attended this party just for you!" She squeaks, bouncing in the tips if her hooves. I look her up and down to realise she's in a really nice, puffy pink and white dress with candy corns on the belt and a cute little top hat. It looks like gala attire.

"Hi! I'm Rosie and I attended this party because I was forced to!" I reply lightly, copying her bouncing. As if communicating telepathically, we jump and bound around each other, giggling loudly like idiots. I buzz my wings excitedly. "I like her," I say smoothly, looking up at Loki, who just watches us quietly like we're crazy. I swear he's thinking of backing away slowly.

Suddenly, a peachy orange pegasus stallion wearing a black tie trots lazily towards us, his baby blue eyes only open halfway, obviously not amused. I take in his appearance. He has a brown, shaggy mane that's a little unkept, longer than it should be, but still a lot shorter than mine. He has a purple iPod tucked under his left wing, with white earbuds in his ears. He sighs, rolling his eyes at Pinkie, who stops and smiles widely.

"And this is my seventh cousin thrice removed, Joe! But that's like, totally brother and sister!" She exclaims, skipping up to him and wrapping and arm around his shoulders, pulling him towards her. He only blinks, is expression is still blank.

My wings go *pomf*. This guy is really good looking. Loki notices me do this and cocks his head, trying to figure it out. "Hiya!" I mutter nervously.

Joe turns to me and blinks slowly, then takes an ear bud out of his ear and leans towards me. "What?" He asks. Oh my gods, even his voice is hot.

Pinkie looks from me to Joe, who puts his earbud back in and she gasps loudly. "Oh my gosh!" She screeches. "You two look exactly alike!"

"Really?" I inquire, stepping to Joe's side and glancing at Loki for a confirmation. He purses his lips and nods a little, as if he doesn't really want to say it.

"Yeah! Joey here is staying at Canterlot Castle for a while because he's going to be Shining Armour's apprentice when he comes back," Pinkie states.

I turn to Joe. "Oh, cool! I'm Princess Celestia's student, so may I be the first to welcome you to Canterlot Castle!" I smile.

He tips his head to the side, letting one earbud fall out and leans towards me. "What?"

"So, did you come here with just him?" I ask Pinkie. She giggles and shakes her head no.

"I came here with Applejack and Fluttershy and Rarity and-!" She squeaks.

I vaguely remember their names from somewhere. "Oh, the Elements of Harmony!" I interrupt, nodding slowly.

"The what now?" Loki inquires, furrowing his eyebrows. Oh, right, he's still in this conversation.

"The most powerful things in Equestria," I explain. Loki looks up as if thinking and bites his lips, a mischievous smile forming on his face. "Don't get any ideas, they're very good at kicking your ass."

That seems to have extinguished the flame of mischief Loki had inside of him for now. His face falls and he stays quiet. "But they're all off somewhere else. Said something about Discord turning on us again and 'stay at the party and act as though nothing ever happened'. Anyway, I think they're about to sit down and eat. Wanna sit next to me, Rosie?" Pinkie smiles.

I nod enthusiastically. "Sure thing! C'mon, Loki," I wave my arm and flap over to the table, taking a seat, Pinkie jumping to one next to me. Joe sits next to Pinkie and Loki sits on the other side of me.

Loki looks like a fish out of water, especially because the seat is too small for him, so his knees touch the table. When he first puts them under the table, he accidentally raises it a little bit, which makes the food slide down. He abruptly tucks his legs under the seat, hoping nobody notices, but I snicker a little. He gives me a 'please don't tell anyone' look and I smile knowingly. "I'm gonna tell the audience, though," I say, turning to all of you guys.

Pinkie giggles. "You already did. Hi, everyone!" She squeals at you, waving a hoof frantically. "You're all looking dapper as always."

"Dapper?" I echo, "I thought we were supposed to compliment them?"

"I just did. Now you find a compliment," Pinkie explains.

"Um... uh..." I mumble, putting a hoof to my chin, "You are all really... uh... punctual! No, uh... you know, your eyes get prettier and prettier the more I notice you staring at us."

Joe shakes his head and an earbud falls out. He leans in to us. "What?"

Pinkie and I smile widely at you. Both Joe and Loki look in the direction that we're smiling at, confused looks on their faces. "What are you talking about?" Loki questions.

More ponies gather seated around the table until it's full, with Celestia sitting at the end, eating really politely. Meanwhile, I'm here eating pudding and getting it all round my muzzle, Pinkie doing the same and giggling. Loki sits there eating potatoes and stuff I don't care about, and Joe just eats whatever's given to him, but really, really slowly.

When I'm done, Loki unexpectedly whips me around with a napkin in his hand and starts wiping the pudding from my face. I pull away. "No!" I whine.

"For your dignity and mine," he says in a low key tone, holding my chin so I can't move away and continuing to wipe my face.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, mom."

Suddenly, the napkin brushes past my cut and I wince in pain, pulling away abruptly. "Wh- come back!" Loki says, fed up.

"No way," I reply, diving under the table.

Loki sighs and rolls his eyes, "I'm not even going to try."

I wait for everypony else to leave the table before our little group does. I climb out from under the table and turn to Joe. "So, where in the castle are you staying?" I inquire.

He takes one earbud out and leans towards me. "What?"

After I take Loki back to his cell and say goodbye, noticing he's been reading the book I got him, I go with Pinkie outside where there's a cluster of carriages waiting for us. Joe's disappeared, probably gone to his new room.

Well, maybe Celestia's plans for me making friends may have actually worked this time. But I doubt I'll ever see Pinkie again.

"Yes, you will!" Pinkie exclaims as I follow her outside to the carriages that have come to pick the guests up.

My eyes widen. "You just read that?" I say, dumbfounded. A carriage comes up with four other ponies in it, whom I'm guessing are Pinkie's friends because they're smiling and waving at her. Pinkie gives me a wink and jumps into the carriage, which speeds off. I furrow my non existent eyebrows.

...

What?

😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕😕

Hey there, people reading!

Woah, whaaaat? 2 updates in one week? How is that even possible?

Aaaanyways if you didn't already know, I've squished ch12 and ch11 together because it's a free country.

Also, this Joe guy is very important. I think.

Halloween chapter coming next week! Huzzah! Who or what should Rosie go as? Or Loki? Or... Anyone?

You get it? Chapter 13 on Halloween? No? Ok.

Vote.

Comment.

Stay happy.

~ilovepinkiepie