“Do you have many appointments?”
MORE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
-Terry Pratchett, “Jingo”
~~~
It had been a long time since Pinkie Pie’s days in Sugarcube Corner. Now owned by Pumpkin and Pound Cake, the store had grown beyond its humble origins. And Pinkie Pie had become an even greater sensation, ranging from being Pinkamena Diane Pie, arranger of the most beautiful, elegant parties in Equestria, to being DJPinkz, the awesomest master of sick beats in the Canterlot underground music scene.
But tonight...she had a very special party planned. She’d read about it ages ago in Twilight’s library, and the idea had tickled her, well, pink. The problem was that only a very special sort of pony could have this party, because it was usually more of a surprise party.
Luckily, Pinkie wasn’t just any pony, and a few weeks ago, her Pinkie Sense had told her that tonight was the perfect time for the party. She’d invited everypony she knew, and sent very special invitations to five very special ponies, one dragon, and, after long consideration, a draconequus.
And ponies were beginning to arrive, in ones and twos and threes, all chattering amongst themselves. Pinkie almost never threw her own parties anymore; for her to throw this one, it had to be the party to end all parties.
At some point, Pinkie saw Princess Luna waltz in, opening a path in the crowd as she approached Pinkie Pie.
The party pony grinned and bounced to the night princess.
“Hey! I’m so glad you could make it! Is Princess Celestia coming? I made her favorite!”
Luna tilted her head. “Almost certainly. She has a few things to handle, first. But I came to ask you if you are sure about this. Nopony has done this in...ages, Pinkie Pie.”
“Well, maybe they should!” Pinkie retorted, glowering briefly at Luna before remembering she was supposed to be a good host. She composed herself, but couldn’t help a little bounce. “I don’t want anypony to be sad and mopey. I want everypony to spend all night remembering how much I worked to make them happy. And...I think the guest of honor could use a warm welcome.”
Luna watched Pinkie Pie for a long time; Pinkie lost interest in wondering what the princess was thinking after a few moments and scratched idly at her ear. “Well. I hope you know what you’re getting up to. I am not certain many here will be happy to learn what the purpose of this party is.” A burst of green flame abruptly appeared next to her, and Luna caught the scroll that manifested from it before it fell. “Ah. My sister and Twilight Sparkle will be here shortly with Spike.”
“Ooh! I’m gonna go get them drinks! Talk to you later, Luna!” Pinkie bounced to the drinks table, leaving the bemused princess of the night behind.
When Princess Celestia arrived, it was with a flash of purple light that showed she, Spike, and Twilight had traveled by Twilight’s magic tonight. Pinkie presented them a trio of cups, even though it took a minute to get Spike’s dragon-sized cup to him. She paused at the sight of him.
“Goodness, Spike, you must’ve started growing again!” Pinkie declared. “You’re the size of a house!”
The dragon’s scales darkened in embarrassment as he tried to look at anywhere but at Pinkie. “Ah, well...”
“You look wonderful! And you, too, Twilight! Oh, I’m so glad to see all of you!” She threw her legs around Twilight and Spike, hugging them as tightly as she was able before flitting off to see her other guests.
It wasn’t until Pinkie saw Rarity enter, fashionably late and dressed to the nines, that it struck her how important this party was. She’d invited every friend she had, not just because it was the best party in the history of Equestria, but because some of them she hadn’t seen in years, and she just wanted to see them all again.
So it was with a slightly more frantic energy that Pinkie began making the rounds, greeting old friends and new friends (it was with shock that she realized there were still ponies she’d never met before). And as nine-thirty came around, Pinkie found her energy fading, just a little, until she came to be standing in the middle of the room, and all eyes drifted to her.
She bounced on her hooves, just once. “Good evening, everypony! I’m so super psyched to see all of you here. I want you all to know I invited all of you because you’re so super special to me. I hope you’ve all been having a great time, because...this is the last party I’m going to throw, ever.” Before anypony could reply, she bounced again, all smiles. “I don’t want anypony to be sad. I’ve thrown a lot of awesome parties, and I hope you can all remember how much fun you had at those. And I want you all to remember tonight, because tonight, we’re welcoming a very special guest-”
At this point, Pinkie Pie slumped to the ground in what was either a very poorly timed prank, or a very good reason for Pinkie to not be throwing any more parties.
~~~
“GASP!” Pinkie Pie whirled on the pale equine that had managed to sneak up on her. “It’s really you!”
The pony, whose coat and mane were the shade of milk, gave Pinkie a wan smile. “Guilty.”
“Wow!” Pinkie declared. “You scared me half to death. What’s your secret?”
The pale pony paused, took a step back, and tilted her head. “Well...first of all, I didn’t scare you half to death.” She gave Pinkie an uncertain grin, icy blue eyes wavering momentarily, as if wet.
Pinkie stared at the other mare for a long moment, trying to piece it together. When she finally got it, she fell back laughing, holding onto her sides. “Oh, that’s - oh my - you didn’t - best - prank - ever!”
She heard, rather than saw, the mare, the Pale Horse, approach. When the reaper spoke, her voice was much closer to Pinkie than before. “You’re not angry?”
Pinkie rolled onto her stomach and looked up at the Pale Horse, smiling as widely as she could. “Of course not! I already knew I was going to die. You just...helped things along.” She glanced at the party hall, which was, strangely, muted like a really old picture. “Can anypony see us?”
Faintly, Pinkie heard somepony say, “would’ve wanted to go. And she certainly would have wanted the party to go on.”
“No,” the Pale Horse replied. “I’m sure you realized that the ability to see Death is not common. It is a skill reserved for those who can see what is really there.”
Pinkie frowned at that; she was fairly certain that other ponies thought she was crazy, not super-perceptive. She glanced in the direction she’d last seen Twilight. “Twilight’s a super-duper scientist pony. I think if anypony would be able to see what’s really there-”
“Twilight has a vision of the world that overlays what she sees,” the Pale Horse replied. “It is true of so many creatures...but you look at the world with no expectations. You see it through eyes that...have no judgment in them. It astounds me, that you are so cheerful when you see the truth of things.”
And that was simply ridiculous; Pinkie couldn’t help but start laughing again, something that brought a scowl to the Pale Horse’s face.
“And what is so funny, little pony?”
“You made a great joke!” Pinkie poked the pale pony’s snout and chuckled when her whole face scrunched up in response. “I don’t think anything’s sad about the way things really are. After all, it meant I got to throw all my friends an amazing party to see me off!”
The Pale Horse gave Pinkie a long look, of the sort Twilight did right before she gave up talking to Pinkie. Unlike Twilight, however, it seemed the Pale Horse wanted to see things through. “I meant that you must know that friendship has no magic. That no matter how hard you look, you will find not a speck of harmony in all of the universe.”
Pinkie laughed again, but this time, was aware that the glare the Pale Horse gave her was a little serious. She pranced forward and bopped the avatar of death on the snout. “So? Why should I let a little thing like that get me down? Every day, me and the girls make magic!” She grabbed the white pony by the hooves and led her in a waltz. “So what does it matter that you think it’s fake? Every day, we make it real!”
And, ignoring the shocked look on the Pale Horse’s face, Pinkie skipped across to the next world. She had to plan welcome parties for everypony.