//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Party Planning 101 // Story: APP: The Fall of a Pink Pony // by Underwood //------------------------------// It was another characteristically sunny day in Ponyville, which was of course thanks to the efforts of the hard-working pegasi on weather duty. Twilight Sparkle—a purple unicorn of considerable book-smarts—was already muzzle-deep in a new book as the morning birds sung outside her bedroom window at the Golden Oaks Library. Spike, her PDA (Personal Dragon Assistant), was still in his basket, sleepily mumbling to himself from under an issue of Power Ponies. It was a lazy, quiet morning without any disasters or adventure, just the way Twilight liked it. Far above the outskirts of Ponyville lay Rainbow Dash, a spectrum-maned pegasus with an ego as big as her heart, tangled up in the sheets of her bed and snoring loudly. She would likely remain in her floating Cloudominium until the early afternoon, making the most of her day off from cloud-duty. Back down on earth, Applejack—a proud member of the rustic Apple family and chronic hat-wearer—had already been up for hours, bucking away in her apple orchard to collect the morning harvest. Her brother, Big McIntosh, was ploughing Sweet Apple Acres' fields, while her younger sister, Apple Bloom, was still tucked up in bed as any good filly would be. Meanwhile in Ponyville's own Carousel Boutique, Rarity—a prissy white unicorn fashionista—was in an unusually unpresentable state as she prepared breakfast for her sister, Sweetie Belle, and herself, busying herself around the kitchen with a mud-mask still on and hair-curlers still in. Likewise, Fluttershy—a pastel-yellow pegasus who lives up to her name—was busy feeding the animals that she cares for in her home, as she does every morning, evening and night. And last, but by no means least in this group of friends, was Pinkie Pie—a pastel-pink, curly-haired earth pony and party-planner extraordinaire with a sweet-tooth, who just so happens to live over a cake shop. Unlike the others, who had either just woken up or were still in bed, Pinkie had been awake the whole night planning a party. It wasn't usual for her to burn the midnight oil like this, but this wasn't just any birthday party, oh no, this was the birthday of one of her best friends, and pet alligator, Gummy. “Ok, let's go over this one last time.” Pinkie rustled through stacks of notes, ideas, and blueprints scattered across the desk in her secret party-planning cave, hidden deep below Sugarcube Corner. “Everything has to go perfectly for Gummy's first birthday. I mean, it's his first—birthday! You only get one of those!” The lack of sleep may have been making her loopier than usual, but this day was important—she had been planning it for weeks- months, even! This was to be her masterpiece, her magnum opus, a party so mind-blowingly funeriffic that stories would be passed down for generations! “Well, maybe not that good, but I'll make sure it's the best birthday party Gummy's ever had!” With a grin on her face, Pinkie effortlessly defied gravity by sliding back up the secret slide that connects the party-cave to her bedroom, then made her way up to the the balcony doors on the highest floor of Sugarcube Corner. Shafts of light pierced the sky from behind sparse clouds, forcing Pinkie to shield her eyes after spending so much time underground. It was a beautiful view: an idyllic scene of small thatched cottages, rustic dirt roads and verdant flora, accented with colourful flags and flower arrangements. It was still too early for most ponies to be up, but a few shop owners and mail carriers dotted the vista, going about their daily duties. Pinkie sleepily rubbed her eyes, “Morning already? … Morning already?! That means-” she gasped, wide-eyed, “today's the day!” Pinkie shot back through the balcony doors and back down to her room, hooves barely touching the steps, to find her pet alligator curled up on her still-made bed. With one fluid movement she whisked him up and held him aloft in both hooves, still half-asleep in her grip. “Happy First Birthday, Gummy! Oh this is going to be the most absolutely super-fun- terrifically amazing party you've ever seen! There's going to be cake, and music, and balloons, and-” Pinkie gasped, her hooves shooting over her mouth to silence the words she had already spoken, leaving Gummy to land on the floor with a thud. “Oh no, that was supposed to be a surprise! I can't believe I just blabbed away your birthday treats before you've barely even woke up! Ohh, this is a disaster!” Gummy blinked his slow, asymmetrical blink as he lay on his jaw—body and tail dangling backwards over his head. He didn't seem to mind. He didn't even seem to know where he was or what was happening, though that was pretty typical for him. “Wait! If today's the day of your party, then-” Pinkie took in another, longer gasp, “I was so busy planning the party, that I never sent out the invitations! Nopony is going to be there! This is a disaster!” She began frantically trotting on the spot in a panic, whilst Gummy sleepily blinked once more down by her hammering hooves. “I have to think. I need to think clearly! Think Pinkie!” Letting out a frustrated hum, she shot into her bathroom and continued to trot on the spot while she ran a basin full of cold water, before taking a breath and plunging her head under the surface. There was silence for a moment, punctuated by the gentle pop of breaching air bubbles, broken suddenly when she pulled her head back out with a loud gasp for air. “Singing telegram!” she screamed, before vigorously shaking the water out of her hair like a dog. She stared blankly at her reflection in the basin mirror as she thought aloud, “But I have to make it seem like this wasn't a last-minute idea... I've got costumes; I could wear a different one to each pony's house, so if they talk to each other about the party, they'll be all 'Oh wow, Pinkie made such an effort to invite us all in a unique way, isn't she the best party-planner ever?', and I'll be all 'Aww guys, I'm not the best party-planner ever, but you're all the best friends ever!', and then we'll all have a biiiig group-hug and it'll be the best – party – ever.” She grinned to herself and turned, leaving the bathroom with confident determination in her step, “Come on Gummy, let's go!” It took the best part of the day to travel to each pony's house, sing them the hastily written invitation song, then return home for a costume change. The trip to Rainbow Dash's Cloudominium was a little different, given its location in the clouds, so a costume change had to be foregone in lieu of renting a hot air balloon. Each journey sapped at Pinkie Pie's stamina until—returning from the fifth and final trip to Fluttershy's cottage—she collapsed on the floor of her room. “Just... a quick... nap.” She managed to crawl up and onto her bed, cake costume still on, then immediately fell asleep on top of the sheets. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, but the gentle gnawing of Gummy on her face told her it was time to get up. Gummy popped off as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and sleepily looking around. What time was it? Why was she wearing a crumpled cake costume? Three knocks came from the downstairs that immediately cleared her mind. “Oh no, I can't believe I allowed myself to fall asleep! The guests are here and I haven't even decorated the room!” Luckily, being the super-duper party planner that she is, Pinkie Pie was prepared for just such an emergency. Shooting into her wardrobe with the doors slamming behind her, she returned costumeless a second later, wheeling out a large, pony-sized pastel-blue cannon; far too large to have been stored in said wardrobe. With a sharp tug on the cord, the cannon exploded, filling the room with confetti, streamers, pre-inflated balloons, and other seemingly meticulously-placed decorations. Another rap came from downstairs as she rolled the cannon back into the impossible space it came from. Standing outside Sugarcube Corner, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other with mild confusion. “She said to be here at four, right?” Twilight posed to the group, who agreed with her. Suddenly one of the windows to Pinkie's room burst open, with a frazzled—but smiling—Pinkie leaning out to look down at them. “Just a moooomeeent!” she called down, before slamming the window shut. The group of friends looked at each other and Rainbow Dash shrugged, having little else to do but wait while mysterious bangs and crashes came from inside the cake shop. No more than a minute must have passed before Pinkie Pie appeared at the front door, chest heaving and sweating a little. Ushering her friends inside, the quintet entered and made their way up to her room, where they were greeted by a stunning sight: strawberry cake, fresh punch, music playing on the gramophone, and even an apple bobbing trough. “Pinkie Pie, this looks amazing!” Twilight said, looking around in awe. “You must have been planning this for weeks!” “You're darn tootin' I was! I just had to make tonight special for my one-and-only Gummy!” Pinkie dashed over to her pet alligator, who was sprawled out in the centre of the room. Leaning down and placing a small red-and-yellow conical party-hat on his head, she pulled out an instant camera from seemingly nowhere and positioned herself behind the birthday gator. “Say 'Cheeeeese'!” The camera's flash went off and a small black-and-white square of paper emerged from the front. “Ohhh, this will look so good in my memory-album!” She pulled the undeveloped photograph out of the camera with her mouth and began to wave it around vigorously. While this was happening, the party guests began to mill around the room, checking out what was on offer. Twilight made her way to the punch bowl and ladled herself out a cup. “Mmm, this punch is great! You should try some, Rarity.” “Don't mind if I do!” she replied, making her way to Twilight's side. “Well I'll be, an honest-to-goodness apple bobbin'. Pinkie Pie sure does think of everything!” Applejack enthused to Rainbow Dash, as they made their way to the water-filled trough together. “No kidding!” she replied, looking down into the apple-filled abyss. “Ah'm feeling a mite parched, how's about we head on over to the punch bowl before we give this a whirl?” Applejack tilted her hat up and gave Rainbow a wry, competitive smile. “You're on.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack made their way back to the main table, regrouping with Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy, who had been distracted by the multi-tier strawberry cake. As the ponies made their way to the punch bowl, Gummy made his own way over to the apple bobbing trough, and was now precariously balanced on the rim. Seeing this, Pinkie zipped over to the star of the party and eagerly craned her neck down to his height. “Oh, you want to go for a swim, Gummy? Hold on, I'll get your waterproof party hat!” Energetically dashing off, she returned a few seconds later with a new blue, fish-patterned cone for her pet, she swapped the hats. “All ready! Off you go!” With a gleeful smile, Pinkie gave her pet an encouraging slap on the back, causing him to gracelessly topple forward into the water. Hours of singing, dancing, laughing and apple bobbing passed; everypony partied the night away until it was time to reluctantly go home. The moon was high in the sky and Pinkie waved to her friends from her bedroom window as they made their way out the front door and down the street. “Are you sure you don't want to stay? There's still some cake left.” Pinkie called out after her friends, most of whom were already out of earshot. “Uh... I think I'm gonna pass.” Twilight lamented, “Great party, though. We should do this again soon!” 'Do this again soon?' Pinkie thought, then gasped. “We should do this again soon!” It had been a great party and everything was already set up from today, so why not do the same thing tomorrow? It was the perfect plan! “This is the perfect plan!” she smiled to herself and headed back to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.