//------------------------------// // In The Pudding Club // Story: Friendship is Forever // by pabrony //------------------------------// “Oooh! It's so sparkly and balloony and cakey and..." Pinkie Pie paused. "Wait... where am I?" Pinkie looked around trying to figure out what was going on. She was in a room made from clouds but as she made her way to the next room she found it was made of stone and crystal. Both rooms were decked out in party decorations and had huge cakes in the middle of each room. "Okay... now this is... the dining hall in Twilight's castle and the other room is... Dashie's living room," she said as she finally recalled where she was at. "But how am I able..." She trailed off as something else caught her eye that lead her to investigate the next room after. "Hold on a second!" Pinkie yelled to no one in particular. "Now I'm in the Crystal Palace?! What in the holy hay is going on?" She walked into the next room after that and found herself back in Rainbow Dash's living room. "There you are, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash said as the cyan pegasus threw her left foreleg over the pink pony's neck while holding a glass of punch that Pinkie called "Gummy Juice", which was named after her pet alligator. "Ummm, yeaah. Here I am. Hehe," Pinkie nervously chuckled. "Where else would I be?" "Well you said had to go to the bathroom a half hour ago and when Twilight went to check on you, the bathroom was empty," Rainbow Dash told her. "We looked everywhere but nopony could find you." Pinkie just stood there dumbfounded. When she was in Rainbow's living room a few minutes earlier it was empty and now everypony was here enjoying a party that... she... 'Wait! I've been here before,' Pinkie thought to herself. She continued to look over the scene in front of her as Rainbow continued to talk to her. The cake was strawberry with rainbow icing, pink dinnerware and napkins, there was stack of presents on a table by the wall and everypony enjoying the best batch of "Gummy Juice" that she had made in a long time. 'Holy Celestia!' Pinkie thought to herself as she backed away from Rainbow Dash in fear. 'I have to check out the other rooms again.' She poked her head back into the dining hall and saw a similar scene. The Twilight, Flash Sentry and their friends, presents stacked on one of the back tables, a vanilla cake with bright orange icing and a banner hanging from the ceiling that she couldn't make out. 'I need to sneak past everypony somehow otherwise I'm going to have another conversation like with Dashie,' Pinkie thought as she zipped behind everything she could to get to the other doorway without being caught. "Pinkie, this is a beautiful party you've thrown here this afternoon," Cadence told her as soon she entered the room. "Uh, thanks? Hehe," Pinkie uneasily laughed. "I'm so glad everypony's enjoying it." "Pinkie Pie, may I have a word with you?" Luna asked her. Hoping to get some answers, Pinkie agreed as the two ponies walked out of earshot of the rest of the party. "Are you okay? You look distressed," Luna inquired. "Hehe, yeah sure. Kinda. Maybe. Not really. No. I'm really confused about what's happening," Pinkie answered nervously. "I've been in all three of these parties years and years ago. Can you pretty please help me?" "Sure. For starters, you're not dead or dying. This is a dream," Luna reassured her. "Second, think about the theme of all these parties. That will not only be able to help you figure out what is going on but possibly put your mind at ease." Pinkie paused for a moment to think and then the answer hit her. Twilight helped steady the pink earth pony onto Applejack's back so that they could set her on a blanket until the medical wagon arrived about ten minutes later. The medics brought a gurney into Sugarcube Corner so that they could get Pinkie loaded up quickly in the waiting wagon outside. "What happened before she collapsed?" one of the medics asked. "Pinkie and I had just entered the store after a day at the spa," Rarity answered. "After coming in everypony in here yelled 'surprise' and then she just collapsed." "Any warning signs that she would collapse? Like complaints of dizziness or feeling lightheaded?" the medic asked. "She stumbled a little bit this morning after getting out of bed," Cheese Sandwich replied. The medic turned his attention back to Pinkie Pie to finish preparing her to be loaded on the gurney. Cheese Sandwich followed the medics into the wagon to make their way to the Ponyville General Emergency Room, while the rest of her friends followed on hoof. A few minutes later, an electric blue unicorn greeted the medics at the ER doors to take over the care of Pinkie Pie. "How long has she been unconscious?" the unicorn asked. "About half an hour," Cheese Sandwich answered. "Please tell me she's going to be fine." "We'll do our best, Mister...?" the unicorn asked Cheese. "The name's Cheese Sandwich," answered Pinkie's husband. "And you are...?" "Dr. Zero Hour, but you can just call me Zero for short," the doctor replied before realizing who was in front of them. "Are you the Cheese Sandwich? As in Pinkie Pie's husband?" A tear rolled down Cheese's cheek as he nodded his head. "Nurse, could you get the EEG cart while I get her vitals? And also have somepony from the lab come down to draw blood for these tests," Zero told the nurse assisting him, handing her a scroll. A few hours later, Zero Hour returned to Pinkie's room where she was still out cold. Cheese had fallen asleep in the chair next to the bed with a tendril of drool extending from the corner of his mouth. Zero let out a light chuckle at the all too familiar sight that comes with being an ER doctor. "Excuse me, Cheese Sandwich," he softly said, startling the light orange earth party awake. "Huh? Wha..? Oh... hiya doctor," Cheese Sandwich said as he yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What's up?" "Sorry. I had a few questions for you before I go over the findings if that's alright with you," Dr. Zero Hour told him. Cheese nodded again as he yawned again and continued to rub his eyes. "Okay. One of the medics said that you told them that your wife was stumbling around a short time after waking up this morning. Was this the first occurrence of this?" Zero Hour asked. "Hmmm," Cheese Sandwich thought a moment before continuing. "Actually it's happened a few times a week for about the last five or six weeks." "Alright," Zero said as he made a note. "Has she had any changes in personality recently?" "Not that I can think of." "Any change in appetite or diet?" "Yeah, she's been eating more salads and drinking a lot more water than normal," Cheese told the doctor. "And when did that start?" "Around the same time she began stumbling around in the mornings." Zero Hour made one last note on the parchment that was on the clipboard before levitating a separate piece of parchment from his lab coat. "So based on the tests from earlier today, her blood sugar, heart rate and brain activity are all normal. However she did have a mysterious drop in blood pressure, which I'm guessing is the reason why fainted," Zero Hour said. "What could've caused her blood pressure to drop suddenly?" asked Cheese Sandwich. "It could've been any number of reasons. Something in her diet-" Zero Hour said before being interrupted by a pink blur that attached itself to Cheese Sandwich's face. "I love it! I love the party! Thankyouthankyouthankyou," a revived Pinkie Pie said to her husband. "Hey... why are we in the hospital?" Cheese Sandwich opened his mouth to tell her what happened but before he could say anything, Pinkie planted a huge kiss on his mouth. "Hi Dr. Zero Hour," Pinkie said quickly before turning back to Cheese. "Are we in here because of the baby?" "Baby?" both stallions said at once. "Yeah. I'm pregnant," Pinkie elaborated. "How do you know?" Cheese asked with a look of confusion. "Princess Luna helped me figure it out in the dream I was having. It was really weird. First i was in Dashie's house then Twilight's castle then the Crystal Palace then back in Dashie's house then back in Twilight's castle then in the Crystal Palace again and then I saw Luna and she was like 'You're dreaming' and I was like 'what am I dreaming about' and she was like 'think about all these parties' and then I realized I was pregnant and then I woke up here," Pinkie rambled before having to gasp for air. "If you don't mind Pinkie Pie, I like to have a pregnancy test done just to be sure," Zero Hour requested. "Sure. No problem," Pinkie Pie replied. Two hours later, Dr Zero Hour returned to deliver the results from the pregnancy test. This time he introduced a unicorn mare that was a pale yellow with a bright yellow mane. "Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Delivery. She's the OB/GYN here at Ponyville General and she'll be taking over your care from here out," Zero Hour told them. "It was nice meeting you and I wish you the best of luck." Dr. Delivery shook hooves with the two party ponies before reading off the test results to the expectant parents. "It's always nice to meet new parents and I'd like to give you the best care possible. So without further ado, here are results." Pinkie Pie did her best to keep calm while the doctor read her and Cheese the results. "I have good news and bad news," Dr. Delivery said.