Time, 6:00 A.M

As the sun rose over Ponyville one fine spring morning, a particular pink pony awoke with a look of unimaginable joy on her face. Quickly she rose from her bed and readied herself for a brand new day of making friends, having fun and of course smiles. She was so wrapped up in her excitement that she nearly ran into Mrs. Cake while zooming down the stairs. “Careful Pinkie.” The older blue mare called.

“Sorry Mrs. Cake.” Pinkie replied. “I’m just super exited about how unimaginably wonderful this day is going to be!”

Mrs. Cake chuckled to herself. “I know dearie. Just be sure you’re back for your shift.”

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie said chipperly. Quick as a wink she rushed down to the main floor of Sugarcube Corner and was out the door. She would have kept going but was stopped by what she saw. Across the street two pegasus stallions were busy at work constructing some form of building. Upon further investigation Pinkie realized she had never met these two before. One of them was a nice brown colour with a long grey tail and small messy mane. His cutie mark was some sort of monument. The other was a golden colour with a small black tail and mane. His mark was a pickaxe stuck in an iron bar. Mustering up her biggest smile Pinkie headed over to greet the two newcomers.

“Hello there, how are you two?” Immediately the two of them stopped their work and landed next to Pinkie.

“Now what have we hear?” The brown one said. “Are you the one known as Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes I am! And you two are new here right?”

“Yes, but there’s no need for one of your welcome parties; we’ll be gone before sundown.”

A small frown appeared on Pinkies face. “Aww why?”

“Some friends of ours will be moving in later today, and they asked us if we could help build their new residence.” The gold one responded.

“Speaking of which, we should get back to work if we want to meet the deadline.” His companion said. Nodding the two of them prepared to take off again.

“Wait!” Pinkie called. The two stallions turned to look at her. “You never told me your names.”

The brown one laughed at his own foolishness. “My apologies ma’am, I am Constructor and this is Miner.”

“Those are some interesting names.” Pinkie replied.

“There more like nicknames, but we enjoy them. Now I don’t mean to be rude but we are on a schedule.” Constructor said kindly. “Come back around seven and this place should be finished. Then you can greet your new members. And they love parties, let me tell you.”

The moment he said that word, Pinkie let out a long gasp and shot into the air. Before either of the stallions had time to blink she took off across town while still suspended in midair. “How did she juts-never mind.” They both said in unison before returning to their work.

Time, 6:50 P.M

Almost half of Ponyville had gathered outside of Sugarcube Corner to witness the unveiling of the town’s new building. Among the crowd were five ponies, to which trouble had a keen nose for. Along with them was an oddity in Equestria, a wingless baby dragon. They all waited eagerly for their good friend, who had been the one to call this gathering together. The young dragon looked to one of the ponies, a lavender unicorn. “So Twilight, what do you think this is all about anyway?”

“When it comes to Pinkie, anything is possible.” She replied. Twilight then looked up to a cyan pegasus nestled among some low clouds. “Do you see her Rainbow?”

“Not a single sighting.”

“Now you’re positive yah read that note correct Twi?” An orange earth pony asked.

“All it said was to meet her here at seven. It must be something really impressive for Pinkie to go through all this trouble.” Suddenly everypony’s attention was drawn to the covered building. A spotlight was thrown onto a pegasus mare whose coat was green as rolling field. When the light hit her, she sparkled like a gemstone. Her legs were decorated with silver bracelets, each with a different coloured stone fixed to it. Her eyes blazed a fiery red. Finally they noticed her cutie mark; a black die being tossed from a silver goblet.

“She’s pretty.” Spoke a timid yellow pegasus.

“Really Fluttershy you’re too kind. Her mane is so untidy, couldn’t she have the courtesy to at least straiten it.” Said a rather cynical unicorn.

The pegasus walked over to a makeshift stage and spoke in a mischievous and fun loving voice. “Greetings Ponyville, and a fine evening to you all. My name is Festivities, and I wish to express my gratitude for allowing us into your lovely town. We would show our thanks to you in the form of this new addition to an otherwise flawless community.”

Spike nudged Twilight’s side “Why did she say ‘we’?” Before Twilight could respond six pegasi descended from the sky and lifted the veil, revealing the building underneath. It was shaped like a deck of cards, with a checkerboard door. The door and window frames resembled Chess pieces. Bright golden letters on the front spelled out GM&F Games Shop.

Smiling Festivities stepped aside and said in a soft playful voice. “Enjoy.”

The inside of the shop was lined with all forms of puzzles, models, board games, and other assorted items. There were tables in some corners with games of chess, checkers, and many others already set up. In the center of the room was a statue of pegasus preparing to take off. Its cutie mark was a chess king ridding in a charriot. While many of the other ponies were busy exploring the shop, Twilight and the others stood by the statue, waiting for Pinkie.

“It’s not like Pinkie to be this late for her own summon.” Twilight said. “What do you think is holding her up?”

“Maybe she’s filling out a big order?” Fluttershy suggested.

Rainbow Dash nearly facehoofed. “Sugarcube Corner is across the street.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks flushed red. “Oh, right.” Just then Festivities entered the shop. The moment her hoof was through the door confetti came out of the woodworks, followed by streamers and a large banner with the word WELCOME spelt it pink. As Festivities was wrapped up in all this, a pink pony with candy floss like mane jumped out from who knows where and began singing while music started playing.

After the song there as another burst of confetti that completely buried the star struck pegasus. Suddenly there was a haughty laughter coming from behind the main six and Spike, who all turned in surprise. The statue was rolling on its back and laughing.

“Now th-that is h-how you w-welcome somepony!” Slowly it got to its hooves and whipped its face with a streamer. Soon staring back at them was another emerald green pegasus with eyes as blue as the sea. Her mane came down around her head like a lizards frill. She trotted over to the pile of confetti and pulled Festivities out. Both of them looked at each-other and started laughing. When they were finished they turned back to the others.

“Sorry for that.” Festivities said. “Allow me to introduce to you my twin, Games Mistress.”

“Games Master, mistress sounds too soft and formal.”

Festivities rolled her eyes. “Fine, ‘Games Master’, don’t you have a store to run?”

“Indeed, but first I’ll remove this makeup.” She said looking at her stone like body. As she walked past the ponies she quickly whispered in Twilights ear. “A word of warning with my twin, her blood runs hot with the rolling of dice and the playing of cards.” She then vanished before any questions could be raised.

“So what do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well this is a game shop, so how about a game?” Festivities inquired.

Pinkie’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “Ooooh that sound like fun! What game should we play? Pin the tail on the Pony? Hide and seek? Apple Bobbing? I Spy? Which one, which one?”

Festivities brought a hoof to her mouth as she considered the options. In her other hoof, which she had hidden behind her wings, she tossed a little black die. It landed on the number six. “I have an idea, how about a scavenger hunt?”

“Interesting suggestion, what do you all think?” Rarity asked.

One by one the others considered before all responding “Yes.”

Festivities clapped her hooves together, red eyes blazing with excitement. Quickly she flew up to one of the upper shelves and brought down a map of the store. It was divided into seven sections. “Excellent, now to make things interesting, you’ll start out separated in each different section of the playing area. In each one you’ll find a list that’ll tell you what you’re looking for. Is that fair?”

“Seams fair to me.” Applejack said, with the others all following suit. Festivities mouth was taken over by a sly grin as her seven contestants suddenly began staggering. They tried to speak but no words came from their mouths. Eventually exhaustion overtook them and they toppled over. They never hit the ground though, for they were swept away by a magical wind. At that moment Games Master returned, wearing golden bracelets with sapphires fixed to them. She glared down at her twin.

“Did you cause mischief with our guests?” She asked impatiently.

“Maybe.” Festivities giggled.

“And did you ask them to play a game?” Festivities hung her head in shame.

A playful grin spread across Games Masters face. “You really should have waited for me; you know how much I love to watch.” She flew over to the map of the store, which now contained a marker in each of the seven areas. She waved her hoof over the map and instantly the lines began rearranging themselves until the map now showed a distant land.