//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Party Balloons and Picnic Baskets 
// Story: Them's Friendin' Herds 
// by NotSoDogNinja 
//------------------------------//

Ha! Your days have a number, vile villains!

No! I will not be defeated by the likes of you, Hum-drum!

Take that! And that! You'd be better if you'd stop "dragon" your feet, Mane-iac!

No! NO! NOOOO!!!!

Yaha! I won! 

Hahaha... Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You think that's it, little dragon?

You still want more? Bring it!

Prepare for my ultimate attack! Wake up, Spikey-wikey!

Huh?

"Wake up, spikey wikey!"

Spike was lying in a fuzzy, brown quilt. He stirred slightly, trying to stay asleep, to no avail. Staring up at the pony who woke him up, he was greeted by the warm smiling face of-

Pinkie Pie?! She got right into his face, shouting "Hi!" as she did.

Obviously, he did the only thing that his baby dragon brain could think of at the time. Scream. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Pinkie Pie was quite unfazed. "It's so happy to see you awake, silly! You were out for a day or two! Did you hit your head on a rock before you were out?"

Out? Seeing the confusion in the dragon's face, Pinkie continued, "You know, the light that hit us in the zeroth chapter?"

Spike decided that this question wasn't even worth an answer. "Okay. But where are we? This isn't the Castle of Friendship."

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie brightened up again. "We're in Prince Rutherford's house in Yakyakistan. Except it's in a place with a whole bunch of alpacas!"

He... didn't understand ANYTHING the earth pony said, but... "Okay?"

"Well, the day's not going to get any more boring than this! Get up!" Not like he really had a choice, now being taken away from the warm comforting folds of the blanket, and into the snowy cold outside.

While seated atop her head, he did notice that the number of houses greatly increased from the last time he had been there, long a time as that was. And what more, Pinkie was right! There were several alpacas among the ranks of the yaks, heads low, trying not to be noticed by the stronger. They didn't seem to mind, anyways; they just snorted a bit.

And did it feel... warmer? Not by much, but JUST enough to be noticeable. "How did-" 

"It was easy, silly! Well, I'm off to talk to Adobo and Rutherford! See ya in a bit, Spike!" And with that the pony trotted off, not noticing that Spike was still clinging to her mane.

Looking around more, he found that every single alpaca had a frown on their face. Sure, the yaks didn't look too thrilled about the new tenants, but a few of them were at least attempting to socialize.

Pinkie turned a sharp left, straight towards a main meeting hall, where a few yaks and alpacas gathered outside. Spike watched them, but none of them really looked his way, so that was boring.

The meeting hall, though, HOO BOY. It was large, even for Yak standards. A couple of guards lined the entrance, but upon seeing their honorary yak approach, stepped aside with a grunt.

Upon entering, Spike saw Prince Rutherford, and possibly the saddest looking alpaca yet. He looked even duller than the rest of them, had large baggy eyebrows, and a single scar that ran on his rear.

He looked at the pony and dragon with the same gaze as before. Quite suddenly, he softly remarked,

"Small cheerful one, you have brought more danger to us? What will you do next? Summon the Devourer upon us?"

"Maybe!" Pinkie Pie continued to smile, and sat down, flinging Spike from herself as she did so. "Oh, Spike! Did you follow me?"

Spike didn't have time to respond, as Prince Rutherford shouted out first. "Tiny dragon not danger. Tiny dragon friend! He best dragon! The Best!!!"

Pinkie Pie was in agreement. "Yep! You won't meet a nicer dragon around! As long as you don't count that one across the street, or that other one, or that other one...ooh! Can't forget about that one."

Rutherford rolled his eyes. "I bring you here to talk about long necks and bright light. Honorary yak know why here?"

Pinkie Pie simply shrugged her shoulders. "I've already told you everything. But! That doesn't mean we can't throw you a DIPLOMACY party here!" A party blower appeared in her left hoof, and she readied to blow. Fortunately, before she could, Spike snatched it and burnt it down to ashes, causing her to look slightly downcast.

After that tiny party fiasco, Spike turned his attention to Adobo, if that was his name. "So... Adobo... Who are you, and these alpacas? I'm a little late to the *ahem* party here."

"Of course." Adobo replied. "I am Herd Leader Adobo. We the Alpake Clan of the Highlands are wretched and alone in this world... Mother Nature was cruel where we were... But this pink one... When we came here, we were onslaughted by the prideful ones... But she convinced them to help us somehow. And they have been of great help to me and my clan, with even the simplest of deeds." 

This made a minimal amount of sense to Spike. Didn't explain how they had gotten here but-

"We had arrived here after a beam of light flew in from the west. It consumed us all, then dropped us here. How curious..."

The light again? Now Spike was getting suspicious. He couldn't recall- oh. Oh. OOOOOOOOHHHHHH.

"Oh! Oh! Did you remember the giant beam of light that Twilight and created that combined the two dimensions? Cool, huh?"

Spike groaned. "So now what do we do?"

Pinkie Pie had a plan as always. "Easy! We find Twilight! BUT! First, we finish this meeting. It's only fair. And fun! Yippee!"

Facepalming, Spike sat down on his cute dragon behind. "I guess I don't have a choice in this one, do I?"

"Nope!"

"Although, how did you convince the yaks to stop their...smashing?"

Pinkie explained. "Well, you see, it all started when-"





Long necks not perfect! Yaks smash!

No! Don't smash them!

You heard honorary yak; stop smash!





"Why am I not surprised?" Spike said, with a completely deadpan expression.

"Ooh! Maybe you have some Pinkie Sense too!"

Adobo shook his head. "Yes... that is how she saved us..." He turned back to Pinkie Pie. "I see no reason for you to stay for the rest of this... You can certainly go... You only have to worry about the monster..."

"MONSTER?!"

"Yes. She will stalk you. It will track your scent like the predators once did. And once it finally corners you, it will suffocate you with its crushing embrace!"

"Uh... Should we really-"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Before he had a chance to respond, Pinkie pulled Spike back onto her back. "Let's go find this monster! AND KILL IT."

The room, sans Adobo and Pinkie, stared at her slack-jawed. "With kindness!" 

Huh?

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped down from her chair, and ran out of the building.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

With that Pinkie pie started to run up the mountain, leaving several footprints behind her. Spike clung on for dear life as it flashed before his eyes.

"Okay! We're at the top now! Wow, what a plateau! Adobo mentioned the monster yesterday. But it probably doesn't matter! Maybe we'll even meet it!"

Spike looked around the flat area worriedly. "That is the exact OPPOSITE of what I want to do! Can we just go now? It's p-pretty c-cold, you k-know?"

The party pony sat down. "Aw, did Spikey-wikey forget his sweater?"

Spike tried to curl up further in Pinkie Pie's curls. "I-I wasn't ex-expecting me to go up a MOUNTAIN t-today..."

Pinkie Pie simply laughed. Suddenly, they heard the crunch of snow behind them. "Oh! I think I heard the monster! Hey, monster!"

Spike attempted to shut Pinkie up, but to no avail. The monster had already heard them.

Although they couldn't see it, it was coming. They heard it. Spike partially hid behind the pony's hair, but enough to see outwards.

At first, nothing but the snow. But then a dark silhouette turned a corner and approached, slowly.

The dragon remained frozen, gazing at the figure, before the outline became clearer, revealing-

Revealing-

"Outta the way!" Spike screamed as the creature slammed a large tail where the pony had been standing before.

"S-S-S-SNAAAAKE!"

Pinkie Pie took a slightly closer look, opening its mouth wide. "Yep! Definitely a snake! Looks like poison too!" She quickly danced back, narrowly escaping the snake's jaws as she did so.

"Hey! You weren't invited to this party!" She took out a lollipop and put it in her mouth. "Look's like I'll have to take you party crasher outta here!"

She larger-than-average snake reared back, standing on coils as it did. It hissed in their faces, before launching itself at them.


Fight!


It hissed as it struck at them, but utterly missed as Pinkie ran around it.

“Wheee!” Pinkie spun on her hooves, narrowly missing getting bit, again. The snake didn’t take this very kindly.

Spike, not wanting to deal with, like, any of this, jumped off of Pinkie’s back and ran a small distance before taking flight with his wings. He soared a little bit above them, but mostly watched what happened.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Pinkie was in any real danger. Neither of them had hit each other yet, but the snake was looking angrier by the second. Noticing this, Spike shouted out a warning to his friend.

“Pinkie! He looks angry! You should get out of there!” Noted.

The snake heard as well. It reared up on its hind coils- then blew the biggest, most obnoxious raspberry that Pinkie Pie and Spike ever heard.

Suddenly, the snake threw off its head, revealing a VERY happy alpaca.


It’s...over...?


Okay...? Well, they certainly weren’t in any major danger anymore. The new alpaca looked... Friendly! Happier than the ones back in Yakyakistan.

The yellow one laughed a little bit before rolling over and over again on the cold, snowy floor.

Spike stared at her, still a bit shaken from the battle. "Wh-who a-are y-you?"

She pulled out a little satchel of... something... and dumped the contents onto Spike's face.

"Ah! What was that?" His face was now covered in a bright red plant-based powder, but fortunately, none of it got in his eyes.

She pointed at the herbs on his face, then back at herself. Spike took a little lick. "Paprika?"

Paprika nodded, laughing again as she did.

In fact, she laughed a lot. So much so, that her pupils contracted to the size of peppercorns as she pulled stunts in slight levitation. 

"Wow! That alpaca looks like she had more fun than I did!" The earth pony jumped a few feet in the air, then ran over to Paprika.

"So, Paprika! Do you like cake?"

"❄︎☟︎☜︎ ⚐︎👍︎❄︎⚐︎☝︎⚐︎☠︎ ✋︎💧︎ ✌︎☠︎ ✌︎💣︎✌︎☪︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎🏱︎☜︎ ✋︎❄︎ ☟︎✌︎💧︎ 🖰︎ ✌︎🕈︎☜︎💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ ✌︎☠︎☝︎☹︎☜︎💧︎" she responded eagerly.

"Uh..." Spike strangely looked back at his ride. "Did you catch that?"

"Nope! But I think this calls for a NEW FRIEND PARTY!" A new blower appeared in Pinkie's mouth, and she managed to blow this time. Paprika joined in with her own tooter, creating an interesting harmony.

The pony pulled out a little clipboard. "So what kind of party do you want? I can do classic, loud, music, extra catering, extra dancing, or mud!"

Paprika pulled out a picnic basket and blanket, and created a little spread right there in the snow. Pinkie pie giddily gasped in delight. "Oh! Simple picnic party! Woo-hoo!"

Spike was still mostly in shock from all of this. The snake turned into this alpaca, and she might be the only person who could rival Pinkie in randomness. Except Discord, actually. He totally takes first place.





"Ah! Nice to see I'm still number one here!"

Yes, yes. We are number one.

"What do you mean, we?!"





Paprika, noticing Spike's discomfort, pulled off some of her wool as she sat down. It immediately grew back, leaving her coat relatively unharmed. Then she pulled out some giant needles!

And started to knit. Not ten seconds later, a perfect sweater, complete with a heart on the front, was being held in Paprika's hooves.

Spike looked at it, then back at the two others. Both of them were looking at him with an expectant gaze. "What do you want me to do?"

"I think she wants you to try on the sweater, Spike!" "🏱︎☜︎✌︎☠︎🕆︎❄︎ 👌︎🕆︎❄︎❄︎☜︎☼︎ ☺︎☜︎☹︎☹︎✡︎ ❄︎✋︎💣︎☜︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎❄︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎❄︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎❄︎ ☠︎⚐︎🕈︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎⚐︎✏︎"

Oooooohhhhh. That made sense.

GAINED HEART SWEATER! +1 Giant Heart +4 Warmth She put a lot of heart into it. She also put her blood, sweat, and tears in!

"Wow... This is really comfy! And warm! Thanks Paprika!"

Now the entire company was happy, and ready to eat. From the picnic basket, the not-llama produced a few apples, some broccoli, and three cinnamon rolls. A few plates, cups, bowls, and potted cacti also appeared from it. Paprika set up the picnic in record time, even going as far as giving the cactus a place to sit and relax.

"Alright, everycreature! Dig in!"

The rest of the party needed no second bidding, all of them taking from some of the spread. Paprika in particular was hungrily gobbling down the broccoli. "Actually," Spike thought, "Maybe Pinkie isn't the Cupcake Eating Champion '20?" 

Pinkie Pie was far into her meal. After swallowing a big bite of cinnamon roll, she shouted, "This calls for something big!"

Oh, no! Not again, Pinkie! Not every occasion calls for a-

"PARTY CANNON!" Her signature blue and pink cannon appeared right in front of herself. "Spike! Light it up!"

Spike shook his head, backing away from the pony. "What? I didn't agree to thi-woah!"

Pinkie held him over her head. "That wasn't a question! Yaaah!" She pulled hard on his tail, causing a burst of flame to come shooting out. A direct hit on the fuse! "Here it comes!" 

BOOM!

A plethora of various cakes flew out from the cannon, landing perfectly on several plates. Streamers, ribbons, and confetti rained down from above, and a paper hat floated down onto the cactus. Lastly, Gummy crawled out of the cannon, and waddled over to the cacti with its crossed eyes.

Paprika was delighted at this show, and clapped at the impromptu performance. Spike, just mumbled incoherently to himself.

Suddenly, Paprika shot out at both pony and dragon, pulling them close.

"Aw, a hug?" Pinkie inquired. Paprika nodded at the both of them, squeezing them tighter. 

Spike felt it first. "Agh! Too... Tight! Can't- Breathe! Can you-" *Pop!*

The two flew out of Paprika's arms due to all the squeezing, landing back at their respective seats at the picnic spread. Paprika simply looked at them with a surprised expression, before starting to laugh again.

"Aw, I liked that hug, too!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Spike facepalmed. "Well... I would really like to stay... but we have to find Twilight!"

Hearing the name, Paprika jumped up and ran down the side of the mountain facing the city, leaving pony and dragon alone again. "Aw, we didn't even get to finish the party! Bye Paprika!"

Spike brought Pinkie back to reality. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we kinda need to find Twilaaaahhh!" All of a sudden, Paprika appeared behind him, now holding an oversized school chalkboard over her carpeted backside. She placed it down, and drew a crude picture of a six pointed star.

"Ooh! A game! I want to try! I want to try!" Pinkie shouted, raising a hoof.


Pictionary time!


Pinkie Pie pointed out what the drawing was first. "Ooh! That's Twilight's cutie mark!"

Paprika nodded, and started drawing a circle with a cross through it.

Spike thought for a moment. "A compass?" Paprika responded in the affirmative. She pointed then drew a picture of an upside down bucket, with a circle and a triangle on top.

Pinkie Pie responded. "Ooh! That's where we are!" Again, correct.

Paprika nodded again. Then she drew herself.

And by that, I mean she spent the next twenty minutes creating an extremely detailed caricature of herself as a superhero, big bulking muscles, a snazzy outfit, and outside underwear.

But when she was done with that, she took drew an arrow pointing in the Southwest direction.

"So they're over to the southwest?" Correct!

Finally, she drew three moons, and two circles, alternating with each other. 

Hmmm... "Three nights and two days away?" Paprika smiled sweetly at Spike, before giving him another bone-crushing hug. "✋︎ ☹︎✋︎😐︎☜︎ ✡︎🕆︎☼︎ 👍︎🕆︎❄︎ ☝︎"

"Aaagh!"

Neither of the others seemed to notice his pain. Pinkie Pie in particular, said, "Okey-dokey-lokey! Looks like the picnic is over! I guess now, we'll invite Paprika to this party, and see how many more we can add!" With that, Pinkie pie headed in the southwest direction. "Come on, Paprika! I ain't waiting for you!"

Paprika snickered again, and placed Spike on her back. She took off towards Pinkie Pie, scooping her up as well.

The dragon didn't like this. "Isn't this kind of uns-mmmph!"

Paprika shoved a final piece of broccoli in his mouth, ending the conversation for the time being. The three ran off into the rest of the mountains, on their new quest to find Twilight.

"Hey! Don't forget the others!" "🏱︎✋︎☼︎✌︎❄︎☜︎ ☝︎⚐︎❄︎☜︎"

And the others.





Eraser: Huh. This is taking longer than usual. Are we main characters yet?

Pen: Nah. But DEFINITELY sometime soon, RIGHT, AUTHOR?!

Ye.

Eraser: Which is?!

>: (

Eraser: :C

Blocky: Fair enough. But first, check out this cool ice statue I found!

Pen: That's literally a deep-frozen pony. 

Blocky: So...?

Pen: Alright, since you want to keep it so badly, how about this. If this *magical die of judgement* rolls even, she stays in. If it's odd, she gets out.'

Blocky: Agreed.

Pen: Three, two, one... roll!

Blocky: So?

Pen: It says pi.

Blocky: ...

Pen: ... I'll just throw her off the top of this building, and if she survives she gets to go.

Eraser: Good idea. I ain't gonna stop you.

Spitfire: MMMMMMMMPHHHH!!!