“…And then I said, oh cereal! You are sooo random!” Pinkie’s punchline was met with laughter and cheer from her five bestest friends of varying personalities and cheracteristics. Even the moodier Twilight Sparkle was laughing heartily, and energetic Rainbow Dash was even pounding the table. Rarity laughed daintily with a hoof over her mouth like a lady. Making her friends laugh was the best feeling in the world for the pink mare.
Pinkie Pie and her friends were just hanging out in a newly-renovated Sugarcube Corner one warm day in late March. Her jokes and quips kept coming as naturally as ever. The jukebox in the corner was on, playing one of the ponies’ favorite tunes as they snacked leisurely on sweet tea and cake.
Everything was feeling so right, so cozy again, in Ponyville.
In the other corners of the cafe, multiple lively conversations were going.
Coconut Cream, a pale-colored Earth pony with a tricolor mane and long blunt bangs, was cooing at Spike, the baby dragon. Similar to Fluttershy a long time ago, Coconut was rather reticent and sheepish right up until she first laid her rose-colored eyes on the friendly, bright-eyed young beast.
Ever since then, it was hard to get her to stop talking!
“Oh, isn’t he so adorable, Citrus?” Coconut gushed as she cuddled the small dragon. “I love baby ANYTHING, and I never expected dragons to have the cutest babies of them all! Rawr…”
Citrus smiled sweetly. Citrus Sweetheart was an Earth pony, and Coconut Cream’s outgoing girlfriend who understood her quite well. Her fur was white and her short, spiky mane was orange and yellow like colors of the sun. Her cutie mark was a vibrant orange citrus fruit, while Coconut’s was a coconut cream pie.
“Hey! I’m not a baby!” Spike protested. “Well… not entirely! But I AM cute, I guess.”
“Aww…” Coconut smiled wide.
“This is so precious.” Citrus mentioned with a grin. “I’m hanging out with the two most adorable critters in Equestria!”
“I’m not a critter!” Coconut giggled.
“You’re so sweet though, sugar!” Citrus began covering her girlfriend in tender nuzzles of affection. Coconut melted in her tender embrace.
At least Spike could breathe now that Coconut Cream was occupied with her girlfriend.
The colorful residents of Ponyville had recently welcomed the festive season of Spring, completing their usual Winter-Wrap-Up activities to swiftly transition from the cold, snowy season to the warmer period.
Back in the bitter biting blustery cold of February, Pinkie Pie went on quite the adventure. Thinking that her best friends no longer appreciated her, she turned very blue (literally) and ran far, far away.
She arrived at the desolate and bleak land of Doom-and-Gloomsville, where nopony ever smiled, and fun was illegal. Upon befriending a gloomy pony named Lavender Snow who sought to be happier, the two became close.
Pinkie Pie rediscovered her usual happiness to cheer up Lavender, and through an eventful parade, even brought joy to the entire town of Doom-and-Gloomsville, which had been renamed Smiles Peak.
Speaking of all that…
“Um… hello!” The front door opened a small gap, which rung the bell connected to the door. A familiar quiet and low voice greeted Pinkie’s ears from behind, which twitched in delight when she realized who it was…
“Yippeeeee! OMG, Lavender’s here! She finally came to visit!” Pinkie gasped and shot from her seat like a rocket.
The buoyant pink pony sprung up and bounced and pranced her way to the door and practically pounced her way onto the lankier lavender pony with the flowing snow-white mane. They ended in a tight hug.
“I missed you soooo much Lavender Snow!” The rose-colored pony began to jabber. “So! I thought of you the whole time I was back in Ponyville! Especially when I was breaking up the ice in the lakes for our annual Winter Wrap-Up! Which by the way is how we bring Springtime to Ponyville and I know Smiles Peak is pretty cold so I wonder if YOU guys do Winter Wrap-Up too or is it just always cold but NOW you’re allowed to be happy and play in the snow instead of being gloomy! Wow! Isn’t that wonderful! It makes me so happy to think about!”
“Heh…” Lavender smiled and blushed. “I really missed you too! And again, thank you! Because of you, every day in Smile Peak had been filled with sledding and caroling and playing in the snow. Maybe we might even do our first Winter Wrap-Up too!”
“Aww!” The two embraced again, tightly, yet sweetly and tenderly. Pinkie planted a playful kiss on Lavender’s forehead. The lavender-colored pony grinned and giggled.
“Oh, how sweet.” Rarity and Fluttershy commented.
“Yeah. Get a room, you two.” Rainbow Dash rolled her garnet eyes. Applejack sighed at Rainbow.
“So… Lavender, we’re so happy you’re visiting!” Twilight greeted eagerly, offering Lavender a powdery biscuit. “How’s the mayor?”
“So yeah… about that…” Lavender gave a bashful look. “Mayor Nocturne is kind of depressed again.”
“Oh, no…”
The other ponies all replied in some variation of concern.
“Well, it’s not like before, at least.” Lavender smiled a bit to reassure everyone. “Back then, she just had us all totally banned from being happy. Now she’s truly trying to be the happiest pony she can be, but… she’s been closed-off for so many years that she’s having some trouble with it.”
“Hm, maybe Pinkie Pie could try and suggest something.” Applejack mentioned.
“Oh, that would be great! In fact, the mayor is Smiles Peak is here now.” Lavender said.
“That was quick.”
A midnight blue-colored pony with a wispy ivory-colored mane came slowly trotting through the candy-colored entrance. Her forlorn expression contrasted with the smiling face on her cutie mark. She sighed heavily, releasing a potent cloud of negativity into the cozy, lively place.
Other ponies in the bakery cafe breathed in her sigh. It sapped their energy and they suddenly felt the need to slump over and sigh themselves.
“Oh no!” Pinkie dashed over to the dejected mayor and her aquamarine eyes began to comically pop out. “Does somepony need a… PARTY?”
Pinkie Pie’s dynamic expressions grew ecstatic before she tossed a flash of shiny confetti up into the air and spontaneously blew a loud noisemaker right in Nocturne’s ear.
“Ow…” Nocturne just sighed again, recoiling at the loud sound.
“Le gasp! Oh, no! This is serious!” Pinkie said. “Nocturne, what’s could be troubling you?”
Another heavy, burdened sigh.
“I’m trying…” Nocturne lamented. “But being happy isn’t always easy. Especially not for me.”
“Aw, well, I think you’re doing great.” Pinkie poignantly reassured, switching her tone to be more sincere. “I really do. I know firsthand that smiling can be a little hard sometimes. That’s why I try to do it all the time, in order to help other ponies be happy too!”
“Well-said, Pinkie Pie.” Twilight smiled at her little rosy friend.
“Hey, Nocturne? If there’s anything I can do for you, just go ahead and ask! I’d love to bring happiness to somepony today.”
The spontaneous and silly Pinkie Pie had quite the understanding and patient side too when it came to the cause the believed strongly in—helping others smile. This made Nocturne feel very welcome.
“Well…” Nocturne started saying, appearing to have perked up a tiny bit. “I just don’t have much confidence in myself. As both a mayor who makes people happy, and well… a pony who wants to hold herself up high.“
“Oh, I understand.” Pinkie let Fluttershy speak. She had lots of experience in the past with feeling too shy and meek to be able to accomplish things. “There’s nothing wrong with being shy. But since you’re the mayor, and your townsfolk would want to see you smile and lead the way.”
“Oh, I believe I may have um, a suggestion.” Came another quieter voice. Coconut Cream, the pale-colored pony, was prancing up to the group, with Spike on her back and Citrus following closely.
“Um…” The sheepish pony spoke. “My girlfriend Citrus here usually takes me to karaoke when I’m feeling a bit… shy. And well, it really helps! I was even able to come up and talk to you guys!”
“That’s it!” Pinkie was touchy-feely with everyone. From new friends to strangers, there was no exception. She pranced up to Coconut Cream and gave her a big pat on the back. “How about we all have a fun karaoke session, right here, right now!”
Pinkie Pie’s friend group mostly cheered in agreement. Even though Fluttershy was shy, she had grown and improved leaps and bounds since meeting Pinkie and the rest of her friends. She had built up a lot more confidence since then, even enough to order her own food! (It was unthinkable for her before.)
Pinkie pressed down on a super-special secret switch which was hidden behind a gumball machine. A large disco ball descended from the ceiling like a full moon and began to spin, filling the establishment with glittering light.
“Oooh…”
“Um… are you sure, Pinkie?” Lavender turned a bit pink under her fluffy light-purple coat.
“Sure! It’ll help us all bond and come out of our shells.” Pinkie said. “So… who’s gonna sing first?”
“Um…” Coconut Cream began to stutter a bit. She seemed she was trying to come out of her shell just a bit more. Her coconut shell. “I’d like to go first…”
Coconut blushed a bit under her pale fur and had a face of apprehension.
“…If that’s okay.”
“You can do it!” Pinkie cheered.
The bakery went a bit quiet as Coconut Cream trotted to the jukebox and began to select a song as a few others cheered on.
Then the unthinkable happened as the song began to blare.
The timid, sheepish Coconut Cream? That pony was gone. As if some crazy changeling had replaced her… or something had possessed her! Her eyes changed as well, and even her very aura gave way to somepony different. Nopony expected what was to come.
“ARE YOU READY TO BE SENT TO THE ABYSS?” Coconut Cream death-growled from the pit of her belly. It was booming and earsplitting all at once and blew everyone away until their manes were windswept.
“Holy apples!” Applejack exclaimed.
“Wooo! Go, Coconut!” Citrus cheered loudly.
“WHOA! I had no idea she could make sounds like that!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
Even Fluttershy, who’d normally be afraid and overwhelmed, got into this performance.
The song continued as Coconut Cream head-banged to the beat, and it somehow both had qualities of death metal and hardcore rap. And Coconut Cream did the sickest air guitar solo ever in the middle. At the end, she pretended to break the guitar. It was such a wild exertion of energy.
“Woooo! Man, you just got 200% cooler!” Rainbow Dash gave Coconut Cream a bro-hoof once she was finished.
“Hehe… thank you.” Coconut said, now in her usual quiet sweet voice. It was strikingly different from the roaring death howls of earlier.
During Coconut’s performance, Pinkie Pie was writing down names and scrambling them about inside of a big festive top hat. She drew a name from the hat to decide the next singer.
“Next up is… Rarity!” Pinkie clapped her hooves.
“Oh boy, Rarity!” Spike folded his hands in anticipation. “I’m in for a treat!”
Rarity trotted to the jukebox, her fanciful curls bouncing gracefully as she skipped.
When the song started, it was a dramatic enka ballad about losing one’s love. The style of the song was traditional Japanese, yet the lyrics were English. Rarity’s over-the-top anguished expressions, overuse of vibrato, along with her expressive tones, made it very theatrical and dramatic.
“I didn’t know Rarity knew enka.” Twilight mentioned.
“I’m not crying…” Spike said at the end of the riveting performance. He was sniffling with emotion.
“Nopony asked if you were.” Applejack said. But her own emerald eyes unexpectedly were glossy as well. It appeared the performance even moved her… “And for the record, I ain’t cryin’ either.”
Spike shrugged.
Applejack waited to wipe the gentle mist from her eyes when she was sure nopony was looking.
The next pony selected to sing was Lavender Snow, who sighed and shivered nervously like a leaf in cold wind when she was selected.
“Alright! I can do this!” She muttered under her breath.
Her lanky knees wobbled with nerves as she inched towards the jukebox and selected the song. Unexpectedly, it started playing a bubbly pop song, unlike a sadder tune one would expect her to listen to. It also happened to be a duet. Lavender began smiling awkwardly.
“Ooh, I love this song!” Pinkie cheered.
Lavender began to mumble the song a bit quietly at first. She seemed like she overcame a bit of her fear at that moment. But she still wasn’t comfortable enough to speak up.
“Go, Lavender!” Pinkie encouraged on. She bounced up and made a silly face from the crowd.
Pinkie’s goofy encouragement made the shy pony smile and try to sing with more zest.
When the song progressed to the duet part, Pinkie bounced in and began to bounce off of Lavender’s vocals. Pinkie had an uncanny skill with adding musical harmony on the spot, almost knowing exactly which notes to sing.
The duet ended on a high note to a big round of applause.
“You did it!” Pinkie cheered. “You were incredible, even!”
“You did amazing yourself, Pinkie.” Lavender said, blushing.
Next, Applejack cheerfully sang an old country folk tune from her childhood, which she was surprised was even available on Sugarcube Corner’s jukebox. Something about the melody and honest performance was warm and nostalgic, even for the ponies who didn’t grow up on the farm.
After that, Citrus belted an upbeat rock song with great energy. She had a bewitching stage presence, but she really couldn’t sing well at all! However, her confidence made up for it. She had fun along, and almost the entire audience joined in! Except Notcurne, who insecurely was mouthing the words quietly…
“See, Nocturne? Sometimes it doesn’t matter how skilled you are at things, as long as you have fun and keep your confidence.” Twilight said.
Nocturne’s name was drawn out of the hat next.
“Now, push yourself out there!” Twilight patted the larger pony on the back.
“…I’ll do it.” She psyched herself up.
Nocturne spent a long time looking for a song, but her eyes lit right up as she seemingly found the one.
The song Nocturne selected was a nostalgic favorite show-tune from when she was a filly, before she started becoming a negative pony and outlawed music.
When she started singing, it was quite muffled.
But everyone cheered her on.
“You can do better than that.” Rainbow remarked, in her brash way. She didn’t realize how her words could’ve been taken when she spoke them.
Nocturne suddenly felt a small flickering flame go off within the pit of her belly…
“Oh, um! I can do better!” She shouted, growing a competitive face. Everyone cheered at the sudden transformation.
Nocturne began to sing more fully this time, putting her heart into the lyrics and even swaying and dancing a bit. Even though it was quite pitchy and off-key, she was getting lost in her own performance, and so was everypony else!
Eventually, she had gone from statue-stiff to trotting around to the rhythm. She even included a bit of her magic in the performance, creating glittery lights that sparkled around, almost like fireworks!
“Great, I made an utter fool of myself!” Nocturne lamented. But there was an overwhelming applause once the performance ended.
“What? You did great!” Pinkie and Lavender reassured.
Nocturne walked away from the spotlight, feeling flattered.
“Um, I can tell you like musical plays.” Fluttershy mentioned, once they ran into each other. “That song was from one, wasn’t it?”
“Hm? Yes.” Nocturne replied. “A long time ago… I used to love them. I was considering maybe becoming a musical performer as well back then… but it’s only an unattainable dream, sadly.”
“Well, your dreams may seem distant now, but you just took a really huge step! I’m proud of you!” Fluttershy kindly reassured.
Nocturne smiled an emotional smile.
“Yeah, and you know what this means!” Pinkie announced with joy.
“Yes, yes! …Wait, what DOES it mean?” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“It means… POOL PARTY IN THE BACK!”
Oh yeah! Sugarcube corner did get renovated recently with a brand-new pool. It was during Winter Wrap-Up when it was installed, and it had yet to be used!
Pinkie bounced away, and a few others followed.
“Ugh, a pool…” Rarity mentioned. “Stale vats of of chlorine, germs, and screaming children. I’m out.”
“Rarity, I don’t see any screaming kids in the pool currently.” Applejack said.
“Fine. Maybe I’ll take a meager dip then.”
But as soon as Rarity said that, she was shook by a huge rumble of galloping beasts from behind. Was it a spontaneous stampede of buffalo?
To her surprise, Rarity glanced behind herself and saw… only three little pony children, simply romping to the poolside with big smiles on their little faces. One of which was her younger sister, Sweetie Belle.
“Ah. The screaming children have arrived…” Rarity sighed.
“Howdy, Apple Bloom! Hey, wait up!” Applejack playfully chased after her chaotic little sister.
“Sweetie Belle, you’re being so loud.” Rarity said. “And where did you come from anyway?”
“We heard about the pool!” Sweetie Belle said as she galloped away and kicked up a trail of dust from behind.
“Okay, but be sure to get dry in time for bedtime.” Rarity said.
By now, it had become a bit dark outside, but the poolside was lit, as illuminated as everyone’s spirits as they crowded outside.
“It’s night!” Pinkie boinged. “Isn’t that awesome?”
“I wish I could find as much joy in the mundane as Pinkie.” Nocturne said.
Pinkie performed a classic cannonball jump into the refreshing and cool crystalline water.
“Come on in!” She urged. Rainbow Dash dove in using her wings. Fluttershy lowered her hoof in at first, but decided to be brave and take the plunge.
Rarity, who was planning on starting with only dipping her hooves in, was suddenly knocked over from behind by a larger pony who was running to the edge of the pool…
“SPLOOSH!”
Rarity found the surface of the water and poked her pale face out, only to see a familiar orange pony with a sheepish, nervous expression.
“Oops. Sorry.” Applejack said. “I didn’t mean to, I promise.”
Trusting Applejack, and knowing that the element of honesty wouldn’t lie about such a thing, Rarity smiled and began to laugh too. She laughed in joy, partly because unlike what she expected, the water felt so refreshing and nice as well!
Next, the “Cutie Mark Crusaders,” the coined name for the rambunctious Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, dove in one-by-one leaving behind little splashes.
“Ah, the poolside is a great place to catch up on my reading.” Twilight leisurely lifted up one of her very serious tomes of knowledge and opened to a wordy page…
“Aww, can’t you do that later?” Spike said. “We want you to join us!”
By now, all the ponies and one dragon were soaking away in the pool except for Twilight Sparkle, which she only just realized! The poolside was vacant!
“Join us! Join us!” They slowly all began to chant from within the pool.
Twilight closed her eyes before giving in with a sigh.
“Okay, fine.” She said, closing her book. She began to stick her hooves into the water, much like Rarity wanted to do. But by surprise, the pool erupted in a huge splash that soaked Twilight to the bone. Disoriented, she tripped over nothing and fell into the pool too. Tumbling beneath the waves, she suddenly felt refreshed, yet annoyed that someone had splashed her, and embarrassed that she took a spectacular fall.
“Hey! What gives?” An agitated grimace was on Twilight’s wet face. “Who splashed me?”
There were airy giggles. A rosy unicorn filly with a multicolored mane, lacking a cutie mark, stood in the shallow end and snickered at the unfortunate purple unicorn.
“Twinkle Rose, that wasn’t nice!” A concerned voice gasped in surprise. From the corner of Pinkie’s eye, was a darker pink unicorn with a puffy curly mane of lighter pastel pink and white, like cotton candy. She had a paintbrush as her cutie mark, suggesting she was artistic. Or was it a magical witch’s broom? Or was it somehow both?
With a glow of her horn, she tried to use magic to dry Twilight’s face, dispersing the water as vapor in the air. Instead, she accidentally created a tiny little raincloud over Twilight that dropped the water back onto her and made her grumpy.
“Oops! I’m sorry about that…” The pink fluffy unicorn sheepishly apologized to Twilight. “I’m still working on my spells—Hey Twinkle, come back here! You weren’t even invited!”
Pinkie Pie suddenly got all excited and jittery like she just ate a big bag of candy.
“OMG! Pastell Swirl is here to visit too! And her niece, Twinkle Rose!” She did a little flutter in the water, forming little waves. “Now everyone is here! This is So. Much. Fun. Best day ever!”
“So I’m guessing we’re welcome to stay?” Pastell giggled.
“Oh, you know that pony?” Fluttershy asked. “Pastell, right? I’m guessing Twinkle is the filly.”
“Yup! This is my cousin, Pastell Swirl!” Pinkie said, gesturing to her. “She’s a little… WEIRD. And sometimes her magic goes haywire! Boom! Like the time she burnt some ice! How can anyone burn ice? But that’s what makes being with her such an adventure!”
“Now I’m worried.” Twilight muttered. Anyone who was weird and an “adventure” by Pinkie’s standards surely had to be peculiar!
“Well, Twinkle should still apologize for rudely splashing me.” Twilight said.
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Twinkle said. “But can I still add the fruit punch mix to the pool, Pastell?”
“Noooo!” Everypony asserted.
“Are all fillies always this rambunctious?” Rarity thought out loud.
“Ooh, I think it would actually be super fun to swim in delightful fruit punch!” Pinkie laughed. “But maybe very sticky. And we also shouldn’t drink a pool. So… nope!”
“Aww.” Twinkle lowered her little face.
“It’s okay, Twinkle. We’ll find a pool of people one day who’ll comply.” Pastell said. “Well since everyone is here, can I get in too?”
“I’m okay with that as!” Pinkie invited. “The more, the merrier!”
The darker pink pony jumped into the pool, shouting something that sounded like gibberish as she crashed into the water. It actually was a good-luck magic spell she learned from a comic book, which was… most likely fiction. But it brought her joy anyway.
Twinkle Rose began to play and talk with Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, who were in inflatable inner tubes, challenging the perilous deep end.
“Hey, you don’t have your cutie mark either?” Apple Bloom noticed.
“Well… no. Not really...” Twinkle looked a bit discouraged at this fact.
“Hey! It’s fine! Us neither!” Apple Bloom said. “We’ve been trying to get ours for ages though.”
“Every day, we continue our long, epic journey to find who we truly are.” Scootaloo said. “Would you like to join us? We are…”
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” The three ponies all tried posing spontaneously. But it looked a bit awkward with the bulky inner tubes and floaties.
“I’d love to join!” Twinkle bounced. “What do we do? Do we have a secret hoof-shake?”
“Whoa! We should totally have a secret hoof-shake!” Scootaloo beamed. “Excellent idea.”
“But if we’re seen doing it, then it won’t be a secret anymore!” Apple Bloom said.
“Then we’ll only do it at our clubhouse.” Sweetie Belle said.
“We have a clubhouse! Awesome!” Twinkle Rose cheered. “Is it a comedy club?”
“Comedy?” Scootaloo splashed Twinkle. “Who do you think we are! We’re very serious!”
“Whoa, maybe our special talent is splashing one another!” Apple Bloom grinned. “I wonder if we’ll get our cutie marks after today!”
“Heck yeah!” Said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“They’re a comedy trio all right.” Twinkle Rose thought, before joining in the epic splash battle of Ponyville.
“So Pastell, are you and Pinkie close?” Twilight asked Pinkie’s cousin as they both chilled around in the shallow end of the pool. Pastell was floating around like a cloud, a bit lost in daydreams before Twilight began to talk to her.
“Oh! Well, I didn’t get to see much of Pinkie as a filly.” Pastell said in a slower, gentler tone than Pinkie. “Her parents were actually really strict growing up! I visited her house once, and I had to leave early because I introduced Pinkie to painting and we made a huge mess! Especially with my haywire magic, hehe! It wasn’t until Pinkie moved to Ponyville until I saw her again, and by then she’d changed so much! I had never seen Pinkie so happy and lively. It’s great, isn’t it?”
“Pinkie Pie certainly does have a way of always cheering us up.” Twilight poignantly recounted. “You know, since I’ve been here in Ponyville, and met Pinkie and all the others, my life has been so eventful and fun and filled with all sorts of adventure. And… love. I truly have the best friends in Equestria, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
“How nice!” Pastell bounced up in joy, in a manner similar to Pinkie. One really could tell the two puffy pink ponies were related.
“But um, don’t tell the others about what I just said.” Twilight suddenly became sheepish and her pointy ears drooped.
“Well, don’t worry I guess then, Twilight. You have nothing to hide from us!” Came the low voice of Applejack.
“Yeah, we heard everything!” Rainbow began to snicker.
Twilight blushed a bit. But suddenly, she was met with six warm hugs, from her pony friends and Spike.
“Silly Twilight, we should know we all feel the same way!” Pinkie said.
Pastell suddenly felt super intrigued about the pony friends’ story.
“So how did you six meet?” She asked, jittering with interest. “You’re such close friends, but are all so different from each other! It’s so inspiring!”
“Actually, we first met long ago, long before we even met!” Twilight said. Then she realized her phasing sounded a little funny.
“…That makes no sense the way you said it, but I totally understand what you’re referring to.” Applejack said.
The rest of the ponies began to gather around Twilight and the others, who were about to tell the story.
“Ooooh, this is gonna be a great story.” Pastell looked on with interest.
“Yeah! And we already know what happened, but we’d love to hear it again with the newcomers.” Scootaloo said. “It’s about how you were all brought together with Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom, right?”
“Yeah! We all saw the rainbow from the rainboom and had our lives impacted forever.” Applejack said. “Long before we actually formally met!”
“Yes!” Pinkie took over and answered. “You see, before the whole incident, I was growing up on a drab old rock farm with my parents and sisters, and there was just no fun to be had. Every day was just so gloomy and miserable…”
“Just like Doom-and-Gloomsville…” The thought flashed through Lavender’s mind.
“When. Suddenly! BOOM. I witnessed the most beautiful, wonderful sight I’ve ever seen!” Pinkie continued. “A rainbow! And not only any rainbow, it was THE sonic rainboom that brought us all together! It made me feel a magical way I’ve never felt before, and it was so amazing, I felt the need to just share it with everyone I knew! So from then on, my goal in life was to make everypony I knew smile… Because, um, well…”
Nobody expected this. Pinkie Pie’s voice suddenly went all quiet. It refused to even come out after a while. She began choking up, and suddenly the ever-smiling pink pony was wiping away gentle tears.
“Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?” Said a concerned Twilight. She had never quite seen her friend like this before.
“Oh no, are you feeling okay?” Twinkle Rose asked. She was showing genuine concern.
“Yeah… I… I’m fine.” Pinkie choked out. “But why… all I’m doing is recounting my memories, and telling everyone why happiness is so important to me, so… why am I… crying instead?”
“Pinkie, I think I know why.” Lavender answered tenderly. She used her unicorn magic to lift up a nearby handkerchief and used it to wipe Pinkie’s soft tears. “It made you overwhelmed with emotion. And that’s okay. It just means the way your life changed and the emotion it brings you makes you overwhelmed. And it’s okay to cry. Everyone has to, sometimes.”
“Yeah…” Pinkie began taking deep breaths. “The reason I smile… it’s not only for myself. It’s for everyone around me, so they never have to feel sad either. I guess… it just made me a bit emotional.”
Lavender hugged Pinkie in the middle of the softly-illuminated pool. It was now quite late at night. The stars above shone softly, wrapping the scene up like a ribbon on a present, or cherry on top of a sundae.
“Aww!” Pastell squealed. “What a wonderful ship! I’m happy for you!”
“Ship?” Nocturne asked.
“It’s what everypony calls a relation-ship back where I’m from.” Pastell giggled.
“Haha! I get it!” Pinkie suddenly was back to her laughing, jolly self. “That’s so funny!”
Bouncing between laughter and tears, and then more laughter, must’ve made life such an adventure for Pinkie.
The speakers outside, which were connected to the jukebox, began playing a slow and sentimental tune.
“Pinkie, um…” Lavender flushed a bit red, but then decided to take the plunge. “May I… have this dance?”
“Of course!” Pinkie was glowing, as if a rainbow came out after her brief little period of tears.
All the ponies spontaneously got with a partner, one-by-one.
As if they were magnets, Coconut Cream and Citrus Sweetheart gravitated right towards each other.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight glanced at each other and…
“Oh, what the heck.” Rainbow said, holding out her hoof. “Put her there, Twilight.”
“Please don’t spit in your hoof and ask me to spit in mine too and touch that.” Twilight said.
“What? I wouldn’t do that with you.” Rainbow said. “That’s something I only do with Applejack. You’re safe, I promise.”
“Applejack, shall we dance?” A suddenly bold Rarity stuck her hoof out to the orange mare. Applejack practically melted at the sight of Rarity’s gentle yet confident expression.
“Of course, handsome.” Applejack said boldly. She suddenly felt a bit shy, a bit tingly, which was certainly a… “rarity” for her to be feeling.
But somehow, Rarity made her feel ways she couldn’t exactly figure out.
“Oh, please. I believe you’re the handsome one…” Rarity continued down the line of flirty compliments… Wait? Did this really count as… flirting?
“Hehe, thanks.” Applejack said. She was tuning peachy with blush. The two danced in the illuminated water into the night. Rarity was turning a bit pearl-pink herself.
Spike noticed Applejack snatch Rarity up right before his jade-colored eyes.
“Well… I suspected as much.” He sighed a bit despondently. “They DO have a lot more chemistry than well, Rarity and ME…”
“Spike, you can dance with me… If you’d like.” Fluttershy spoke up to cheer up her dragon friend.
“Really?” Spike perked up. “Well, I’d love to!”
In the end, Nocturne and Pastell practically almost being pushed together, being the last two of the mature crowd without a partner. (Even though Spike was technically a baby, he was quite precocious.)
“Oh, hi there!” Pastell greeted. “You’re Nocturne, right? Pinkie told me about you in a letter she sent me!”
“Oh, um…” Nocturne looked to the side, a bit bashfully. “How much did she tell you?”
“Apparently you changed your whole life around. That takes a lot of courage to do!” Said Pastell.
“Really? I don’t exactly feel like I’m the most courageous pony around…”
“Trust me, you’re amazing!” Pastell smiled with big warm brown eyes. “And your courage will only continue to grow. And besides, I heard you’re a crazy-powerful unicorn too! Would you possibly teach me one day? I totally can’t get this magic thing down at all. I was born with a… unique two-tipped horn, so…”
“Well, I’m sure that unique horn has more potential than you realize.” Nocturne said. “Maybe for now it might mess up, but in the future, it might be able to do spells just as unique as its shape.”
Pastell felt tingly listening to Nocturne speak with such hope.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with their newest member, Twinkle, watched in mild repulsion as the rest of the ponies were becoming all mushy and gushy.
“What’s happening to Rarity?” Sweetie Belle said. “She’s getting all fluffy and melty with Applejack… like she’s a marshmallow!”
“I totally don’t get it.” Apple Bloom said.
“This is weird. What’s happening to all our friends? Even Rainbow Dash is being… awkward!” Scootaloo said.
“Hold on, I have an idea.” Twinkle said. “Scootaloo, could you bring me a cloud?”
Scootaloo suddenly looked down sadly.
“I’d… sure, but… I can’t really fly.” She confessed despondently. It seemed to be a sensitive thing for her.
“Hm…” Twinkle said. “Well then I’ll go with Plan B.”
“Plan B?” The Crusaders said.
“Come on, Scootaloo! You can help.”
Twinkle pony-paddled out of the pool, and Scootaloo followed. They both trotted somewhere, and in a couple of minutes, brought back a scribble of a rainbow Scootaloo drew quickly. Then, Twinkle used a bit of magic to reflect a sparkly image of the rainbow above the pool. Everyone noticed it almost immediately.
“My, what a beautiful rainbow!” Applejack marveled, embracing Rarity daringly as they gazed at the sight.
“Almost like the one that brought everypony together.” Pastell mentioned.
“Surprise!” Twinkle said. “A rainbow for all of you! Scootaloo drew it!”
“Twinkle, Scootaloo, that’s amazing!” Pastell said. “And so sweet of you.”
“Aww, what a wonderful day this has been!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
It was the kind of glowing day that everypony wanted to treasure forever.
As expected, more adventure would be right on the horizon. Yet this day was filled with fun and was a wonderful break from all the bustle.