Twilight Sparkle stood at her doorway, open envelope in hoof, staring back blankly at the pink mare bouncing up and down in front of her.
"Well, thank you so much for the invitation, Pinkie, but... uh... what exactly are we celebrating?"
"New Year's Eve, of course!" Pinkie Pie replied, still bouncing. "It's one of the biggest, happiest, most exciting celebrations of the human world!"
Twilight frowned. "Really? In all my studies of the human world, I've never heard of..." She looked back down at the invitation to clarify. "...'New Year's Eve.'"
"Are you kidding? How could you have not heard of New Year's Eve? It's the best celebration of all the best celebrations! It's all one big, humungous, massive party, just to bring in the new year!" She had stopped bouncing to stretch out her forelegs as wide as she could, in order to show Twilight just how big, humungous and massive this celebration really was.
"You just have to come to tonight's party! There'll be cakes and cookies and candy and compotes..."
Twilight rolled her eyes. She could feel a rant coming on.
"...Pizzas and pies and pastas and pudding, jelly and jam and juice and gingerbread, lemonade and lollipops and lasagna and lima beans..."
Try saying any of those five times fast, Twilight thought to herself.
"And quiches and quinoa and quesadillas — oh, but you don't have to eat the quesadillas if you don't like them, Twilight, but anyway, that's just the food, there'll be fireworks and music and all sorts of games to play, too, and oh so many multicoloured lights and decorations all over the place, and" — she took a big gasp of air, before continuing once again — "and this ginormous countdown clock that counts down to the New Year, and a really big shiny ball that's gonna drop while we hit the New Year (the humans seem to like that), and..."
Okay, this is getting a little out of hoof. "Pinkie, Pinkie, I understand, and yes, thank you, I would be honoured to come to your party tonight!"
Pinkie didn't seem to hear her. "...and I'm inviting everypony in Ponyville to come, unless of course they have family from other places who'd like to attend too, in which case, they're welcome, or if they have friends from other places, in which case, they're welcome too..."
"Pinkie!"
"...so hopefully Sugarcube Corner can hold all those ponies, but if it can't, we'll move the venue outside, which would probably be more convenient as I don't think you're supposed to handle fireworks indoors, which is funny, because..."
"PINKIE!!!!"
"Yes, Twilight? Did you want to say something?" Pinkie looked back innocently at the lavender alicorn.
"You did say the party was tonight, didn't you?"
"Absolutely!"
"And you do know it's already almost sunset?"
"You betcha!"
"Well, if you're inviting everypony in town, shouldn't you hurry up and give everypony the invitations?"
Pinkie giggled. "Don't be silly, Twilight. I've already gotten somepony to send the rest of the invitations!"
As if on cue, a loud, thundering boom echoed from behind her, causing the ground the shake and tremble below them, dust and debris raining onto Twilight's mane from the doorway. Somewhere within the castle hallways, something shattered, followed by what seemed like an exasperated groan from Spike as he got up to clean up the mess.
Pinkie grinned. "Modifying my party cannon to release invitations instead of decorating supplies was no easy task, but I'm sure Derpy's gotten the hang of using it by now!" And with that, she skipped off nonchalantly, humming a happy tune, leaving Twilight behind to slowly process what had just happened.
Pinkie stood in the middle of Sugarcube Corner, amidst all of her carefully placed decorations, delicious desserts and delicacies. In one hoof, she held a pen, in the other, a checklist.
"Okay, Gummy. Let's go over the plan one more time."
The baby alligator blinked in agreement, his jaw clamped onto Pinkie's tail as usual.
"At precisely 10:00 p.m. sharp, the party will start. I'll stand on the right side of the door, distributing balloons, while you serve punch to everypony. Think you can handle that?"
Gummy blinked again.
"Good. And I don't want to see you taking a bath in the public punch bowl again, okay? For some reason, ponies call that 'unsanitary', so I'm going to have to give you your own personal punch bowl to swim in. It'll be located in the kitchen.
"Everypony will eat, drink, chat and dance until 11:30 p.m., which'll be when the countdown clock starts ticking. I've talked to Vinyl about the music, and I've made sure that every single song on her playlist is at exactly 120 BPM, which will follow the ticking rhythm of the clock.
"At exactly 11:45 p.m., I'll head upstairs with Mr. and Mrs. Cake to get the fireworks ready. I've got all sorts of fireworks — loud ones, sparkly ones, even ones in the shape of smiley faces! They will set off precisely when the ball reaches the floor at midnight, which will drop within the last 60 seconds before the New Year.
"Oh, Gummy! I'm so excited! It's my first time ever celebrating New Year's Eve just like the humans do, and I'm determined to get it done right." She pulled Gummy off her tail and into a tight hug, so tight his little eyes almost bulged out of his head like a squeeze toy. He didn't seem to mind, however, licking his eyeballs with a flick of his tongue.
Finally, Pinkie let go. "Well, that's everything! Now all we have to do is wait for everypony to arrive." She made her way over to the front door, stepping over Gummy, who had fallen onto his back and wasn't making any attempt to get back up.
"I'll just sit here and wait," she said, plonking down onto her haunches decisively. "After all, it's only four more hours until they arrive!"
It was, indeed, quite the party. Just as planned, almost a hundred mares and stallions from all over Ponyville had gathered inside (or around) Sugarcube Corner, dancing merrily to upbeat EDM tracks at exactly 120 BPM. Up above, glittering disco balls and strobe lights flooded the bakery with multicolored beams, weaving left and right as if they, too, were dancing to the rhythm.
"11:38 p.m., Gummy!" Pinkie squealed, whilst performing the macarena with a group of little fillies. "Only 21 minutes and 17 seconds until the New Year!"
A familiar voice called out from behind her. "This is quite the shindig yah've planned, Pinkie!" Applejack yelled over the music, making her way through the crowd of ponies towards Pinkie, a glass of punch in one of her hooves. "Ah didn't even know there was anypony who celebrated the New Year! Come to think of it, it's a great tradition!"
"It is, isn't it?" Pinkie agreed, pulling herself away from the dance to help herself to an entire plate of burritos, which she downed in one gulp, much to the dismay of the pony behind her, who seemed to have been looking forward to sample some. "And it's the biggest, bestest party I've ever planned in my life, too! Just check out those amazing fire-breathing ponies over there!"
They turned to marvel at two stallions in sparkly, red tuxedos, who had just finished their main fire-breathing performance and were now using their talent to roast marshmallows for their applauding audience. From the corner of the room, Spike grunted jealously, obviously not very impressed.
"Ah've gotta say, Pinkie," Applejack remarked, "Ah'm gettin' mighty excited 'bout the new year now!"
"Happy to hear it!" Pinkie replied cheerfully. "Enjoy the rest of the party!"
As Applejack trotted away to join a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, Pinkie glanced at her watch again. "11:45. Time to get the fireworks ready!"
She made her way through the crowd towards the staircase excitedly, going up the stairs three steps at a time. She burst through the doors of the room on the top floor, where Mr. and Mrs. Cake had already begun unpacking the fireworks.
"Oh, hello, Pinkie," Mrs. Cake greeted. "This party is going rather well, isn't it? What a clever idea, celebrating the coming of the New Year! Isn't that right, dear?" She turned to her husband, who chuckled awkwardly, probably realising how messy the aftermath of the party was going to be, and that he was probably going to be the pony to help clear everything up.
"I'm glad you like it! And yes, it is a great idea! Ever since Lyra told me all about human holidays, I've been planning twice the number of parties for every year!" Pinkie grinned. "Just wait till you see what I have planned for the International Plant Appreciation Day that's coming up in four months!"
"That's lovely dear," Mrs. Cake smiled kindly, as Mr. Cake reeled at the prospect of having to clear up all that soil — based on past experience, Pinkie was likely to have planned to transform Sugarcube Corner into a full-sized greenhouse.
It didn't take very long to set up. Pinkie worked quickly and efficiently, positioning the fireworks out on the balcony and carefully adjusting them to make sure they fired at exactly the right angle.
Pinkie looked down at her wrist again. "11:55. Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, think you can handle the fireworks? Once I give you the signal, just press this big red button over here."
"Alright, Pinkie, but isn't this is a teensy bit dangerous? I mean, this balcony doesn't seem like the safest place for fireworks..."
"Don't worry, Mr. Cake. I'm a trained professional. Don't try this at home, kids," she quickly added.
"Uh, Pinkie?" Mrs. Cake frowned. "Who are you talking to?"
"Oh, nopony in particular, just anypony who'd happen to be listening," Pinkie shrugged, only confusing the Cakes even more. "Wait for my signal, okay?"
She hopped back down the stairs, where everypony stood around the giant countdown clock, eagerly watching as it ticked, ticked, ticked closer to the New Year. "Oh, it's so close! 11:58. Only a minute and 8 — no, 6 — no, 4 seconds until the New Year! I can hardly wait!!!"
The clock hit 11:59 p.m., the crowd of ponies gasping in awe and wonder as the ball drop began. "58! 57! 56! 55..." They chanted excitedly, watching the ball gradually descend from the ceiling.
"All my hard work is finally paying off!" Pinkie beamed. "We're almost there... Almost there...!"
"32! 31! 30!"
"Oh, I'm so so so so so excited!!!" She squealed.
"24! 23! 22!"
"I'm so excited, I could explode!"
"15! 14! 13!"
The chanting grew louder, louder and louder, ponies raising glasses of punch in the air as the clock counted down in front of them...
"FIVE!"
"FOUR!"
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
"ONE!"
An awkward silence filled the room.
Pinkie looked down at her watch. 12:01 a.m.
"Now what?" Applejack asked, breaking the silence. "What do we do now?"
The fireworks had fired, ponies had cheered... uh... now what?
Pinkie wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't even sure what to say. "Um... Happy New Year, everypony!" she tried, but the crowd just exchanged uneasy glances, shifting their hooves nervously.
What was going on? Pinkie thought this was supposed to be the biggest, happiest, most exciting celebrations of the human world... with all that anticipation and suspense, surely the coming of the New Year was supposed to be much less... awkward than this?
"Uh, Pinkie, are you sure this is how the humans celebrate New Year's Eve?" Rainbow Dash asked. The ponies around her started nodding and muttering to each other in hushed voices — surely there must be more to the New Year than this?
"I... uh... I..." Sweat dripped profusely from Pinkie's forehead. Of course this is how the humans celebrate it. At least, that's what Lyra told me, but she'd never lie about humans!
"Of course it is!" Pinkie reassured her audience, though it was mostly to reassure herself. "I've planned everything perfectly! Each little detail — I've planned it down to the minute!"
She pointed to her watch in order to prove herself, but nopony was convinced.
"That's not even a real watch," somepony yelled from the back of the bakery. "It's been drawn onto your hoof with a marker!"
"Heh, oh yeah, whadd'ya know, huh?" Pinkie chuckled, gazing at the crudely-drawn analog display on her foreleg. Quick, think of something, Pinkie... need to keep them entertained!
"Well, if that's all, Ah'm gonna go back home then," Applejack announced, setting her empty punch glass on a nearby table. "Thanks for inviting me, Pinkie, it's been real fun! Bye, y'all!"
She made her way to the door, other ponies following her.
"WAIIIITTTTT!!!!"
Everypony turned to look back at Pinkie, who was on the verge of despair.
"There must be something you're excited about! Aren't you just a little bit excited that it's the New Year?!"
Applejack paused to think. "Well... Ah guess Ah was a mite excited during the party, I mean... it was an amazing party, Pinkie, but..."
"But what?!?"
"But... Ah guess the excitement's died down now, don't y'all think?" Everypony else nodded in agreement. "Ah'm mighty sorry, Pinkie. It was a great party, it really was!"
Pinkie's heart sank.
"Oh. Okay."
She waved goodbye to Applejack and the rest of her Ponyville friends, then headed to her room in a melancholy silence.
She locked the door. She didn't feel like talking to anypony else at the moment.
Collapsing onto her bed face-first into her pillow, she sighed. What did I do wrong? She wondered to herself.
Was it the food? No, there was a wide enough spread. Was it the fireworks? No, they were fired exactly when they were supposed to, right at midnight. Was it the ball drop? No, I built it exactly how Lyra described it.
Then what could be the problem? Why wasn't anypony happy about the New Year?
She pulled herself up and sat on the side of her bed, swinging her legs in contemplation.
Perhaps this is how it is in the human world too. Exciting, but... anticlimactic.
I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna need an even bigger, even happier, even more exciting celebration. But what would be enough to top that?
That was when it came to her. The solution.
Her eyes lit up with excitement and she sprang off the bed. She had finally figured it out.
All she had to do was start planning.
ONE MONTH LATER
"Twilight! Twilight!"
Twilight opened the door, her eyes bleary from her late-night studying the night before. "Huh? Oh, morning, Pinkie."
"Twilight! There's a party at Sugarcube Corner tonight, and you're invited!"
"Oh, really? Thanks, I'd love to come! After a nap, of course," She chuckled. "What's the occasion?"
"Well, have you ever heard of Chinese New Year?"