Rise of the Valkyrie
Chapter 3
As Pinkie Pie and her family began boarding the train for Ponyville, preparations for the party neared completion. They only needed a few final touches to be perfectly ready for Pinkie to arrive. In the middle of the room was a massive cake made of cardboard, yet it looked so much like an actual cake that anypony that came in could've mistaken it for a real one. Twilight had placed Rainbow Dash into a sphere that was safely settled into the fake cake. The entirety of Ponyville had arrived to take part in the party, including the Cakes. Even the Princesses and Shining Armor arrived with their invitations. The grand majority of the attendees were aware of Rainbow's return to life, but it was only her closest friends and the other three alicorns that knew of Rainbow's ascension.
“Everything set, Twilight?” Rainbow asked from inside the 'cake'.
“One sec, doing one last check,” Twilight said, going over her checklist one final time. “Okay, looks like everything is good to go, except to make the castle as dark as possible!” she added, and began to make sure there was no light in the castle whatsoever, and ponies began to hide, as the time drew near. It was at this time that the train from the rock farm had arrived in Ponyville. Pinkie pronked out of the train, only to gaze upon what appeared to be a deserted town.
“Either Ponyville is now a ghost town, or everypony is huddled somewhere in town,” Marble joked, making Pinkie laugh. They made their way to Twilight's castle, as the invitation had told them to, Pinkie bouncing the entire way. The party pony knocked on the door just once, and it immediately creaked open.
“Huh, that's new,” she said, and walked right in.
“So, the doors never open on their own?” Igneous asked curiously.
“Usually? No,” Pinkie said, right before the doors slammed shut behind them as Cloudy was the last to enter, encasing the family in darkness. “Ooooooh, spooky~” the pink pony said in a ghostly manner.
The lights then came on, and several ponies jumped out of their hiding spots, shouting, “SURPRIIIIISE!!!” Pinkie yelped and jumped several feet in the air.
“WOW, that was a good one, everypony! Didn't see THAT one coming!” she said, giggling. She then blinked as she processed what had just happened. “Wait... a surprise party.... for me?”
“Of course, Pinkie,” Twilight said, giggling a bit as she put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “We wanted to help bring a smile to everypony's face, including yours.”
“Wow, thank you, Twilight!” Pinkie said, hugging the lavender alicorn, and turned to face the rest of the attendees. “Thank you every-- GAAAHHH!!! IS THAT THE MARZIPAN MASCARPONE MERINGUE MADNESS CAKE?!” she ended up screeching, and zipped over to the cake, looking it up and down. “There are only two ponies in all of Equestria who can make such a delicacy!”
“Who might that be, I wonder~?” Carrot Cake's voice sounded to her left, making her turn that way and her eyes widened.
“OH MY GOSH, MR. AND MRS. CAKE! POUND CAKE! PUMPKIN CAKE!!” she cried out, running to the Cake family and hugging them tight.
“We missed you, Pinkie,” Carrot said as his family hugged her back.
“I missed you too!” Pinkie said, giggling.
“I do believe it is time to cut the cake,” Celestia said, hovering a knife and plate over to the pink pony. “Would you care to do the honors?”
Pinkie gasped, and took the knife and plate into her hooves. “Oh, of course I would, Princess Celestia!” she said, going over to cut into the MMMM cake, but not before Carrot Cake cut in front of her.
“Oh, not that cake, Pinkie!” he said, and Pinkie tilted her head in confusion.
“Huh? But that's the only cake I see here!” she pointed out, just as Discord brought in a much bigger cake.
“He means this one, dear Pinkie~” he said, and Pinkie turned around, gasping loudly.
“That is one BIG cake!” she exclaimed happily.
“It certainly is,” Carrot said, nudging her forward.
“Let's dig in!” Pinkie said, and went to cut the cake. Suddenly, the cake exploded, fireworks going off. But in the middle of the chaos was a familiar blue-coated, rainbow-maned, faster-than-sound Pegasus as she yelled, louder than the crowd earlier, “SURPRIIIISE!!!”
The entire Pie family's eyes went wider than dinner plates, save for Maud's, who simply blinked at the ordeal.
“WHAAAAAT?!” Pinkie screeched, tackling Rainbow into a hug.
“Ow, easy Pinks,” Rainbow said, wincing a bit. “I know you're excited to see me, but I don't think I'm ready to die again so soon!”
“S-sorry, Dashie.... I just... missed you SOOO, so much! In fact.... there's something I've wanted to tell you, but... I don't know how to say it.... Would it be alright if... I showed you?” Pinkie asked, tears of joy matting her face.
“Sure thing,” Rainbow agreed, standing up with her friend. “What's on your mind?” Before the newly minted alicorn knew it, the party pony had pulled her in and she felt something pressing against her lips. In a swift fashion, Pinkie had said all she needed with a passionate kiss, flooring almost the entirety of the party guests. Rainbow's eyes were wide as dinner plates for a moment, before she smiled and melted into her marefriend's kiss. 'Best. Party. EVER!!' she yelled happily in her mind.
“Atta girl,” Limestone said with a smirk.
“I honestly did not see that coming,” Twilight gasped, to which Applejack chuckled.
“Me neither,” the farmer said, continuing to chuckle a bit more.
“Well, Fluttershy and I certainly knew,” Rarity told the two, to which Twilight's jaw dropped.
“Wait, what?!” Twilight almost screeched. “How long have you known?!”
“When you look at it, it was pretty obvious,” Fluttershy said. “Theyve been friends for years before this, and the clues just started piling up.”
Applejack and Twilight both took in the information. The lavender alicorn's left eye began to twitch.
“How.... did I not.... see it?” Twilight said in frustration.
“Hey!” Pinkie's voice called over, gaining the four's attention. “Are we going to gossip or are we going to party?!”
“Heh, she's gotta point,” Applejack said. “Why don't we fret over this later and party?”
Twilight's eye twitched even more, but she put a hoof to her chest, breathing out as she extended it. “Okay, let's have some fun,” she said, and Pinkie cheered, the party officially beginning. Pinkie was finally allowed to cut into the MMMM, and she took a whopping bite out of her slice, making her friends laugh. Celestia came up and only took a small slice, about a quarter of an inch, claiming to be watching her intake. Spike exited the kitchen, carrying a couple trays of colorfully decorated cupcakes. Pieces of colored rock candy were sprinkled atop various icings, red rocks on purple icing, yellow rocks on red icing, and so on.
“Triple Rainbow Vanilla Rock Candy Cupcakes, anyone?” he asked, and several ponies came around and snatched one or two for themselves, including Discord himself. Seeing the two right next to each other, Rainbow decided to head on over.
“Hey, guys?” she said to the pair.
“Hey, Rainbow,” Spike said, grabbing a cupcake and holding it out for the mare. “Cupcake?”
“Heh, thanks, Spike,” she said, taking it and then holding it up in a small toast. “You and Discord, thanks a bunch for what you did earlier.”
“Oh, uh.... you're welcome,” Spike said, smiling a bit. Discord, however, didn't reply. In fact, his face betrayed some confusion. Rainbow could tell what it was, seeing as barely anypony aside from Fluttershy ever thanked the draconequus for anything.
“It's okay, you don't have to say anything,” Rainbow said with a wave of her hoof. “In fact, I came over to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Discord said, looking over at Spike, who looked back at him. They then looked right back at the rainbow-maned alicorn. “For what?”
“For running out on you both without saying thanks,” Rainbow clarified. “After you made me realize what had happened, I needed to find Twilight and apologize as soon as I could. Aaand it didn't help that having that kind of information running around in your brain kinda keeps you from thinking or saying things straight up.”
“Heeey, it's okay, we understand,” Spike said, looking at Discord. “Right, Discord?”
“You know,” the draconequus began, tears welling up in his eyes after hearing Rainbow's heartfelt apology, “I told myself I wasn't going to cry a river, but.... oh here it comes!” He began bawling, a literal fountain of tears flowing from his closed eyes, splashing on the floor and flowing into a river of sorts, with ponies moving out of the way to keep from slipping. Discord then grabbed Spike and Rainbow and brought them into a tight hug. Rainbow smiled, joining in on the hug. The party continued on, with Twilight finally putting together the clues in regards to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's relationship, with some help from Rarity and Fluttershy. After a while, the party began to die down, which gave Rainbow Dash the opportunity to move to the center of the room.
“May I have your attention, please?” she called out to the guests, who turned towards her. “I am honored to have given my life for you all, that I have all of you to call my friends. Or in one case now, my marefriend,” she added, causing Pinkie to giggle and blush. “If I had to do it all over, I'd make the same choice again, if it means everypony here gets to keep living. I feel honored to have been given a statue in the cemetery, that I have a place in the Wonderbolt Hall of Fame-”
“She broke every record in the Academy,” somepony said in the background, causing a couple of chuckles before Rainbow continued.
“However, there are two gifts that I feel the most honored in accepting. The first one, the gift of a new life. And with that new life, comes the second gift,” she said, pausing to duck, removing the cone from her head. She slowly brought her head back up, causing ponies to gasp at the sight of the new protrusion from her head.
“Whoa!!” Pinkie shouted, looking at the horn while jumping in place. “You're an alicorn princess?!”
“Sort of,” Rainbow said. “According to Celestia and Luna, my bravery and the selfless act of destroying the meteor at the cost of my life showed them that I deserved to ascend to the same status as my friend Twilight Sparkle: an alicorn!”
“But why not a princess?” Twilight asked.
“Well, we'd have to do a coronation ceremony before we can officially declare her a princess, now wouldn't we?” Celestia asked rhetorically, winking at Twilight, who giggled a bit. Pinkie then let out a happy screech before tackling her marefriend into a hug yet again. Mrs. Cake covered Pound and Pumpkin's eyes, who griped and tried to move her hooves away.
As Rainbow and Pinkie got back up, the new alicorn posed a question to her marefriend, “Hey, Pinkie, I heard that you were, uh... down in the dumps when I bit the dust... What brought you back to Ponyville?”
“Well, let's just say that I wasn't exactly in my element, and it took my family to help me realize that,” Pinkie explained. “And I couldn't be happier for it!”
“Heh, alright!” Rainbow said, pulling Pinkie in and giving her a noogie, causing her marefriend to squeal happily, and she began to giggle madly, having a good time with Rainbow.
“Oh, I'll be right back, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash suddenly said, stopping her noogie business to make her way over to Fluttershy, tapping her on the shoulder. The butter-yellow pegasus gave out a light yelp before turning around.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said, hugging her friend. “I've missed you so much!”
“So I've heard,” Rainbow said, returning the hug. “So, uh... I'm sorry to hear that one of your animal friends passed away....”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, a tear escaping her eyes at the mention of it. “I... I'm going to miss him a lot....”
“Mind if I ask who it was?” Rainbow asked.
“Not at all, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said. “It, um.... it was Angel Bunny...”
“Oh, geez, really?” Rainbow asked in shock. Twilight spat out her drink upon hearing that, Rarity yelping because of it. Rainbow glared at Twilight for a second before turning her attention back to Fluttershy, motioning for her to continue.
“Y-yeah.... he passed in his sleep, so he's at peace...” Fluttershy explained further. “I'm not all too sad, to be honest. He was really sick, and I just took care of him as much as I was able to.”
“He'll live on in our memories,” Rainbow said, patting her friend on the back.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “And... welcome back.”
“Heh, thanks,” Rainbow said, before trotting over to Pinkie, who had just given Celestia a more decently sized cut of the MMMM. Despite her best efforts, her true colors shone bright when she dove face-first into the slice. Some of the cake splattered onto Luna's face. When Celestia came back up for air from devouring the pastry, she looked at Luna, who looked back, both of them admiring the levels of face-cake before bursting into laughter. Rainbow then smirked and looked at Pinkie, who tilted her head a bit at her marefriend.
“Sooo..... I bet you're wondering what kind of cake I came out of, aren't you?” Rainbow asked.
“Uuuuum, actually, I was, but I was gonna wait to ask until later,” Pinkie said, when suddenly a bunch of confetti poppers went off, signaling the official end of the party. The poppers caught Pinkie off-guard, and she let out a quick yelp. “Confetti poppers!” she exclaimed, giggling and snorting. “Oh, right, what kind of cake didja come out of?!”
“Cardboard Cake!” Rainbow said with a massive grin.
“Oooh, that explains it! I took a bite out of it earlier, and it tasted exactly like cardboard!” Pinkie said, giggling again. Rainbow smacked her own forehead with a hoof.
“Still as random as ever, Pinkie,” the cyan alicorn said with a laugh.
“And that's why you love me~!” Pinkie said.
“Darn right!” Rainbow exclaimed before the two kissed.