It was early in the morning – too early for some – but not for Rainbow Dash, for today she had things to do; fun, important things. Stretching off on her cloud home above Ponyville, she looked over the town, still bathed in the last light of the moon and a faint dusting of snow.
“Look out town, because here comes Rainbow!” she said to no pony in particular, before taking off into the sky.
It wasn’t long, only about a minute, before Rainbow Dash landed outside a house, a house belonging to the Equestria-famous DJ-PON3, or as Rainbow Dash knew her, Vinyl Scratch. It wasn’t as impressive as you think for a celebrity, but Vinyl liked it. It was out of the way, but close enough to Ponyville so she could walk in if she needed anything. It was built from wood from the Everfree forest and seemed to have a strange aura about it, as though it glowed, something Dash only found more awesome about the DJ.
As Dash knocked on Vinyl’s door, the wood seemed to echo in a way different to normal doors, but Dash couldn’t place the difference. Though the wait was only a few seconds, Dash was growing impatient waiting for Vinyl to get to the door, but soon enough the door was opened and Dash was greeted by the electric-blue mane covering her friend’s sleepy face instead of her trademark purple shades, one magenta eye poking through a gap in the tangled mess.
“Did you have to come this early, mare?!” came the half yawn, half moan from Vinyl Scratch, pointing an accusing hoof at her wall clock, showing the early-morning hour.
“If we’re gonna go through with the plans, then yeah, it needs to be this early,” Rainbow said calmly as she stepped past Vinyl into her home, “and anyway, this was your idea.” She poked her host in the chest and she stuck her tongue out.
The two mares sat down on Vinyl’s sofa, after getting some fresh fruit juice and cereals from the kitchen, since neither mare was yet to have breakfast. After a few minutes of idle chit-chat, Rainbow remembered why she was here, “So how are we getting them to meet again?” A few stray balls of cereal left her muzzle as she spoke.
“Well,” Vinyl began, finishing her mouthful of juice, “since Pinkie is so good at organising parties, and seeing as she owes me for that freebie gig I did for her last week, I thought we could get her to throw Octi a birthday party, with ours and her close friends, and drinks, and food, and, of course, me on the decks”, the last item on the list being joined by a hoof bump to the air above her head.
“That sounds like a plan,” Dash wasn’t sounding too sure, “but how do we get Octavia to even go to the party? I mean it’s not like parties with strangers are her type of fun.” Dash did have a point; Octavia was nowhere near as outgoing as Pinkie Pie, but how well did Dash know the seemingly refined mare?
“Trust me, Dashie,” even Vinyl had to giggle as she used Dash’s nickname and put her hoof around her neck, “Octi could even give you a run for your bits.”
“Ha! Yeah right,” Dash squirmed away from Vinyl’s embrace, “no pony is more awesome than Rainbow Dash, especially at parties,” Dash announced proudly.
“Except me,” Vinyl reminded her.
“Well… yeah I guess.”
“And Pinkie, can’t forget her.”
“But she’s the queen of parties, she doesn’t count.”
Then Vinyl leaned in closer, “And what about Twilight?” almost a whisper, but enough for Rainbow Dash to hear and go wide-eyed at in an instant.
“Now stop right there, missy!” It would appear that Vinyl had hit a nerve, as Dash stood up from the sofa, knocking her remaining cereal to the bare wooden floor, “You leave her out of this, you know that was a one-off.” A blush rose to Dash’s face as she turned away, remembering Twilight’s birthday a couple of months ago: all the booze, all the mares, all the kissing. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts.
“Fine, I’m sorry, happy now?” Vinyl offered her hoof for a bump, but it took Dash a few seconds to give in and turn around, giving Vinyl one of her hardest hoof bumps she could muster. The DJ, however, didn’t even flinch; she was used to the biggest bouncers in Equestria for Celestia’s sake!
After their little dispute, the two mares sat back on the sofa to finish discussing their plans for the coming days.
---
By the time they were finished, the sun was already rising, bringing a warm light to the stylish living room and bathing both mares, who remained sat down to enjoy the first light of day one of three.
Day one was in full swing all about Ponyville, everypony beginning their daily routines and milling between the winter stalls set up all over town. One pony, however, wasn’t part of the routine, an outsider observing from within. She walked with grace, that of a Canterlot native, clearly setting her apart from the rest of the community, swaying her charcoal mane with each step like a walking advertisement for some sort of hair product. Her coat was a lighter grey, broken up by her white collar, which held a pink bow tie bringing some much needed colour to her look. Her boots and furry saddle were white, an odd choice for a grey mare but she pulled off the look like a model, and Ponyville was her catwalk.
Octavia was enjoying her early morning walk, having arrived in Ponyville late last night and staying in an old friend’s house, a bit smaller than her Canterlot apartment but much more welcoming and thankfully warm, smelling of sweets from her friend’s hobby and job. Bon Bon had met Octavia as a filly, but moved to Ponyville to be with her marefriend a few years ago, much to the disappointment of Octavia’s secret sweet-tooth.
It was still two days before her birthday, but she planned to see all her Ponyville friends before the big day itself. Vinyl knew this, and she planned to catch her before she made other plans, so she sent Rainbow to organise with Pinkie while she got Octavia.
Vinyl was looking all over the market, assuming her oldest friend had gone for her usual early walk. Her intuition was rewarded, as she soon saw the unmistakable flank of the cellist, bearing her pink treble clef cutie mark. With her usual levels of grace – minimum – Vinyl sprinted towards Octavia shouting her name as loud as she could, with snow crunching under her bootless hooves. All heads were turned as the brash voice of the DJ filled the streets, while Octavia simply hung her head and awaited the inevitable tackle from behind. And soon enough, it came. Despite her bracing herself, the two mares tumbled, rolling like a living, flailing ying-yang symbol, until finally they came to a halt, with Vinyl holding Octavia down by her shoulders.
“Hey Octi,” Vinyl smiled, still looking down at the earth pony, “how you doing?”
“Oh, I’ve been better, bit cold at the moment but mustn’t grumble,” came Octavia’s sarcastic response, “may I ask why you are on top of me?”
“Oh yeah, sorry about that, filly,” the unicorn then remembered her position and moved to let her friend get back to her feet. After offering her magic to Octavia to help her back to her feet, Vinyl asked her the first, most important question, “Would you like to come to a friend’s house for your birthday, Octi? She’s the best in town for parties, y’know.”
“Vinyl, are you actually asking in advance for a change?!” a single quirked eyebrow was all Octavia needed to go with her response. It really wasn’t like Vinyl Scratch to give more than a few hours’ notice before asking someone to go anywhere, leaving Octavia a little oblivious to the actual question.
“Yes, Octi, so shall I take that as a yes?”
“It depends, who will be attending my party? All your friends I guess?”
“Some of ‘em, yeah, but the mare organising knows literally everypony in town, even you and all your friends,” Vinyl seemed to be hiding a mischievous glint in her eyes behind her shades.
“That is a little disturbing Vinyl, but… I am also intrigued,” Octavia cocked her head slightly as the last of the onlookers went back to their business, “how can one pony know absolutely everypony else in a town? This place isn’t exactly small.”
This was going better than Vinyl had thought; she was off guard and ready for the catch. Hook, line and soon-to-be-sinker. “Yep, it’s impressive babe, but she does want to get to know all new ponies in town, and saying yes to her party would make her sooo happy,” pouting on the last few words and fluttering her deceptive eyelashes over the top of her shades was all Vinyl had to do and Octavia was hers.
“I’d love to,” Octavia gave a slow nod, “she sounds like the pony I would like to know.”
“Then it’s settled, I’ll go check with her and get times, then I’ll come get you. I take it you’re at Bon Bon and Lyra’s house while you stay in Ponyville?”
“Good guess, Vinyl,” came her swift response as she narrowed her eyes at Vinyl, “am I that predictable?”
“Nah, I just saw Lyra on my way,” Vinyl confessed, “I never would’ve guessed myself, you know that.” Vinyl stuck her tongue out, almost licking Octavia’s face from their close proximity. Octavia had always seen Vinyl as a filly in a mare’s body, and that opinion wasn’t about to change.
---
While Vinyl was looking for Octavia, Rainbow Dash was speeding towards Sugar Cube Corner to get Pinkie Pie to do the party. Why would she say no? She was throwing a party, which she loved, and she was going to get to meet a new pony, which she also loved.
A few minutes of casual flying – Rainbow Dash casual that is – she touched down outside the best treat shop in Ponyville, even rivalling some of the big city attempts. Since it was early still, the shop wasn’t open to the public yet, but Rainbow was more awesome than the public and was coming to see one of her best friends, treats could wait for now.
Stepping inside, the scents of the store assaulted her senses: the sweet of the cupcakes, the rustic scent of apple fritters and the homely comforts of deep chocolate cakes. Her eyes were also struck by the insides, the vibrant walls of the shop in all their glory being struck by the low sun through the windows and now-open door. Behind the counter stood Mrs Cake, already in her attire for the day and setting up the displays on the walls, who when she saw Rainbow stopped what she was doing and gave her a friendly wave.
“Hi Rainbow,” came the sugary tone of the older mare, “Pinkie’s still upstairs with the twins, I take it you’re here to see her?”
“Got it in one, Mrs Cake,” Rainbow said as she waved back, “I was hoping to get her to do a party for a friend in a couple of days, shouldn’t be too much trouble, should it?”
“Not at all dear, just as long as you clean up like last time.”
“I Pinkie-promise we will clean up any messes,” Rainbow went through the usual procedure of Pinkie’s elaborate promise routine at Rainbow-speed.
With a gentle smile and a nod, Mrs Cake went back to stacking the displays while Rainbow flew up the stairs to Pinkie’s bedroom. It wasn’t hard to find, with the door covered in bright pictures of her cutie mark drawn by the Cake twins, possibly some by Pinkie too. Not stopping to land, Rainbow Dash just flew into Pinkie’s room, making the party pony “Eep!” in surprise and jump a few feet of off of her bed, which she seemed to have already been jumping on, the twins nowhere in sight.
“Hey there Pinkie,” the pegasus beamed as she came to a halt in front of where Pinkie had landed, “how you doing?”
Picking herself off of the ground and brushing of some imaginary dirt, possibly for effect, Pinkie replied with a bit of a friendly huff, “I’m good, but I was practicing my in-case-of-emergency-bed-jumping-to-surprise-or-save-a-pony, but now you’re here, I’m talking to you telling you about what I was just doing. How about you?” Pinkie’s extensive explanation left her breathless, causing her to deeply and loudly inhale before Rainbow could reply.
“That’s… cool. I kinda have a favour to ask, Pinkie.” Rainbow rubbed her hoof through her rainbow-hued mane nervously, suddenly realising she was at a crucial part of her plan. It all hinged on the earth-pony’s reply.
“Sure thing, Dashie,” Pinkie stretched a huge smile on her muzzle as she replied, “anything for one of my bestest friends in all of Equestria. Whatcha need?” Her face returned to her usual, sweet smile, her head slightly tilted.
“Can you throw a birthday party for a friend, she’s kinda new in town and doesn’t know many ponies?” that sounds reasonable, thought Rainbow, nothing for her to say no to there.
“Is she the grey earth-pony with black hair and a musical cutie mark who arrived last night then went straight to Bon Bon and Lyra’s house, by any chance?” she said matter-of-factly but with a hint of a questioning infliction.
“Yeah, but, how… how could you possibly know that?!” Rainbow was physically slack-jawed from Pinkie’s unnatural knowledge, “She could have been anypony!”
“You know me, Dashie, I know everypony in Ponyville,” smiling, but still cheerily matter-of-factly, “what’s her name?”
“It’s Octavia, and Vinyl wanted a party for her since they’ve known each other for, like, ever. Vinyl also said you owed her for a freebie gig she did for you a while ago.”
“That’s such a nice name; she looked like she had a nice name,” Pinkie had a small smile on her muzzle, not as big as usual but just as happy, “and yeah, DJ-PON3 played the twins a lullaby mix while me and the Cakes had to go to a baking contest. I said I’d pay her back.”
This should be easier than I thought, thought Rainbow, now to seal the deal. “So can ya do it? You seem to know who she knows already, after all.”
After a small pause for thought, Pinkie’s expression returned to her usual demeanour, “Okie dokie lokie, when’s the mare’s birthday?”
“Two days from now, plenty of time for you I take it?”
“Duh, of course it’s plenty of time, Dashie, this is me we’re talking about here,” proudly lifting a hoof to her chest and looking off into the distance.
“No one likes a boaster, Pinkie,” Dash gave her a friendly judging look with quirked eyebrows.
Pinkie lowered her hoof and settled her gaze back in Dash’s direction, “You know I don’t mean it, Rainbow, it’s just me being the party mare you all know and love,” finished with a shout and a big jump, spreading her limbs like a starfish in mid-air.
“Glad I could count on ya, Pinkie. You need to know anything else?”
“Hmm, I don’t think so,” she put a hoof to her chin, as though in deep thought, “oh, how many ponies should I invite? Is it a big party or just special friends?”
“I think her friends and our closest, y’know, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, those guys.”
“Oooh, you wanna try and get with Twilight again?” Pinkie peered in close to Rainbow, eying her with one big, questioning blue eye right against Rainbow’s face.
“Will everypony stop going on about that!? I was drunk!” her words said no, but her blush said yes, “Besides, Twilight’s way too much of a bookworm for me.” Rainbow looked away to attempt to look cool, but also hide her blush from Pinkie’s prying eye.
Pinkie leaned back, giggling to herself, “Its okay, Dashie, we all have feelings we can’t explain, even the cool ponies like you.”
“I’m gonna go now, Pinkie,” her tone was flat and she was clearly embarrassed, so she turned to leave, leaning over her shoulder to say, “Good luck with the planning.” She waved a wing as she trotted out of the door and turned down the corridor.
Pinkie was left to giggle to herself, seeing straight through her friend’s façade. “Sure thing, Dashie,” saying to herself while getting back on her bed to continue her jumping practice and her monologue, ”that mare looked like a friendly pony, I just hope this will make it up to her, if she even remembers me that is...” Pinkie’s words trailed off as she remembered her first Grand Galloping Gala three years ago.
Pinkie and all of her friends had been invited to the grandest event in the Equestrian social calendar, each hoping to have their perfect night. Pinkie’s plan was to make everypony see how much fun an event like this could be, rather than the usual boring time she had heard of. Making her way to where she could hear music, not her usual music but music nonetheless, she had hoped to find ponies willing to party hard and have an amazing time, but she only found old ponies and others who were so uptight their noses were higher than their ears. She did, however, spot four ponies on a stage who seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were a quartet of musicians, led by a charcoal-coated mare playing a cello. For a moment, Pinkie had forgotten about all the sad and boring things she had seen, watching the mare’s fluid movements on her instrument, the pure beauty of the actions complimenting the sounds of the music. She wanted nothing more than to join the ponies on stage, so she did.
Before she knew it, she had joined the quartet on stage, nopony seeming to notice other than Octavia, who Pinkie had gone straight to, if only to get closer to the soul-controlling music. Her music had faltered for just a brief moment, before regaining composure and continuing with her playing, trying to block out the crazy pink mare who was now dancing around her and her cello, seemingly lost in the music and oblivious to everything around her. Pinkie failed to notice all eyes were now on her, until the music stopped that is. Snapping back to reality, she noticed her dancing had ruined all the surrounding decorations, knocking over ornaments surrounding the stage and bringing balloons and streamers down from the walls and ceiling.
Returning from her memories, Pinkie was now sat on her bed hoping that she didn’t get Octavia into trouble those few years ago. She had watched her leave the stage with tears in her eyes, which caused Pinkie’s eyes to now well up with fresh tears. Pinkie had no idea what had happened to her, since Canterlot society moved so fast that by the next day, nopony remembered the events of the early evening, since the latter part of the Gala was such a spectacular comeback. She assumed that this should mean Octavia didn’t get into trouble, but what if everypony was too afraid to talk about because it was that bad. These thoughts soon began to spiral inside Pinkie’s head before she could pull herself together, her hair losing all its usual life and bounce, falling straight down the sides of her face and her neck.
“This has to be the best party ever,” Pinkie muttered quietly to herself between sobs, looking longingly out of the window before starting to gently cry to herself.
---
It was late afternoon when Octavia got back to her lodgings, feeling refreshed after her walk, and happier to know that Vinyl was planning a party for her. After noticing her cello case had been moved out of the living room since last night, she hopped up onto Lyra’s sofa, plenty of room for three ponies but Octavia needed a stretch. It was a pastel green to match her coat but with cream cushions to match her marefriend’s. Octavia hadn’t noticed this last night, she was far too tired after her long train journey, but all the colours of the furnishings, walls and décor matched her hosts’ coat and mane colours, complimenting each other perfectly. It made her sigh, she hadn’t had a special somepony since her and Vinyl went their separate ways, though they remained friends throughout it all.
She didn’t hear the door open, or a pony walk in to the living room, or that same pony walk beside Octavia and clear her throat, which then got her attention. Bon Bon was stood next to the sofa, Lyra following closely behind and closing the door.
“Hey Octi, how was the walk?” Bon Bon’s chirpy voice breaking through the hum of the radiator, “See anypony you know?”
“As a matter of fact, I did dear,” Octavia was smiling at the memory, “Vinyl and I bumped into each other in the market, and she invited me to a birthday party.”
“That’s good,” came the slightly deeper voice of the unicorn, Lyra, “we saw Pinkie Pie and she invited us to a birthday party she was planning for you while we were out. I guess we can tell her we can go then, huh Bonnie?” Lyra had walked over to join the others by the sofa.
“Yes, we can, Ly Ly.”
“Would you two mind flirting in private?” Octavia re-joining the conversation before it got too cringe-worthy.
“Sorry Octi!” the two mares said in unison, and promptly giggled at their timing.
“So, who is this party pony everypony knows, Pinkie, was it?” her tone was of curiosity but with a hint of suspicion.
“Her full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Bon Bon began, grinning at the crazy mare’s full, formal name, “and don’t worry, it’s just a fact of life in Ponyville that she knows everypony and how to make them smile.”
“And everypony knows Pinkie Pie,” Lyra finished, giggling a bit at a seemingly funny memory.
“Well I will be the one to decide my opinion of her when I meet her, I don’t want to judge a pony before I do, no matter how much you all seem to talk about her,” she was satisfied that the conversation would then be dropped, as she saw as polite in conversing etiquette.
“As you wish,” Lyra replied before her and Bon Bon went about putting their shopping away from their saddle bags.
After the usual duties were taken care of, the three mares sat on the various cream, green and pinky-purple furniture to have an afternoon chat with tea and some of Bon Bon’s freshly made goodies. Oh how Octavia had missed this.
---
While the others were having their girly-girl chat, Rainbow was back at Vinyl’s house on the edge of town, and they were going to celebrate day one’s success. Back in the living room, the last light of day now flowing in through the opposite side of the room, Vinyl was setting up her subwoofer to play her latest mix through. One of the main perks of being friends with the top DJ in Equestria – official title of course – was that Rainbow Dash could hear all her songs, completely free and with the artist herself. Life was awesome, Rainbow was happy and the bass was already pumping.
Vinyl’s remix of “Eat Sleep Hay Repeat” was playing – the latest song on her mixtape – and the two mares had been jumping, drinking and making fools of themselves for the best part of three hours by now. Not that she liked to admit it in such cool company, but Rainbow was getting tired and needed to get home, so she had time for double training tomorrow to make up for missing out today’s. As the song was trailing off and the bass slowed down, she downed the last bit of her cider, bid farewell to her host and attempted to fly off, only to bump into a large tree outside of Vinyl’s house, causing her to flop down to the floor and Vinyl to burst into a fit of slurred giggles.
The DJ saw that her friend was in no fit state to fly home, so she trotted over to the pegasus now laying upside down in the dirt and said, “You need a place to stay, Dashie? You can’t fly home like this, you’ll hurt somepony,” she poked her friend in the top off her chest, or was it the bottom, and giggled like a schoolfilly. Rainbow could only groan and nod her head, which was feeling like it had struck a thundercloud in the middle of a storm.
After controlling most of her giggles, Vinyl looped her hoof around Dash’s waist, picked her up then tried to stumble back into her house. It took a few attempts for the two to squeeze through the door, but once they were inside the two just fell onto the sofa and instantly passed out, the room already dark and quiet from a quick flare of Vinyl’s magic.