Pinkie knocked on the door of her cousin’s house and waited. There was no answer. She knocked again and again, but nothing happened.
“Hello?” she called.
“Nopony’s here!” a voice said.
“Oh, okay,” Pinkie replied, confused. “I’ll come back later!”
She started to leave, but then stopped in her tracks and whipped around.
“Wait!” she said. “If nopony is here, then how are you telling me that?”
Just then, the door opened, and the same voice as before said “SURPRISE!”
Pinkie saw a white pegasus that looked almost exactly like her, except with yellow mane, purple eyes, and of course, wings.
“Surprise?”
“Gotcha!” Surprise said with a laugh. “Please, come in!”
Pinkie followed her cousin into the house and saw that the rest of her family was there. Her parents, Clyde and Sue, were sitting on the sofa. Sue was casually sipping on a glass of punch, and her and Clyde’s faces showed little emotion. Her sisters Blinkie and Inkie, (the latter was also known as Octavia) smiled warmly as Pinkie entered. Inkie played her cello in the background, while Blinkie attacked Pinkie with a big hug.
“It’s been a while, Pinkie!” Blinkie said.
“Great to see you, Blinkie!” said Pinkie.
Blinkie glanced at Pinkie’s swollen belly. “I’m so excited that I’ll be an aunt soon!” she said with a grin.
“Who wants more punch?” Surprise called.
“No thank you,” Inkie said calmly, pausing her cello playing only for a second.
“I’d like some!” said Blinkie. She and Pinkie approached the table with the punch resting in the middle.
“Wait just a minute!” Pinkie said. “Why didn’t you soak an alligator in it for half an hour?”
Surprise and Blinkie stared at Pinkie, while Clyde and Sue rolled their eyes, and Inkie just kept playing her cello. Then Blinkie and Surprise laughed.
“Oh Pinkie, you are so random!” said Surprise.
For some reason, Pinkie's knee started to get “pinchy”, but she ignored it and giggled with her relatives.
--
Buttercream stood by the door to the library and knocked. He was immediately answered by Twilight’s faithful assistant, Spike.
“Hi, Buttercream!” the young dragon greeted.
“Hello, Spike!” Buttercream replied warmly. “May I come in?”
“Oh, yes!” said Spike, letting the stallion in and shutting the door behind them.
In the room stood a young unicorn colt with a red coat, purple mane, and violet eyes.
“Hey, Mozart!” said Buttercream. “Are your mom and dad home?”
“Yeah, I’ll go get them,” Mozart said eagerly, running upstairs.
Soon he came back down the stairs, followed by his mother, Twilight.
“Hi, Buttercream!” she greeted. “Panja has an important task for Princess Celestia, but he should be back shortly. How’s Pinkie?”
Buttercream’s face fell. “That’s why I’m here,” he told her. “Sit down, and I’ll explain everything.”
--
“Okay everypony, gather around!” Surprise called. “It’s gift time!”
Clyde and Sue stayed sitting on the sofa. Inkie put her cello down and sat down on the floor next to Blinkie, Pinkie, and Surprise.
“Who’s first?” Surprise asked.
Sue looked at Clyde. “I suppose we could go first,” she said in an almost monotone voice.
They presented a gift wrapped in grey paper. Pinkie eagerly tore it open, and it was revealed to be a rock from their rock farm.
“Ooooooh, thanks!” Pinkie said excitedly, while the others didn’t find it all that interesting. “Now I can put this somewhere where the foal can see it, and then he or she will be like ‘Mommy, what’s that?’ and then I’ll tell him or her all about the rock farm and how Equestria was made...and maybe my cutie mark story, and then--”
“Okay, who’s next? Surprise interrupted. “How about you, Inkie?”
“Please, call me Octavia,” Inkie replied. She brought out her gift, which was wrapped in bronze paper.
When Pinkie opened it, she found to her delight that it was a cradle.
“Aw, thanks Inkie!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Oh, Octavia, I mean.”
“Me next!” Blinkie said with a grin.
Her gift was a couple pairs of foal pajamas, both purple. She explained that since she didn’t know if it was going to be a filly or a colt, she picked a gender-neutral color.
Last was Surprise’s gift. As a joke, she got Pinkie a bag of flour. Pinkie looked back on when she first babysitted the Cakes twins and smiled to herself, laughing as she remembered what occurred that day.
“And now,” Surprise said, “I have a surprise for everyone!”
The room grew completely silent.
“Ooooh, what is it?” Pinkie asked in anticipation.
Surprise grinned. “I’m two months pregnant!” she announced.
Everyone was taken by surprise. Even Clyde and Sue’s eyes were wider than they normally were.
“Woo-hoo, that’s great!” Pinkie squealed, trying to tackle Surprise with a hug (her belly made it very difficult, however).
“Congratulations!” Blinkie replied.
Inkie smiled. “What Blinkie said,” she said a bit quietly.
“Now, who’s hungry?” Surprise asked the group.
Everyone was relieved when the food was set at the table, and they all sat down in their chairs. None of them had eaten for some hours, so they were all famished.
“Before we start,” Surprise said, “I have another announcement: we’re going to have an eating contest! Whoever wants to join in will move to the right side of the table. Everyone else can sit at the left side and eat normally.”
Inkie, Clyde, and Sue moved to the left, not wishing to participate. Blinkie, Pinkie and Surprise all sat at the right side with huge portions of everything in front of them.
“3...2...1...GO!” Surprise shouted.
The three mares immediately dug in, not even bothering with their manners as mashed potatoes, banana pudding, and all sorts of other foods went flying everywhere. A few minutes later, Blinkie fell out of her chair onto the floor, her stomach a little bigger than it was supposed to be.
“I guess I lose,” she said with a giggle.
Pinkie wiped the gravy off of her mouth with her hoof and did a face-off with Surprise.
“IT...IS...ON!” Surprise said with an evil giggle.
The cousins quickly finished off everything that was in front of them.
“Ugh, I’m full...” Surprise said with a groan.
“I’m still hungry!” Pinkie said.
“But we ate it all, Pinkie!” Surprise reminded her.
Pinkie leaned over the table and looked at Inkie’s plate. “Gonna eat that?” she said, before swiftly gulping up her sister’s food.
“Hey!” Inkie shouted as Pinkie ate her parents’ food as well, causing her to receive dirty looks from them.
“I win!” Pinkie said with a burp.
Surprise moaned. “I don’t feel so good...”
“I don’t either...” Pinkie said.
Before anyone else could say a word, the two pregnant mares dashed off into the restroom and lost every bit of food they had just eaten. Blinkie laughed hysterically, while the others rolled their eyes.
--
“Aha, I think I might have something!” Twilight finally announced.
She held a book with the title Interpretations of Dreams and Other Things. She flipped through the pages, searching for something helpful. “Aha, here we go!” she said, silently beginning to read. Buttercream remained quiet, not wishing to interrupt.
“Listen to this!” Twilight said after a while. “‘It has been said that everypony has a dark counterpart, which resides in a dimension beyond our own. Most of the time, they cannot come to our dimension, but they have a chance of being released from their own dimension if....’.oh no....” Her face turned pale.
“If what?” Buttercream asked, beginning to panic.
“Where’s Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
“At her cousin’s,” Buttercream told her.
“We need to get to her fast!” Twilight said urgently. “I’ll explain on the way! There’s no time to lose!”
--
“Whew, I’m not doing that again anytime soon!” Surprise said as she flushed the toilet. “You feeling better?”
“A little,” Pinkie replied. “Just give me a minute.”
“Okay,” Surprise said, leaving to give her cousin some privacy.
Pinkie turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face. Ah, that felt much better!
Uh oh, my knee is getting pinchy again! Pinkie realized. She began to feel very nervous. She felt as though something was watching her, like an animal watches its prey.