"Are y'all sure this is the best way to go about this?" Applejack asked. "I feel awful bad about it." The other ponies didn't answer at first, not even Twilight, the one who'd come up with the idea in the first place. It had been about 4 days since Rainbow Dash, the last of the group to do so, had stopped going to Pinkie's parties, and none of them had heard from Pinkie since. They had tried getting in contact with her to invite her by Rarity's place today, but had no luck getting through to her.
"This is what's best, AJ," Twilight finally responded. "Pinkie's got to understand that too much is too much, and if we keep enabling her by going to her parties, it'll never happen." Twilight sounded like she was saying this to convince her friends, but in truth was also saying it to convince herself.
"Besides, I'm sure she's still got plenty of other ponies going to her parties," Fluttershy offered. She hoped to herself that she was the only one to notice the other ponies in town actively avoiding the party locations over the last few days.
"She probably hasn't even noticed that we aren't there," Rainbow said, putting on a forced smile. It had hurt her so badly when Lyra told her about Pinkie looking all over for her at the first party she had skipped. It was the first time she'd cried in a good long time. Still, Twilight was right. If they kept going to her parties, she'd never even think about slowing them down.
"I'm sure Pinkie will get the hint soon, ladies," Rarity said. Suddenly, she felt a tug at the fabric she had been stitching. She looked down to see Opal pulling on a string that had been dangling from it.
"Opalescence!" Rarity yelled, startling the little white cat. "You know better than to pull at Mommy's threads while she's working!" Rarity deftly cut the offending thread from her garment, then tossed it into the next room, sending Opal charging after it.
"That cat goes simply mad whenever she sees a dangling thread!" she muttered. "Anyway, Pinkie is brighter than she lets on sometimes. We shall most likely be hearing from her soon enough."
~~~~~~~~~~
"So what's YOUR name?" Pinkie asked, looking at her new party guest inquisitively. "I've never met you before, and I know EVERYPONY in Ponyville, but you're probably from out of town, since you're obviously not a pony, and if you were from town, I'd know you, because like I said, I know EVERYPONY in Ponyville..."
"When's the party starting?" the cat asked, changing the subject. He looked left and right, his small black eyes silently judging Pinkie's choice in decorations.
"Well," Pinkie said, a little embarrassed, "It was supposed to start a while ago, but I dunno what happened to everypony I invited..."
"Hm," the cat said. "Well, it's not a party without a bunch of party guests. Mind if I invite some friends?"
"Of COURSE not!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I love meeting new friends!" The cat smiled and whipped a cell phone out of a previously-unseen pocket.
"Ooh, pockets!" Pinkie swooned. "Have any lint? We're having an appreciation party for it in a few days and..." The cat held a paw up to Pinkie, doing the impossible and quieting her while he was on the phone.
"...Right," the cat said into the phone. "Ponyville. Big pink building. Seeya soon." The cat hung the phone up, then turned to Pinkie. "You should answer your door," he said.
"But I didn't even hear..." Pinkie started to say, when there was a sudden knock on the door. She rushed over and opened it. Outside her door stood a large group of cats of all sizes and colors.
"Party?" they all asked simultaneously.
"PARTY!!" Pinkie screamed happily, stepping aside to allow the felines entrance into her house.
The resulting party was possibly the most exciting party that Pinkie had ever been to. While she wished her friends could have been there to enjoy it with her, it was still one of the greatest times she'd ever had. She was so overcome by the good time she was having that it didn't even faze her when the cats started to rearrange her place, setting up bunks for themselves to sleep in. As Pinkie slid into her bed, images of the party that had just finished danced in her head. She hoped that every party she had from then on could be as amazing as that one was.
Pinkie woke up early the next day. She yawned and looked around her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She was a bit shocked at the sight of so many cats in her room, before she realized that the party from yesterday wasn't a dream, but had actually happened. She almost broke into giggles right then and there at this realization. The cats all smiled as she climbed out of bed. Every one of them was already awake.
"Good morning, kitties!" Pinkie bubbled. "Ohmygosh, that party last night was SOOOOO fun! And I can't believe I had so much fun with you kitties! Not that I don't think cats are fun, but it's just that I've never met so many cats before and I never knew they liked to party! It's kinda funny actually, I always thought Rarity would be the cat lady of our group, but here I am with a ton of cats in my house..."
"When's the next party?" the white cat, the same one who had first arrived at Pinkie's place and apparently the leader of the group, asked.
"Oh..." Pinkie replied, startled. She didn't expect them to be ready to party again. "Well, I was going to have a party later tonight..."
"What about now?" the cat asked curtly.
"Erm...well, I just woke up, and I kinda wanted to finish doing my wakey wakey routine first..." Pinkie said. She loved to party, but she was barely even awake yet.
"You can do your wakey wakey routine during the party," the cat said, smiling. The other cats in the room all smiled and nodded in unison. Pinkie thought about this for a moment, then shrugged.
"Well, I guess you're right..." she said. Before she knew what was going on, one of the cats had turned on the nearby stereo, and once again, the party was in full swing.
The party lasted all day. This bothered Pinkie a little, because she had to completely alter her party schedule to make up for the impromptu party's overrun interfering with the Many Muffins Matinee Party she had planned for that evening. She got over it pretty quickly, though, since she was having a fantastic time. The next day went pretty much the same way. So did the day after that, and the day after that. Pinkie was used to partying, but had never partied quite this much in her entire life.
~~~~~~~~~~
It had been over a week since the girls had heard from Pinkie. They had all begun to get worried days ago, but not a single one of them spoke about it. They each secretly had their own theories for why they hadn't heard from her. Fluttershy had a horrible feeling that something bad had happened to her. Applejack believed that she didn't even notice that her best friends weren't at her parties. Rarity was positive she'd lost contact with them due to all the partying she was doing. Rainbow took it the worst, assuming that Pinkie was upset with them and refusing to talk to them. As for Twilight, she wasn't sure what had happened. She'd gone through every possible scenario in her head, including the ones that she didn't know her friends had thought about, but not one of them made sense to her. Not a single one seemed very Pinkie-like.
The whole time, none of the group would admit to the others that they were worried. Each of them wanted to attend the next party to see how Pinkie was doing, but none of them wanted to be the one to break their agreement to not go to them. Even as the five of them sat together in Twilight's house today, putting on their best happy faces, each of them hoped that another one would suggest checking out the party of the day. They had gotten together today for a taste testing, as Twilight had learned a new spell to prepare desserts and Applejack was more than happy to bring a basketload of apples to be the test subjects. The apples remained untouched, however, as the five friends sat around in a circle, each brooding over their urge to see how Pinkie was doing. Not a single one of them had said a word outside of basic greetings since they had entered Twilight's house, and not a single bit of magic food preparing had been started. It was a long while before Twilight said something.
"...So I think we should..." Twilight started to say.
"I'M WORRIED ABOUT PINKIE!!!" Rainbow suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, unable to take it anymore. The others nearly fell out of their chairs at this outburst, but one by one, they agreed.
"So let's go and see what's going on at her place!" Applejack said.
"But we said we wouldn't go to her parties, or else she'd never stop having them..." Fluttershy reminded them.
"Look, girls," Twilight said, standing up. "We agreed to that, but at this point, I think it's worth abandoning that idea. It's not like Pinkie to just not contact us at all, and it's safe to say we're all worried about her."
"So let's go!" Rainbow yelled, bolting out of Twilight's house. The other ponies followed suit.
As the group approached Pinkie's house, they noticed her lying down on the stoop by her front door. This wasn't the Pinkie they were used to. The Pinkie they were used to was always bubbly and bouncing around. This Pinkie seemed...drained.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted, zooming up to her. "What's wrong?"
Pinkie weakly lifted her head up to look at Rainbow. Her reddened eyes were barely able to keep themselves open.
"...Guys?" Pinkie said slowly. "I...I'm tired...I don't want to party anymore..." The others gasped. This was possibly the last thing they would ever have expected Pinkie to say.
"Who did this to you??" Rainbow asked, her feathers flaring out in anger.
"No one did anything to me," Pinkie responded. "It's just...they never want to stop..."
"Who?" Twilight asked. Pinkie lifted a single hoof up and pointed to the window. The girls jockeyed for position, pressing themselves up against the window to see what was going on. They were all confused at the sight of the multitude of cats partying in Pinkie's house.
"What the..." Twilight stammered. Fluttershy pulled away from the window, looking very worried.
"Pinkie," Fluttershy said, "Did you invite those cats in there?" Pinkie nodded.
"Oh my, this is bad," the yellow pegasus mused.
"What's bad?" Twilight asked. "What are they?"
"Those are Party Cats," Fluttershy said, blushing a bit at suddenly being thrust into the spotlight. "They're magical beings. They can’t enter your house uninvited. If you invite them into your home, they can only leave if it's by their own choice, and with how much they like to party, that's no easy feat."
"Oh, please!" Rainbow said, puffing herself up. "They don't look so tough!"
"I've rounded up critters far worse than those varmints," Applejack agreed. "Come on, Rainbow! Let's get these furballs outta there, pronto!" The two brash ponies burst into Pinkie's house, charging straight at the cats.
"Alright, Dash!" Applejack shouted, as the cats turned their attention to them. "I wanna see an alpha formation! We're gonna press the threat in the center and ride 'em out in a tight I!"
"What the heck does that mean?" Rainbow shouted back.
"Go over there and get 'em!" Applejack yelled back.
"Now you're making sense!" Rainbow bellowed.
The others watched the scene from the doorway, and were more than disappointed with what they saw. Applejack and Rainbow did a decent job of rounding them up, but found themselves inexplicably unable to lead them out of Pinkie's house. After a good while of trying and being foiled, the two ponies had to admit defeat.
"These critters sure are tough," Applejack gasped. Rainbow nodded, angry at her inability to solve the problem.
"Fluttershy, why don't you try that stare thing on them?" Rainbow said. Fluttershy squeaked, but then puffed her chest out and entered the house. She walked straight up to the white cat and stared him dead in the eye. Her eyes widened, and she stared at the white cat angrily. The cat stared back for a few seconds, then started to back down a bit.
"It's working!" Twilight said happily. However, she soon realized that she had spoken too soon, as the white cat turned his attention away from Fluttershy and went right back to dancing. Fluttershy walked back out, hanging her head in shame.
"OK, girls," Twilight said, stepping up. "We tried getting them out by force. We tried the stare. Now I'm done fooling around. It's magic time."
"Twilight, I wouldn't..." Fluttershy warned, but Twilight would have none of it. She confidently stepped into the room, and her horn began glowing. The cats each began glowing with an aura to match Twilight's horn, and they were all lifted off of the ground.
"You cats have overstayed your welcome," Twilight said, and waved her head towards the doorway. The cats began to float towards the doorway. Just as the cats were about to levitate straight out of the door, though, the aura dissipated, and they landed back on the floor.
"What?" Twilight said, confused. "How did they..."
"Lady, you don't know what you're messing with," the white cat said. He raised his front paws, which began glowing a bright red. Twilight suddenly felt a strange feeling in her hooves. She found her left front hoof starting to tap along with the music that was blaring from the stereo. Before she knew what was going on, she had broken out into a full-out dance.
"W-w-w-what's happening?" Twilight asked, unable to stop dancing.
"Yeah, we're not big fans of people using magic on us," the white cat said calmly. "I figured you could stand to loosen up a bit." A look of fear entered Twilight's eyes, as she found that due to her magically-inspired dancing, she couldn't even concentrate enough to prepare a counterspell.
"Have fun at the party!" the white cat said, smiling and going back to having a good time.
Pinkie Pie couldn't believe her eyes. These cats had out-magicked Twilight, and now she was stuck partying against her will. Her eyes narrowed, and she pulled herself back to a standing position. She had seen enough.
"That...is....IT!!" Pinkie screamed as she stomped into her house, closing her eyes tight as she yelled. "Now you listen here, you meanie-weenie cats! I like to party just as much as you do, but this is enough! You've taken over my house and held endless parties without my permission, but now, to make it worse, you're forcing my friend to party when she doesn't want to! Parties are meant to be used for fun, not as a weapon!"
Pinkie went on like this, shocking her friends. The cats looked surprised too, but didn't seem to be convinced to leave. Just then, Rarity noticed a small vase sitting in the corner of Pinkie's living room. She looked at it, then back at the cats. She remembered her anger at Opal the other day...and something suddenly clicked. As the pink earth pony continued to shout, Rarity stared at the vase. Her horn glowed, mainly at the point, and she scrunched her eyes. The vase began to lift into the air, and gradually transformed into a long, thin thread. The white cat was the first to notice the thread, and his eyes suddenly became locked onto it. One by one, each other cat became entranced with the thread as well. Rarity levitated the thread back and forth, and the cats followed its every movement. She moved the thread carefully, guiding it around the still-dancing Twilight, who had noticed it and started to smile. The thread bobbed gracefully through the air, every single cat enthralled by it. The white unicorn used the thread to organize the cats into a line, marching them single-file out of Pinkie's house and closing the door the second the last one had left. Twilight sighed with relief as her involuntary dancing slowed, then stopped. She smiled and nodded at Rarity, who nodded back. Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.
"...And I want EVERY ONE OF YOU to get out of my house...RIGHT....NOW!!!" Pinkie bellowed, ending her tirade. She opened her eyes, and noticed that not a single cat remained.
"...Wow!" Pinkie said, smiling. "Looks like I told them! Yay Pinkie!!"
"Actually, it was..." Rarity started, but Twilight shook her head.
"Let her have this one," the purple unicorn whispered. Rarity began to protest, but then looked at how happy Pinkie was at her "victory."
"...Yes!" Rarity said. "Yay Pinkie! ...Yay Pinkie indeed..."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight started. It had been about an hour, and the ponies had reconvened at Twilight's house. "Today, my friend Pinkie Pie learned a very important lesson. Parties are always fun, and it's important to let yourself loose and have a good time every once in a while, but it's also important to know how to do it in moderation."
"That's right!" Pinkie said, giving Twilight a hug. "And I also learned that Twilight is a great dancer!"
"Oh, ha ha, very funny," Twilight said, giving her friend a grin.
"So yeah," Pinkie said, "I think I'm gonna give parties a break for a little while. Is that OK with you girls?" Pinkie's friends were all too happy to nod in agreement.
"Great!" Pinkie said, bouncing around, eyes closed in satisfaction. "What a great lesson I've learned! We have to have a party to celebrate it!" Pinkie opened her eyes, only to notice that all of her friends had left.
"Girls?" she called. "I was just kidding!!"