//------------------------------//
// A Shocking Surprise: 9 
// Story: Pinkie Pie at Canterlot High 
// by Ponyess 
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	Of course I had been looking forwards to the party.  I had come to realise Pinkie Pie has a way to prepare for and throw her parties in a way that just draws you in, there was no slipping out of it.  If there are two of her, it is doubly hard to pull out.  I want to go.



Maybe now, I could have a chance to win the crown in a fair game.  I didn't need to pull any of my old, dirty tricks to make others pull out of the race.  On the other hoof, Twilight Sparkle isn't in this race either.  Strange as it may seem to me, Neither of the two Pinkie Pie's was nominated, either by themselves, or by any others.

Then this strange and unexpected rumour came up, something about a closed vote.  I had not been prepared or it.  What did they have in mind, this time?



From what I had understood, Pinkie Pie loves parties, that was only too obvious.  She also loves pranks, but all in good fun, as she had it.  I guess Snips and Snails had picked up on most everything about her along with the rest of her friends.  Good fun, that goes well with a party, one Pinkie Pie threw, most certainly.

Pinkie Pie teamed up with her friends, as much as I had tried to split them up.  Once Twilight Sparkle entered the picture, there was no stopping them from uniting once more.

Even if it required for her to demonize me, I guess I did win something in the end, something I never would have had, if it wasn't for her.  Funny how Twilight, Celestia's priced Pupile managed to teach me something that the Princess herself failed to teach me.  Maybe Twilight is a better teacher than Celestia, since she has friends to draw strength from.  I guess that strength is what made it so easy for her to brush me aside in order to get what she came for.  Once she mobilised her friends, she had what she came for.



Once I had seen the strength of her friendship, I could find the motivation to search for it and accept it from her friends as they were told to teach me the friendship they shared, and still do share.

The Principle of Canterlot High, Celestia had instructed Twilight Sparkles friends, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to help me along on the new course of friendship, and the magic of friendship.  I still do have some problems with these subjects.  Yet, at least I am doing progress, for which I am and will forever be thankful towards them and grateful for what it is giving me.

Of course I had been angry and upset as she pronounced her judgement.  It is who I was.  Yet, they had soon proven me wrong on that part.



I had gotten to know them fairly well within the time of the six months since the Fall Formal. All the details I never though I would care about or have any use of.  Now I am relying on them.

In the world where Pinkie Pie lives, there is always partying, even if I can't see a party for months.  In Rarity's world; everything has to be just perfect.  No room for mistakes, just glamorous and fashionable.  To Applejack and the Apples, you speak the truth, simple as that.  They are known to be hard-working and honest.  They also make the best cider.  At least, Pinkie Pie claims they do.  To Rainbow Dash, it simply had to be cool, or cooler.

I had accepted the offer Pinkie Pie gave me.  Not sure why, but if everyone else  has accepted, why would I look silly and not accept it?



If it was the local, or the Pony who finally treated me, I have no idea.  Maybe it doesn't matter, there is no consequences to it, for all I could see.  She had told me to pick my colour, and I had chosen a deep red lacquer.  It looks even better than I had dared to hope, once she was finally done.

I know I should have paid attention and looked closer, but if everyone had accepted it, who am I to stand along as the only one who had not?  I could have asked others to give me a manicure.  I could, but I never did.

If you see the manicure as part of preparing for a party, it explains why she was so good at it.  Pinkie Pie certainly knows her parties, even if they may not to the likings of all of us.  I had been on the wrong end of the joke, on the previous party she was to prepare us for.  I am going to be on the wrong end, once again, even if I had failed to see it, this time just as much as I had, when Twilight Sparkle was here.



What I forgot to take into account, is the effect of two Pinkie Pie's throwing a party.  I know just how good one Pinkie Pie is.  What happened if you had two of them throwing the party?  I am about to be the wiser of that, as I learn the effects she has, when there is more than one of her.  I had missed out on what happens from Ponyville.  I guess there was no escaping that lesson on my part.

Once I had agreed to letting her giving me her manicure, as her sign had it, even if it soon dawned on me that she meant hooficure all along.  Just a silly slip of the tongue, from her Equestrian life, I am afraid that isn't the case, not this time.  If only I had known and learned about the prankster Pinkie Pie, right along with the party throwing Pony and Girl Pinkie Pie?  I imagine Rainbow Dash is laughing her ass of, as she learns the full weight of this one prank.

First now as I walk towards the polling station, did I realise what her manicure truly meant, it just had not sunk in what she had in mind.  Maybe the fact that I never had long nails as a girl, or is it my Equestrian origin that had prevented me from noticing the effects she had on me.



As I hold up my hand before me in order to open the door, I notice that my nails had turned into miniature hooves on the tip of each of my nails.  Maybe it wasn't all that bad?  This had never bothered me before I noticed it.

“Nice to see you casting your vote, Sunset.  Here you go!” Cherilee exclaimed jubilantly in her usual merry voice as she passed me the slip of paper, printed for the election.

"Thanks, Cherilee!” I merely responded as I slip into the small room where the ballot box had been placed for the purpose.

I read the slip our teacher had passed me, my name is on it, right along with three other names.  Yet, Neither Pinkie Pie not Rarity or Rainbow Dash had their names on the slip.  I know I should have reacted on this curious detail, but did not afford it an instant or a second thought as I crossed the box with my name.  I was to finally have the fair victory.  Neither tricks nor unfair bullying was on my side.



“Once you voted, press your hooves firmly on the shiny surface of the shelf on which the ballot box has been securely mounted!” I read an instruction, on a printed slip on the ballot box.

Before I had given it any thought, I tentatively did as the silly instruction had told me, knowing every other girl and boy did the same.  Or I thought they did.

Only when I tried to pull my hands away, I realised the mistake.  I can't get my hooves off of the shiny surface, not as if there was glue on the surface, but my hooves still refused to let go of the surface, nonetheless.  Maybe the effect is more suction-cups on a smooth surface since I could pull my hand left, right, up and down, but not pull free.

As I look closer, the surface had an oddly shiny surface, I just couldn't quite put a finger on what was so odd and strange about the sheen to it, just that I can't pull my fingers off of it, either.  What a hilarious pun, if it wasn't for my current situation?

Of course Pinkie Pie was behind it, but the door stayed stubbornly closed, no head peaking in, in order to see if I had fallen for this prank.  Then I hear a whirring noise from the right corner behind me, a remote camera zooming in on me and my hands.



Naturally, there was something preventing me from pulling off of the shelf, where the ballot box had been mounted.  I can't pull up, but I can't pull to the side either.  With that, I am trapped in the room.

As hard as I had tried to pull free, and as much as I may have tried to pull out in any way I could, there was no way out of the room.  The camera merely added to the embarrassment on my part, but there was nothing I could do about it.  To my surprise, the problem resolved itself as easily and quickly as it had arisen, once the border of the shelf slipped out of the way, just before I hear the camera slip back into its inactive mode, which means it was no longer interested in me.  With that I managed to slip out in order to open the door and walk out of the room.



By the time I had walked into the room where Pinkie Pie and Pinkie Pie had been preparing for the party, the votes had already been counted and the winner was about to be announced.

“Time to announce the winner of the election for this year's Spring Formal Queen!” Celestia pronounced, with Luna by her side, while all the others were waiting in breathless anticipation.

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