//------------------------------// // Invitation // Story: The Pinkest Party // by Waxworks //------------------------------// Pinkie’s friends all received a letter in the mail the following days. It was an invitation, telling them she would be holding a party in a month (that was a safe amount of advance notice, right?). It described a party that would be the most sensational thing they had even done. It was going to the most super-great-amazo-party-time-blast-fun-party EVER! And all they had to do was show up at 4:00pm and stay until midnight (four would give everypony time to wake up and be properly rested so they could have fun until it was over). Pinkie got an RSVP from everypony in a few days. Every single one of them would surely be able to show up for the party and nothing would stop them because she gave them so much advance notice. That wasn’t their words, of course, but they all agreed to come. Her rescheduling of the party-to-make-Pinkie-feel-better was a success! Now she just had to prepare. Pinkie went out and bought all the supplies, all the decorations, prepared them all, made her room clean enough to party in, safe enough to dance in, and roomy enough to house everypony. She even put up a fancy curtain at the door so it would appear like there wasn’t anywhere to leave by when they were inside. It was going to be great! But she finished all that in a single day. Now she had to wait thirty more for the party time to actually arrive. She sat down on the edge of her bed and waited. And waited. And waited. She went downstairs to help Mr. and Mrs. Cake with Sugarcube corner (it was her job, after all). But it didn’t make her feel any better. She was still frustrated and annoyed on the inside. She never got to fix that disheartening feeling that somepony didn’t need her for their party. She sniffled. While she worked, she tried to think about other things. She debated the meaning of parties, and the function of parties. Parties were there to make ponies feel better. There wasn’t much use to them besides that. They were a distraction. She knew that’s what they were for, but she still wanted to feel useful. Surely a pony that didn’t want much for their birthday party could use a good amount of distraction. There wasn’t any need for them to fuss over such terrible things as life and their problems. A distraction was good every now and then. Pinkie was good at distractions. But if you’re the only pony there, you can’t distract yourself without some outside force, can you? Pinkie’s month went by very slowly. When the big day arrived, Pinkie was prepared to show her friends the time of their lives. It would be the best distraction they had ever encountered, and after a month with no parties, everypony could really use it, she was sure. Applejack had spent it working on the farm. Twilight had spent it working on her princess duties. Rarity was always working, so she would surely need some distraction. Rainbow had Wonderbolt duty (Pinkie had picked a day that wasn’t going to conflict with any performances), and Fluttershy was always helping her animals, so there was surely something everypony could enjoy. It was gonna be GREAT! The first to arrive was Twilight. She arrived with Spike on her back. Pinkie almost frowned. Had she forgotten to include on the invitation that Spike was not invited? Even with his wings he was still too young to party all night. “Hello, Pinkie! Nice afternoon, isn’t it?” Pinkie smiled a wide, perpetual smile. She spoke through clenched, grinning teeth. “Yes, Twilight. It is a wonderful afternoon. Please, come in and have a good time. Everypony else will be here soon.” “Thanks, Pinkie! It’ll be great!” Spike said. Pinkie didn’t respond to him. The next to arrive was Applejack. Ever-punctual Applejack. She wandered up, carrying a bushel of apples. She stepped inside, tracking dirt onto the nice clean floor. She dropped the apples and wiped her brow with a hoof. “Phew! Finished work just in time. I hope you can use some apples.” “Applejack! So good to see you! And yes, I can always use more apples. I’ll add them to the cellar. Please, come in and have fun.” Fluttershy wandered in soon after, thankfully without bringing Angel with her. Pinkie was certain she’s included the rules in the invitation now, and Twilight had just decided to ignore it. Pinkie welcomed Fluttershy, who headed straight for the refreshments and got a glass of punch. Rarity arrived after her, dressed to impress, even though it was just their small group of friends. She sauntered inside and stood regally next to Applejack, who was fanning herself with her hat. They began to chat about whatever they found important, while Pinkie waited at the door for Rainbow Dash. After fifteen minutes past the start time of the party, Pinkie had to assume Rainbow Dash wasn’t coming. She had either forgotten, or she had pointedly ignored the invitation and decided not to alert Pinkie about it. It stung, but even friends sometimes let you down. She left the door and went to talk to her other friends. She wanted to make sure everypony was having a good time, despite the missing individual. As she went from pony to pony, Pinkie determined that everypony was having a good time. They talked, they ate, they played games. She organized it all and made sure to include things for everypony, including the meek Fluttershy. She was willing to play pin the tail on the dragon, but not twister. They even played some board games, during one of which, while they were debating the ruleset, who should burst through the door, but Rainbow Dash. “Sorry I’m late! I got caught up in some Wonderbolts business!” she shouted. Pinkie looked at the clock. It was half-past seven, which was a good three hours after the scheduled start time. She didn’t want a better explanation than that, but she was livid that Rainbow wouldn’t even try to let her know she was going to be late. She jumped to her hooves, the game forgotten, and pushed her nose up in Rainbow’s face. “Wonderbolts business? And you couldn’t even think to make a call and let me know you were running late?” Rainbow looked stunned. “Sorry, Pinkie. Like I said, it was Wonderbolts business and I couldn’t—” “’Wonderbolts business’ huh? Doing what?” Pinkie demanded. “You know… business.” “Drills? Exercises? Schmoozing? Planning? Organizing?” “You know… we had to—” “What is it, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight tried to interject. “Pinkie, please. She came. Isn’t that all that matters?” “No, Twilight. That isn’t all that matters.” Pinkie whirled on them, her mane losing some of its poof. “I gave you all a whole month to plan ahead and show up. I needed to talk to you a month ago and I wanted help feeling better, but you couldn’t come! None of you could help! You were all too busy and every one of you wanted advance notice, so I gave you a month!” Applejack stood up from the game board. “And we’re glad y’did. Gave us all a good amount of time to prepare, but sometimes, life just throws ye a curveball.” Pinkie turned her glare at Applejack. “And it’s such a curveball you can’t let me know you’ll be late?” “It came out of nowhere!” “Oh, yeah? Explain what happened in detail!” Pinkie said, turning her withering gaze on Rainbow Dash again. “It… well… Soarin wanted to…” “Wanted to what?” Pinkie demanded. Rainbow lowered her gaze to the floor. “…get drinks.” “Get drinks, hmm? And getting drinks is Wonderbolt business? Business that’s so important and mandatory that you would give up coming to my party, which you agreed to come to a month ago, so you could ‘get drinks’ with Soarin and the Wonderbolts?” “…no.” “That’s what I thought,” Pinkie said. She turned to look around the room, eyes falling on each pony in turn. Rainbow Dash was first, then Fluttershy, then Applejack, then Rarity, then finally Twilight. There was a chewing sound, and her head whipped around to find Spike, sitting on the snack table, chowing down on the cheese and crackers. Her mane went flat. “Everypony out!” she screeched. “Pinkie, please,” Twilight said as calmly as she could. Pinkie jabbed a hoof into Twilight’s chest. “No, Twilight. I explicitly said I wanted to spend some time with my closest friends. I didn’t want to babysit a baby dragon.” “Teen dragon.” “What.” “He grew his wings, he’s a teen dragon, not a baby.” Pinkie just stared at Twilight in disbelief. The look of someone who would question why anyone would want to know the difference between a soup spoon and a teaspoon. She stared for a moment, then silently pointed at the door. Her mouth shut with a quiet click, but her eyes spoke volumes. Everypony left.