In Pinkie's room above Sugarcube Corner, she and her Cheesie were brainstorming up a party that would leave a lasting smile on Rutherford and his attendants long after they left Ponyville.
“So you want to have a cake or some pies?”
“Why not both? It'd give them a taste of two of our favorite treats.”
“That's a great idea, Pinks!”
Pinkie smiled and hugged Cheese who gave her a chuckling nuzzle and was about to suggest something when there was a knock at Pinkie’s bedroom door.
“Pinkie! You’ve got somepony to see you downstairs, dear!” called Mrs. Cake’s voice.
“You keep thinking up ideas, Cheesie,” Pinkie smiled at him as she walked to her door, “I’ll be right back.”
“I’m gouda here, Pinkie!” Cheese gave her a silly salute, cracking a smile from his special somepony.
Downstairs, Pinkie was greeted by the sight of a Twilight Sparkle that looked like she had a bur caught in her tail a tad too close to her filly bits.
“Hiya Twi! What brings ya by? Ooh! That rhymes, haha!” Pinkie laughed before holding up a cupcake she hadn’t had before she came from upstairs. “Cupcake?”
“Uh, no thank you, Pinkie. I’m actually here to talk to you about something,” said Twilight, as she conjured a few large books, “These are the first few volumes of a seven volume set of yak history, could you maybe skim through some of it and try to include something... yak-ish for the party?”
Meanwhile, Soarin was laughing with Prince Rutherford and the yaks as they exited the Ponyville Cinema, where they’d just enjoyed an action movie starring the famous earth pony stallion Buck Florris.
“Buck Florris strong like yak!” Rutherford commented, “Yakyakistan needs movie theater of its own! More Buck Florris movies!”
“I’m glad you enjoyed the show, Your Majesty,” said Soarin with a smile, “anything else you’d like to do? Oh! Y’know what, I’d like to treat you guys to some apple pie from the Apple Family over at Sweet Apple Acres! In my opinion, best apple pies in all of Equestria.”
“Apple pie sound good! TAKE US TO PIE!!” Rutherford agreed very loudly, causing Soarin’s mane to fly from the force of the yak’s voice.
Taking a moment for the ringing in his ear to stop, giving it a quick rub and listening to the passerby to make sure his hearing was fine, Soarin nodded and said, “Then follow me, I bet Applejack or her Granny Smith can easily throw something nice and sweet together for your taste buds!”
Out front of Town Hall, Cheese Sandwich was directing some ponies who’d volunteered to assist putting the party together. Streamers, balloons, a buffet table, stands for games, all kinds of fun stuff to do. Seeing it all come together made Midnight smile as he took it all in but it wasn’t long before he noticed a certain pink something was missing.
“Heya Cheese, you have a minute?” he called over to the orange party pony who was standing on the veranda of Town Hall.
“Hey Midnight!” Cheese crouched down and leapt, somersaulting in the air, landing on his tail, sprung upward as though he’d landed on a bouncing spring, and stuck a perfect landing right in front of Midnight, as though he were in a gymnastics challenge that several ponies around applauded Cheese’s acrobatic display.
“Everything’s all gouda here, we’ll be more than ready for Prince Rutherford and the yaks before it’s party time!”
“Well, I’m glad we’re on schedule but...” Midnight looked around again, “where’s Pinkie? I thought she’d be here with you, helping set this all up.”
“I dunno,” Cheese was confused too, looking down the street towards Sugarcube Corner, “she told me to go ahead on the preparations while she looked into something for Twilight.”
“Twilight?” Midnight echoed, already feeling a slight chill run up his tail, then his spine, all the way up to the tip of his horn, “What’s Twilight got to do with this?”
“Well, earlier, while Pinkie and I were brainstorming a few ideas for the party,” Cheese explained, “Twi came by and wanted a word with Pinkie.”
“Ugh, mares...” Midnight didn’t like the direction this was going but before he could head over to the bakery he saw a certain purple princess already entering Sugarcube Corner.
“Pinkie! Is it ready yet?” Twilight called as she went upstairs towards Pinkie’s room.
“Not quite yet, Twi, but come on up!”
Taking Pinkie’s invitation, Twilight made her way to Pinkie’s bedroom door and walked in. She found Pinkie scrutinizing what looked to be a wire-mesh bust of Prince Rutherford, but the horns were lopsided, the mesh hadn’t been completely concealed yet, and the paint job hadn’t even been started. Pinkie was kind of a mess, with paste and strips of newspaper stuck to her mane and coat, and she looked a tad discouraged.
“Sorry, Twilight, this might not be ready in time for the party. Sculpting isn’t really my strong suit.”
“Oh no problem, Pinkie,” Twilight assured kindly, “I think it’s coming along fine, and I’ll even help you finish up! You’ve actually gotten a lot done quicker than I’d hoped.”
“Hey Twi, can we finish this outside?” Pinkie wiped her brow, going ‘phew’, “I could do with some fresh air right now.”
“Sure, I’ll carry the sculpture,” Twilight offered and levitated the piece while Pinkie gathered the materials to finish it.
Taking it outside and towards the party preparations, Twilight could already picture it - The party would be in full swing, Prince Rutherford and his attendants would be enjoying themselves, fully prepared to establish amicable relations between Yakyakistan and Equestria, perhaps even a basic trade agreement from which both nations could only benefit. Then, as a gesture and symbol of their respect and good wishes, Twilight would unveil this sculpture of the yak prince on behalf of her little ponies, and Rutherford would be-
“Twilight Sparkle!”
Uh-oh! Twilight had been so caught up in her visions of grandeur that she hadn’t noticed her big blue beau looking oddly red at her as Midnight came her way.
“Uh- hi Midnight! I was just-”
“What is that?” Midnight asked plaintively, pointing at the sculpture, still concealed by a tarp.
“Oh, that? It-it’s just- Hey!” Twilight had been so flabbergasted she was too late to prevent Midnight from removing the tarp to show off the unfinished sculpture of Rutherford.
Midnight facehooved before giving Twilight a disapproving look, “Twilight, this has to go!”
“Now hold on just a minute there, Midnight!” Twilight said, indignant in her poise, “At the very least, the party for Prince Rutherford needs something to show respect and-”
“That’s what the party is for, Twily!” Midnight admonished, “It’s sharing our culture with the yaks! It’s fine to respect and appreciate their culture too, but they don’t see things the way we ponies do.”
“Well I think you’re not giving Prince Rutherford enough credit,” Twilight maintained her opinion, “once this sculpture is finished, I’m certain Prince Rutherford will-”
“Too late!”
“Huh?!” Midnight looked to Pinkie who seemed uncomfortable and followed her line of sight, flinching to see Prince Rutherford and his attendants glaring at the incomplete sculpture.
“Oh no...!”
Rutherford approached the sculpture and began to shake with fury before bellowing, “PONIES INSULT YAKS WITH LOUSY CRAFTSMANSHIP!!! YAKS DESTROY!!!!!!”
Rutherford brought his hoof down on the sculpture, completely crushing it before whirling around and charging blindly into a table covered with party decorations! His attendants shouted in fury as well before they too joined their prince in ransacking the incomplete party, ponies cried out in fear as they ran to get out of the way. The local properties weren’t spared the Yaks’ rage as they not only smashed but also charged into nearby buildings, one hit a wagon and used his horns to throw it onto the roof of Town Hall, tearing down the streamers, banners, and balloons Cheese and his volunteers had already set up, stomping on flowers (”The horror! The horror!!”), almost nothing in the area escaped the Yaks’ destructive fury.
When finally the dust (and confetti) settled, everypony looked on dispirited to see all their hard work broken, torn, shredded, smashed, and crushed. As for Rutherford and his attendants, they snorted furiously before approaching Twilight and Midnight as the prince raved, “PONIES INSULT YAKS! YAKS NO FRIENDS! Yaks declare war....!!”
Then Rutherford and his attendants turned around and walked away, Midnight calling out, “P-Prince Rutherford, please!”
He glared back at a shellshocked Twilight and snapped, “You are in BIG trouble!”
But he left it at that as he followed after the Yaks, trying to talk Rutherford out of his threat, as Twilight fell back onto her haunches, hardly able to comprehend how quickly and how badly things had gone wrong, barely noticing Cheese and Pinkie approach her with sad looks on thier faces, feeling as though this was their fault, when Cheese asked, “So... cancel the party?”
“Ohhh...!” Twilight fell flat on her face in response.
Cheese and his volunteers were sadly cleaning up the mess after Prince Rutherford and his attendants’ rampage tore all their hard work down, along with their spirits. It was so disheartening, to have gone through all this trouble only for the prince to lose his temper and even declare war! As he was sweeping some streamers into a dustpan, Cheese heard some hoofsteps and looked up to see Party Favor coming his way, his face showing deep concern as he asked, “Is everypony okay? I heard about what happened from Sugar Belle.”
“Nopony’s hurt, if that’s what you mean,” Cheese sighed before looking down the street towards Sugarcube Corner, “but you might have noticed nopony’s not in much of a partying mood after all that.”
Party Favor followed Cheese’s line of sight and, seeing Sugarcube Corner, he got the idea, “Pinkie must be really upset.”
“She is,” Cheese could still recall the way his Pinkie’s mane deflated and her pep just vanished as she moped on back to the bakery, “she feels if she’d finished the sculpture before bringing it outside then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Midnight is trying to talk Rutherford down but the way that yak looked, Party!
“Eesh! Well, right now, I think it’d take a miracle at this point.”
“Hmm, do...” Party Favor hesitated but something inside told him he had to do something, “Do you mind if I go see Pinkie? Maybe I can help her out with a little pep talk.”
“Be my guest,” Cheese returned to sweeping, “I wanted to say something to her, but Pinkie asked to be left alone for a while. I hope you can help her out, Party Favor.”
“...I’ll do my best,” Party Favor promised before heading towards the bakery.
Lying in bed in her loft apartment above Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie sighed, morose and feeling like the ugly turn of events that had transpired barely half an hour ago were her fault. Cheese, Mr. & Mrs. Cake, even Twilight all assured her she was not to blame, but it just didn’t change the way the pinky pony was feeling-
*Knock-knock-knock*
“Mrs. Cake, I’m not really hungry,” Pinkie called but the door opened and she saw it wasn’t Mrs. Cake, “Oh! Uh, Party Favor! Wh-what... brings you by?”
“Hi Pinkie,” Party Favor gave Pinkie a small and understanding smile, “I heard about what happened, and, well, I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”
“Yeah, well...” Pinkie sighed as she slumped onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling, “I’ve been better, to be honest...”
It was quiet for a moment when Pinkie heard the sound of balloons blowing up (a sound she was intimately familiar with) and looked up to see Party Favor work his magic hooves, twisting, bending, shaping his balloons into a skirt, which he wrapped around himself before clapping his hooves together. Then, from nowhere and everywhere, Pinkie heard some lively stage music as Party Favor began dancing around, doing the can-can. It was just so silly and corny, Pinkie couldn’t help but crack a smile and laugh!
After a little more dancing, there was a musical flourish as Party Favor held the ends of his balloon skirt and took a bow, a triumphant ‘ta-daa’ sound effect ringing and Pinkie clapped her hooves, “Bravo! Encore!”
Party Favor chuckled before he took another bow, at which point his balloon skirt chose a very inconvenient time for the knots to come loose-
*PPPPBBBBBHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh....*
Party Favor’s soft blue face turned faint red as his balloons flew about, the air inside of them razzberry-ing as they zipped to and fro, and since Party Favor was bending over for his bow it presented such an implication that Pinkie was lying in bed, bursting her gut with laughter, her legs waving in the air. Despite the slight mishap, which Party Favor would never live down, he joined in on the laughter too. It was a long while before they were panting, their sides aching from laughing so hard, and again the room fell silent as the awkward moment resumed, as neither of them knew what to say to each other.
Well, at least I cheered her up a bit. But now what do I say?! Party Favor wondered with worry, I’m... I’m not ready to tell her just yet, but what can I-
“Thank you for that, Party Favor,” Pinkie said, her mane not so lank and straight as it was before, but not quite as cotton candy-poofy as it normally was, “I feel a little better, but- I don’t know what to do now. If I’d just finished that sculpture before Prince Rutherford saw it-”
“hey, c’mon, Pinkie,” Party Favor went over, sitting next to Pinkie on her bed, “you couldn’t have known the yaks were gonna show up when they did. As Ponyacci taught us, it’s just like with comedy - You just need the right set-up and proper timing before you deliver the punchline. Sometimes preparing for parties is the same way.
“I’m sure things will work themselves out, but you shouldn’t blame yourself for what happened. From what I’ve seen and heard, those yaks are just too sensitive and proud and if they really wanna be friends with Equestria, they need to have a little understanding. So yeah, maybe things didn’t work out on your end but it’s the yaks’ fault too! If there really is gonna be friendship between Yakyakistan and Equestria, we gotta show the yaks how special our home is.”
Party Favor’s words resonated with Pinkie as an idea began to form in her mind, and Party Favor smiled to see he was getting through to her, “So whattya say, Pinkie Pie? Ready to get back out there and throw a party these yaks’ll never forget?”
“Hmmm...” Pinkie began to smirk with confidence before she gasped and blew in to her hoof, her mane inflating up until it popped into its full party pony glory!
“Party, I have an idea!”
Not long later, Party Favor was carrying a tarp covered-something with his magic while Pinkie and Cheese rounded up their volunteers to get the party back in order. The curly-maned blue unicorn galloped past an annoyed Midnight and dreary Twilight, the former calling, “Party! Where you off to in such a hurry?!”
Party Favor skidded to a halt and hurried back to them, to explain, “I’m gonna go see Prince Rutherford so we can fix this whole mess!”
“You're nuts, Party!” Twilight squawked with worry. “He'll turn you into Party Confetti!”
“I've got to try something,” Party Favor stated, his tone firm and determined. “I may not be as wacky as Pinkie or Cheese, but I’m a party pony too! I gotta do my part!”
Midnight and Twilight shared a doubtful look but before either of them could say anything, Party Favor had already taken off to find the yaks. Twilight moaned with worry, but Midnight bumped his rump to hers, making her give him a look and he shrugged while giving a weary smile.
“Who knows? Party ponies are known to make miracles happen, right?”
“...You know what, Midnight? You are right,” Twilight felt her worries lift from her shoulders and leaned over to give him a nuzzle, which he gladly reciprocated. “C’mon! Let’s go see if Pinkie and Cheese could use a couple extra hooves!”