When they finally reached the castle, Fluttershy found that the trip had worn her out somewhat, her breaths slightly heavier. Not altogether surprising, really. She had been forced into flying against the wind, the consequential friction causing her progress to be slowed considerably. Not that she was a strong flier to begin with, but she couldn't help but wonder if their progress would have been faster if she had simply chosen to run... With a soft clop as her hooves made contact with the stone just outside of the open castle doorway, Fluttershy Took a moment to glance over her shoulder and felt her cheeks burn slightly with embarrassment as she saw that Pinkie had had no problem in keeping up with her slow pace, even bouncing as she had been. She released a small sigh, but quickly resolved to put the matter at the back of her mind. It would do no good to worry about it now.

"Fluttershy! Pinkie! I'm so glad that you came!" A familiar voice called, the two ponies instinctively turning towards the sound with smiles. Each set of eyes focused on the purple allicorn, Twilight Sparkle, hurrying towards them, her small dragon companion Spike writing on her back. Following closely behind her was another pony, this one orange and yellow, and was not altogether surprising, Applejack could have easily made it here before either of them with her work strengthened legs. Further back, a few other ponies stood together in a loose group, all of them strangers, but none of them made any advance towards the doors with the princess. Fluttershy wondered silently who they could be, but quickly focused her attention on the more immediate situation instead.

"Twilight! We came as soon as we could. What's going-" She began, but was quickly overridden by a much louder voice as Pinkie jumped in front of her.

what's going on? Is there an emergency? Do you need A super secret party pronto?" The  enthusiastic pink pony asked quickly. And as a precaution if the answer to her last question was yes, Pinkie inexplicably produced her ever famous party canon from seemingly know where.

"No, I don't need a party Pinkie..." Twilight responded as patiently as she could, giving her head a shake as she stopped in front of her friends. But the disappointed expression and slightly deflated appearance of the party pony and her hair made her feel slightly guilty. Which was probably why she tacked on, "But maybe you can start planning for a celebration party for after we solve A problem I have." That was enough for the Pie, her expression brightening considerably, hair fluffy once again.

"... And what is that problem?" Fluttershy finally managed to ask politely, appearing anxious.

But Twilight shook her head once again. "I'd rather explain once rarity and Rainbowdash are here." She explained, her own gaze growing slightly anxious as she turned her head to look out through the open doors, as if expecting to see the two ponies walking in at that moment.