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// The Element Of Giggling (is lighter than air) 
// Story: Return Of Puffony 
// by Runic Script 
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Pinkie was pronking down the maze, turning a corner to come screeching to a halt in the face of a massive party extravaganza, looking over everything with wide eyes. "Oh wowie, finally this maze is getting interesting in a non-horticultural way!"

Discord peered out from around a bunch of balloons, waving to Pinkie. "Oh good, I'm so glad you're here! I've only just started getting these decorations started, and I'd just love some advice from a party expert such as yourself!" He said, tying the bunch of balloons onto the back of a chair, only for it to start to float up into the sky and force Discord to try and sit down atop it to keep it in place.

Pinkie giggled, pronking over to him. "Oh, yes, typical beginner's mistake." She plucked a candyfloss hair from her mane and expertly tied the chair to the ground, leaving it bobbing and floating about a foot off the ground. "I have to say though, for someone a thousand years out of practice this is pretty good. Did I ever tell you that I love your cotton candy clouds? Because I loooove your cotton candy clouds!" She grabbed a cloud from somewhere and wrung it out into her mouth.

Discord snapped his fingers, the cloud growing just a bit bigger to allow Pinkie to wring out even more chocolate milk from the cloud. "Those were always a favorite concession, I'm happy to hear you approve. Speaking of party concessions, I don't suppose you'd know anything about baking would you? I have all these doughs, and only one oven!" Discord gave an exaggerated wipe of his brow, giving a dramatic sigh as he stared wistfully at the confections. "I don't think I'll ever have them done in time!"

Pinkie tossed the cloud away and snapped up into a salute. "You came to the right pony. I'm not a Cake but I can bake faster than just about anyone you've ever seen." She spun around and turned into a pink whirlwind, derwishing around the nearby table and sucking in the dough, planning to spread it out into various shapes and forms and stuff it into the oven.

Discord nonchalantly (or, as nonchalantly as a chaos demon could manage) turned to the whirlwind that was Pinkie, winding up his tail to snap it into the pony without warning. She was sent careening into the oven, smacking into the back as the door shut behind her. Discord peered in through the glass on the front to see the big ball of dough the pony was stuck in start to grow warm and rise. He licked his lips with a grin and tied a bib around his neck opening his mouth as he waited for the pony to come flying back out.

Pinkie gave some muffled yells and struggled in the dough, stretching it out around her even as it grew tighter and thicker, trapping her inside it. She was still dizzy from the unexpected tumble and feeling unusually warm and snug in the oven, like in a big tight sleeping bag, unaware of how the dough started to fill out the oven and pressed both into the door and into Pinkie to find some more room.

Discord closed his eyes, still waiting eagerly... and waiting... and waiting. His eyes opened as he looked back at the oven, only to see the dough continuing to grow. He stood up, wandering around the oven to ensure it was heating properly. He flicked one of the knobs, and suddenly the oven began to shake, the dough squeezing in even faster as the door started to strain from the force. He yelped and dove behind a cluster of balloons, plugging his ears.

The oven exploded in a splatter of dough and, well, more dough. A surprising amount of it landed on tables in the form of freshly baked buns, muffins and cakes, while the rest of it ended up on the charred spot of ground that didn't show a trace of the oven anymore, but instead a big, wiggling and wobbling glob of half-baked sticky dough.

Discord wandered over, tutting just a bit. "Well, I don't mean to be rude, but I really expected more from such a famous party pony such as yourself! You've still got half the dough stuck on you!" Discord picked up the dough, shaking it out like a blanket to free Pinkie Pie. He started to spin the remaining dough out into a pizza, tossing it up into the air and catching it with his tail as he stepped up to the other decorations. "Perhaps you'd do better setting up the party games. You wouldn't want to let down your friends if they show up to a party without games, after all!" He pulled out several parts that looked like they should fit together if one maybe could figure out how they theoretically worked. "Here's one of my favorites! Pin the valve on the pooltoy!"

"R-right, uhh..." Pinkie swayed in place with spinning eyes for a moment before shaking her head and blushing, quickly grabbing the offered parts. "Don't worry, baking is just a hobby, but preparing parties is what my special talent is! I'll have this set up in a jiffy!" She put the parts together... probably... maybe... like this? She paused and glared down at the stubborn game for a moment before sticking out her tongue in concentration, hooves blurring as she tried to put everything together just so.

Discord busied himself by blowing up a bounce house, poking a finger into the hose as his other hand worked his tail like a pump, causing air to rush into the bounce house and blow it up to the size of a small castle.  A snap conjured up a piñata, one that resembled a rather pudgy looking Luna sitting atop the chair that was still floating in the air. Once the bounce house was finally full he looked back to Pinkie, delighted to see the completion of the game. "Ah, wonderful work, Pinkie! I see you've already figured out how it works!" He said, poking at her belly to draw attention to the valve that had managed to find itself on her gut.

"Huh? I did? I mean, of course I did!" Pinkie nodded quickly before looking down again, tugging at the valve with a blush. "So, uhm... How do I get it off again? So everyone else can have a turn playing, I mean."

Discord waved his paw dismissively, picking up an oversized metal tank. "Now, now, there's no need to worry about silly details like that. We still have the balloons to fill!" He pulled out a few deflated balloons, fitting one over the nozzle and cranking the tank open. The balloon began to fill, swelling slowly bigger and bigger. It seemed to inflate much more than it should have given the size it had started at. Still, it continued to grow, the shiny material reflecting Pinkie's face as it filled up and up and up, Discord shifting the balloon around to shift the reflection so the curve of the rubber made it appear as if Pinkie's rump had swelled in size.

Pinkie blushed but giggled at seeing a balloon inflate to a size like that, still absentmindedly tugging at the valve on her belly. She leaned in to watch her reflection in the balloon, shifting and wiggling a bit to watch her rump swell on the shiny rubber. "I do like balloons... Although it looks like this one is going to be more of a blimp~"

Discord eventually removed the balloon from the tank, tying it off and letting it drift upwards, string keeping it tied to the tank. He pulled out another balloon, this one a mix of stripes rather than a solid color. He began to inflate it as well, making sure Pinkie could get a good look at the colors as it swelled. The reflection made the pony appear as if she herself was striped like a rainbow zebra, and was a big balloon just like the one being inflated before her...

Pinkie giggled again as she watched, although this one came out a bit softer as her attention was caught by the slowly expanding colors and her slowly expanding self. "You really got everything here, don't you? Oh, oh, how many more kinds of balloons do you have?" She pranced in place, blushing a bit as her flanks wobbled and her belly brushed against the floor, pushing the valve inwards for a moment before it popped out again.

Discord smirked, squeezing the balloon between his paw and his claw, making it squeak as Pinkie's reflection distorted, her belly squishing into the ground a bit more before he let go, the balloon wobbling as it regained its shape. The striped balloon floated off the nozzle, quickly replaced by a balloon covered in brightly shimmering stars. "Oh, more balloons than I think you can imagine!" Discord boasted as the new balloon inflated. "We have stripes... stars... polka dots... swirls..." He pulled out a few more balloons, attaching them to new nozzles on the tank, so the three big blimps were pressing tightly into each other. They squeaked and creaked as their rubbery material squished together, looming over the pooltoy pony beneath them. "I bet we could even have a Pinkie balloon! One that's just as giggly as the real thing~"

"Oooh, pretty~" Pinkie bounced on her belly hooves, turning her head to keep looking between the three different balloons and three reflected Pinkies, although she may have kept lingering on the swirly Pinkie a bit longer each time. "I don't think any balloon could be as giggly as me though~" She giggle-snorted as proof, wobbling a bit and stretching her hooves out to keep them on the ground.

"Of course we do, just look at yourself! You're already quite the balloon!" Discord laughed, pressing the balloons in a bit tighter around Pinkie. He'd pop them free, tying them off but keeping them pressed in around her. "Just take a good long look and you'll see that you're just a big giggly balloon. One that's just full of laughing gas to keep you as giggly as can be!"

Pinkie giggled nervously and stumbled back a little, only to bump into one of the balloons. "W-what? Come on, Discord, don't make, hehe, jokes like that..." She shook her head and started to look around for an exit, but all she could see was big inflated shiny rubber; stars, swirls, stripes, all shiny and squeaky and reflecting a Pinkie Pie a bit bigger and bloatier than the last. She started giggling helplessly, kicking her hooves against her inflated belly and wobbling in place, feeling dizzy and fuzzy from watching the balloons circle and swirl around her. "I'm not... I... b-big giggly balloon, heheheee..."

Discord's voice echoed through the balloons, their shiny surfaces squeaking and creaking as they grew larger, pressing into the other even more. "You certainly look like one to me. Big. Giggly. Bloated. Bouncy." Discord's words reverberated through the air, and the balloons didn't just seem to be reflecting Pinkie anymore. Instead they were each a brightly, oddly colored Blimpy Pie, all laughing and giggling as they hugged and squeezed their swollen forms, enjoying being such big balloons!

Pinkie couldn't help but giggle along with them, wobbling and squeaking and creaking on her big bloated belly and looking from one balloon to the next. Her eyes started to swirl, then stripe and then fill with stars before going back to swirls and starting over again.
"I don't, hehehe... I'm, hehe... B-big, hehehehe, bloated, bouncy, heheheheheee~" She started pressing her hooves into her belly deliberately, squeezing and prodding and letting out small puffs of pink sparkly gas with her giggles that tasted like pop rocks and cotton candy.

The balloons grew bigger, squeezing in tighter before their bodies shuddered, shaking, trembling from all the air before...
The balloons burst, the sound of exploding rubber replaced with fits of giggles as they popped. The party materials had all vanished, except for a few streamers and confetti that Discord was sweeping up, dressed in a janitor's outfit. "Oh goodness, I'm so sorry, Pinkie, but you missed the party! Don't worry, I'm sure all your friends would love you to throw another one! And all that giggly gas in your belly is sure to lift their spirits~" He playfully poked at her rubber gut with the tip of his broom before returning to his cleaning, vanishing as he walked past a hedge statue.

Pinkie squeaked and giggled at the poke, letting out another cloud of pink giggle-gas. She shook her head to try and clear it and slowly calmed down, only occasionally giggling softly as she looked around to find the exit.
She wiggled and circled her hooves a bit to go on, then scrunched (and giggled) as it did nothing except make her feel more giggly. Thinking for a moment she decided to try moving up and down instead, squishing her shiny rubber belly into the ground until it finally bounced into the air, bouncing and bobbing forward like a balloon and occasionally bumping into one of the hedges as she made her way deeper into the maze.