//------------------------------// // The Stormy Shindig // Story: The Jamboree of a Winning Party Pony // by silveredchaos //------------------------------// “And then Rainbow Dash said she haaad to finish her book and to come over tomorrow and we could see if we could have some fun and stuff.” I said, washing the last of the batter off of my cute pink hoofsies and turning to check the clock. Silly contraption never plays fair, always going slow when i want to go do stuff and running fast when i am out having fun. Mrs. Cake sighed slowly placing the fresh batch of cookies on a display tray. “That sounds nice Pinkie, could you be a dear and grab the last of the tarts out and set them on the table to cool. ” I guess she must be super tired from all the baking today. Mr. Rich always orders so much for his little filly’s get togethers. "Alrighty Mrs. Cake!" I trotted over to the oven, grabbed the last of the cherry tarts and set them on the table to cool off. I could barely hide my smile as I looked up at her with expectant eyes, which she promptly noticed, causing my smile to explode into a full-blown grin as I waited for her to say what i've been wanting to hear all day. “Great hon, you’re free to go for the day. Have...” “I’M HEADING TO SEE RAINBOW DASH BE BACK LATER!” I said, grabbing my saddlebags and tossing them on before heading out the front door and into the sunny fun of the early evening day off to see Rainbow. I can’t believe it’s been three whole days since Rainbow got out of the hospital, and we haven’t had any fun that whole time! She said she was too tired the first two days, and that she just HAD to finish her book yesterday. Today though i just know we'll FINALLY get to have some fun once i find out where she is. Fortunately Applejack was running the market cart for the Acres today, and she just might have seen Rainbow already. So i bounced on over to at least say hi. “Heya Applejack! Have you seen Rainbow Dash today? We're totally going to have tons of fun today and normally she would be in the park practicing or napping, but since she can’t fly just yet she probably isn’t there.” “Whoa now slow down there Pinkie, ah think ah saw her headed that-a-way just a bit ago, prolly checkin' in on her work or sumthin’.” she said, pointing her foreleg towards the town hall area. Hmm she might be at the weather office. I turned to head on over and see if she was right about Rainbow being there. “Whoa there missy, you two ain’t plannin’ on prankin’ today are ya?” she asked, rushing up to catch up to me. “OOH, I hope so. That would be extra super fun!” Especially the setup, almost half the fun was watching Rainbow crouching or sneaking about, all flexy and slow moving... “Well, since ah know ah can’t getcha two to leave me alone entirely with yer nonsense, could ya at least...?” Copying her voice as best I could. “Not bother me till ah close up shop?” I said. She gave me half a smile, trying to hide as much of it as she could. “Of course, we have a rule about that since last time.” Last time being when I had switched a basket of apples on her with ones I had filled with pickle juice, and Dashie gotten her to bite into one, It was almost priceless, almost. Her smile faded away. “Yeah, it was a pretty good one, jus’ wish so many ponies didn’t think all mah apples were sour for just about the rest of tha day.” “Well go on, git goin’, ah will be keepin’ an eye out fer the two of ya.” Applejack said with a grin. “Ooh, goodie, that’ll make it even better when we get'cha.” I pointed out, smiling and springing off toward my new destination. The market was extra super busy today, what with Hearts and Hooves Day coming up so soon. All the Flower, candy, and gift shops were working double time to meet the upcoming demand. It made everything smell extra nice and sweet with all the tasty stuff being cooked and prepared. Best part of it all was the day after and all the leftover candy went on sale. Normally I eat enough sweets working at Sugarcube Corner but every now and then a mare wants a greater variety. I was just about to the weather office when I noticed a few unhappy pegasi friends of mine leaving it. Not really sure why they’d be feeling down getting out of that stuffy boring old building especially on a nice sunshiney day like this, this left me only one option: subtle interrogation. “HI Raindrops, HI Blossomforth, HI Thunderlane! Why aren’t you smiling? And have you seen Rainbow Dash?” This only earned me some mixed reactions, with Raindrops acting like she had not heard me and Thunderlane looking mopey and tired. Blossom on the other hoof seemed pretty chipper. “Yeah, she is inside in her office Pinkie.” chirped Blossom. “AND?” I asked, giving off my biggest set of puppy dog eyes. “Ehh... we got stuck with all night storm duty Pinkie.” groaned out Thunderlane. “You know we all take turns when it comes to all-nighters Thunderlane, so quit your griping.” Raindrops gruffly barked out. “Yeah, but it would be much easier if we had known a few days in advance. We could have properly flipped our sleep schedules so it isn’t so tiring.” “Oh shut your bellyaching. Rainbow was recovering and besides it’s not like you will let your fatigue show when Flitter and Cloudchaser both will be on duty with us.” huffed Raindrops. “Why wouldn’t he show that he is tired?” I asked, not really sure why Thunder would be so upset to be tired on an all night job. “Oh it’s nothing, he is just interested in both of them and can’t choose which one to go after.” Blossom said rolling her eyes and smirking. Thunderlane’s eyes went huge and he started sweating. Funny, it wasn't that hot out. “But how did you two know that?” He asked in a quick hushed tone looking around rapidly. “Well~ you kind of keep trying to start conversations with them and usually end up running off, your voice cracks when you try to compliment them, and normally when you work with them you are either trying to be grouped with them or you start trying to show off which by the way only causes more work for us or gets Rainbow into one of her moods and she ends up taking out all the work herself and showing you up pretty bad.” Blossom listed out starting up trying not to make eye contact with anypony. “Not like you have much of a chance with either of them anyway, when you don’t even have the stamina for your turn at the all night duties on slightly short notice.” said Raindrops, smiling funnily big at Thunderlane. Looks like Raindrops is being a grumpy pants again, she really should lighten up just a teeny bit. Just 'cause ponies are silly sometimes doesn’t mean she can be all sour. Like when I made that silly little mistake last month. She did totally look like Rainbow Dash in that evening light too, I still can’t see why she couldn’t understand, after all they both have the same mane and tail style and they both have pretty well-defined physiques. It was just a hug, well it was my special-for-Rainbow-Dash-super-hug, but all I got was something about her wings before she went a brighter red than the setting sun and wouldn’t talk to me for almost a WHOLE week, it took like one hundred and three apologies before she accepted, after making me Pinkie Promise never to speak of it again. But with Thunderlane frowning at his problem I had to jump into action. “You could TOTALLY go after both of them, just ask them to go ahead of you so you can follow, easy peasy.” I chirped, smiling. Thunderlane slapped his hoof to his face for some reason. “That’s not even the problem Pinkie... ughh forget it i need to get some sleep before duty tonight.” he said, turning to leave. Raindrops was smirking funny again. “How about Thunderlane tells Flitter and Cloudchaser about their shifts tonight? I'll take Sassaflash and Dizzy, and you get the rest Blossom.” “Sounds good to me, you okay with that Thunderlane?” shrugged Blossom. Thunderlane turned and spread his wings to take off. “Sure I got it, see you gals tonight.” He quickly said with his voice slightly off and started cantering off. “Thunderlane, you're supposed to flap your wings to fly silly!” I pointed out to the silly pony, he must have forgot. “Oh he can’t Pinkie, all those stiff headwinds will keep him from getting anywhere in the air today.” Raindrops chuckled out loud. This only caused Thunderlane to speed up into a full gallop. “Ooh good idea maybe some more speed will help him get a lift off?” I chirped. For some reason this caused Raindrops to drop to the ground laughing and Blossom to blush brightly. “Ya know Pinkie is really funny when she embarrasses other ponies.” Raindrops wheezed out between her now slowly calming laughter. “You know you shouldn’t be that hard on him Raindrops, and no one deserves to be embarrassed that much in public.” a somewhat upset Blossom stiffly said. “I should know.” she added not quite under her breath. “Well when he ‘Pegs’ up and does something about it, I won’t be able to tease him on something so obvious now will I? Besides he needs the encouragement.” Raindrops shrugged with a grin. “In any case we should get our team members and get some shut eye before the rainstorm tonight. See you later Pinkie.” said Blossom, taking off towards the market, shortly followed by Raindrops heading off another direction. With the weather workers gone I decided that it was time to head on in and see Dashie. 'It sure is nice to finally have a conversation with Raindrops where she didn’t give me a mean look. I even got her to smile and laugh somehow! And it’s always nice to see some of my other friends. Dashie was at her desk focusing on her papers and stuff, she was usually super bored when she did this which means she probably really really wants to head out and have some fun, fortunately for her Pinkie was here to save the day. “Hiya Dashie~!” “Pinkie Pie?” Well that got her to raise an eyebrow no smile just yet though. “Well of course it’s me! Were you expecting somepony else?” Rainbow shrugged before slowly turning back to the piles of papers on her desk and sighing wearily. “How much longer ya got here with your paper city Dashie?” I said pointing to her paper piles that totally looks like a little coliseum with pencil rails for a racing track. “Applejack said she’d be watching for us to prank her today and we shouldn’t disappoint her.” I said smiling. “Wish I could Pinkie but I've really got to get all this paperwork done so I have enough time to squeeze a nap in before the storm tonight.” Rainbow pointed out glumly. “You're flying in the storm crew tonight?” I asked afraid for Dahie. “I wish, doc has me grounded from anything fun to do with flying for a few more days, so I am pretty much stuck doing paperwork and junk until then, He even said i have to have help getting into my own cloud house.” Whew, good it be super duper bad if Dashie did the storm thingy tonight and got hurt again. “Where are you staying then? 'cause you could totally stay over with me! Ooooh, we could have a slumber party! You, me, Gummy, and Tank, it would be super duper fun! We could play all sorts of games like truth or dare, or twister, or spin the..” “No thanks Pinkie, besides Fluttershy already invited me and Tank to stay with her until I’m better.” Rainbow pointed out with little enthusiasm. Dang no good, Ooh! Maybe... “Ooh want to have the party at Fluttershy’s?” “No parties Pinkie, I am supposed to be resting up so I can get back to some real flying, Besides my sleep schedule is gonna get kinda crazy ‘till I’m back to my normal fully awesome self, so I’m really not free for a while.” Rainbow said not even looking up from her paperwork. Ughhh! OOOH I got it, this will work for sure! I sidle up alongside Dash and wrap my leg over her shoulders for a half hug. “I know, I'll help!” “Gahh, Pinkie watch the wing it’s still kinda sensitive. And you can’t help with the paperwork, it’s official weather manager stuff.” “No silly, with the storm!” “Uhh, you're kinda not a pegasus Pinkie, you can’t really help with the storm.” Dashie said eyeing me with a concerned look on her face. Letting go of our half-hug I bounced back just a bit. “I know that silly, I meant help with the stuff you’ll be doing! You can’t fly so what will you be doing?” “Uhh mostly keeping refreshments on hoof, waking the sleepers for their turn in the storm, and getting the reserve pegasi if someone gets hurt.” “Well that’s pretty much a party Dashie, I can do all of that! I know every pony in town so I just need to know who to find in case something goes bad, which it totally won’t. Refreshments are super easy, like basic party stuff, and I can think of a few ways to wake the sleepy ponies. I bet I could even run the whole thing if you let me try! Ooh c’mon please please please? This way you can sleep, get all better, and we can have tons of fun sooner right?” Dashie thought it over for what seemed like forever, so I nuzzled her a bit and got another hug in while waiting for my answer. “Yeah, I suppose we could, but you have to promise to come get me if anything goes wrong, and don’t wake the sleepers with pranks; they are gonna be pretty upset about the all night work already, they probably wouldn’t appreciate the whip cream and feather treatment.” Dashie said, smirking. “Okie dokie loki Dashie, leave it all to me, I just need to get permission to use Sugarcube Corner for the night and we are all set!” I chimed, putting on one of my biggest innocent smiles. “Actually you should just use the weather office Pinks, we have just about everything we need here already.” Rainbow said pointing her hoof at a pile of boxes near the doorway. “Gotcha, I just need some food and stuff so the Pegasi can have lots of sugar to help them out with the big storm.” “Uhh sure, okay Pinkie, just remember this is not really a party they need to rest on their downtime, not dance and play games.” “Ohh, ok Dashie.” “Awesome, I owe ya one Pinkie, the start up is at eleven tonight, I'll drop a note off with Raindrops explaining my absence, just ask her if you need to know anything about the operation for tonight.” “Got it, I will be here with bells on.” I saluted. “Please no bells Pinkie.” Dash said smiling. “If you say so Dashie~.” I sang before heading off to get to my second round of baking for today along with my success of getting a smile out of Rainbow. --- “Cots?” Raindrops asked. “Check.” Replied Blossom. “Refreshments?” “Half check.” Mhm.. “Roster rotation and reserves list?” “Check.” “And who is the on call nurse this time?” “Tenderheart, she is at the hospital and has her saddlebags ready just in case.” “Good.” “Team three and the others are getting some of the clouds in position while we get finished setting up.” "Now we just have to wait on Sassaflash and Thunderlane to get back with Dash and the rest of the refreshments so we can get started.” Blossom pointed out. “Are you really sure the note was a prank Raindrops? I mean Dash wouldn’t pull a prank involving a storm she is in charge of.” “I am not entirely sure, but there is no way Dash would leave Pinkie in charge of the rest station alone." “And why not?” I asked, dropping down from my hiding spot and undoing my bungee harness. “Because Pink.. GAHHH! PINKIE WHERE DID YOU... guhh... somepony please don’t tell me Dash’s note was serious.” Groaned Raindrops. “I dunno, what does a serious note look like? Did it have angry eyebrows or an upset frowny face? Or does it have serious written on it in like big blocky letters with like no glitter and stuff, 'cause...” “Pinkie stop. If you really are running the rest station tonight you need to stop getting wound up right now cause we won’t be able to rest with you going Pinkie all night.” Raindrops sternly pointed out. “Well it’s not like I can be anypony else unless I dress up. Would you like me to dress up as Dashie? 'Cause that sounds fun, look I already have a rainbow wig still in my saddlebags from earlier and...” "No, that won’t be necessary Pinkie. Raindrops can I talk to you over there for a second?" Blossom glanced back at me. “Alone, Pinkie.” “Ohh, ok. Secret pegasi weather stuff, got it, let me know if you gals need anything~!” While Raindrops and Blossom went off to their kinda secret talk I simply have to check out the refreshments table the weather ponies had set up. My vantage point from the rafters hadn’t let me get much of a good look at what food and drink these ponies brought for their “totally-kind-of-a-party-weather-work-night”. Lets see, they have lots of water, one big box of powdered doughnuts, and some of Dashie’s icky energy bars that taste like apple sauce mixed with oats and dirt. Well they did say they have more refreshments coming, but this isn’t really enough for their work-slash-almost-party. Good thing I brought some stuff along to just in case. “Ooh!” I zip on over to the door and open it for the arriving work slash party guests. Thunderlane and Sassy both jump back and Thunderlane almost slips on the wet ground. That’s funny, usually when I accidentally startle ponies they don’t blush quite so much. “Oops sorry, did I interrupt something?” I asked, tilting my head and raising my eyebrow slightly. “Guhh... uhh nothing, you didn’t interrupt anything at all, we were just, uhh... bringing the coffee in and...” “OOH! Coffee! Can I have some?” “AGHHhh..” Groaned somepony loudly behind me. “You have got to be kidding me, isn’t this just feathering great, now someone will have to keep Pinkie out of our coffee all night or the mayor will have our flanks.” spat out Raindrops. “It will be fine Raindrops, we just have to set up an additional rotation to keep Pinkie out of the coffee and maybe call in one or two of our reserves if we can’t manage ourselves.” Blossom pointed out. Well so much for me getting coffee the easy way tonight, I could have been like super duper at running the snacks and stuff if I had gotten just a little bit. Raindrops facehoofed. “Who are the first three ponies on the reserve list?” “Uhmm, let's see... Medley, Merry May, and uhm... Parasol.” Blossom listed off. I poked my head over her shoulder to get a look at the soon to be work and party guests. “Nuhh uhh Blossom, lookie right here it says Medley, Merry, and Cloudkicker.” I pointed it out for her, sometimes ponies can be so silly. “Yeah... Cloudkicker is... indisposed, we should probably call her in last.” stammered out Blossom. I wonder if Raindrops is all right, she seems to be groaning an awful lot. She doesn’t look sick, maybe she is just tired. “Look, we don’t really need to call anyone in just yet, we can have one pony watching the coffee per shift.” Thunderlane stated. “I’m not so sure Thunderlane, this is Pinkie we are talking about.” a still slightly flustered Sassaflash said. “It’s just coffee, how bad would it really be if Pinkie just had a little and promised not to drink anymore tonight?” asked Thunderlane. “Yeah, I just want a little bit!” I piped up. Blossom held up a hoof, cutting off Raindrops. “More trouble than you know Thunderlane, the Mayor banned Pinkie from caffeine for a pretty serious reason from what I hear. That’s why we can’t have a coffee maker in the weather office in the first place.” Blossom said. “But Pinkie doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, I'm sure we can handle it, let's just do a rotation with just one of us guarding the coffee and if it gets out of hoof then we can start waking and upsetting ponies.” Thunderlane countered. “Yeah there's no need to make all the sleepyheads all grumpy and stuff, and besides one little sip won’t make me all loopy and stuff.” I pleaded. “Fine then, but you're taking first watch Thunderlane. Let's see if you think this is a good idea after you have had to deal with Pinkie for a shift.” said Raindrops, smirking triumphantly. “Yeah, we really need to get the rotation going and get the storm into gear if we want to finish on time tonight. I don’t know about you guys but I want to get some sleep tonight.” Blossom pointed out with slight frustration. Sheesh, it’s like these ponies don’t trust me or something. Raindrops barked orders across the room, waking the other pegasi. “All right lets get to it, c'mon everypony we are heading up. Thunder is staying behind this round, we need to relieve the others so we can get a proper run with the storm. Get your goggles on and let's go!” She turned and took off out into the developing storm with the rest of the group. “Okie doki, you gals have fun! I will have everything set up once you get back.” I cheerily said, bouncing on over to get my party-slash-not-a-real-party kind-of set up. --- “... Two kinds of punch, Apple Family apple fritters courtesy of Applejack - who hopes you all have an easy time with the storm tonight - vanilla cupcakes, vanilla cookies, Chocolate Mellonanna crepes, and Zecora cakes that look just like her mane and coat, they are chocolate and vanilla with banana cream filling! And there, that's everything!” “Wow Pinkie, do you really think we need all of that for tonight?” asked Thunderlane. “Well, we might not need so many different kinds of muffins, cupcakes, and fritters, but I figured you ponies wanted something a bit more tasty than those apple dirt bars, Dashie should REALLY let me help out with the recipe. I know they just need more sugar.” I said with a grin. “Yeah, she makes them 'with just the essentials.' Sure wish tasty was essential, but at least they work.” Thunderlane groaned. “Ooh the door!” I said as I zipped on over. “No one’s at the door Pinkie...” I open the door for a pretty tired looking and thoroughly soaked Flitter and Cloudchaser. “Ohh hi Pinkie, I guess you are gonna be here tonight.” commented Flitter. Cloudchaser cricked her neck and stretched her wings. “Yeah nice to see you Pinkie, now if you don’t mind I’d like to grab a bite and get some rest before we have to head back up.” Cloudchaser droned while wringing her mane out. “Great, we have your usual stuff and I even brought some food and drink too, you should really try the super cinnamon swirl cookies I brought! I made them with molasses, sugar, and honey, they will put some lift back into your wings for sure!” “Ehh maybe once I'm done with my nap I will Pinkie.” said Cloudchaser, grabbing a muffin and heading over to the cots. “Whatcha got to drink Pinkie? Did you bring punch?” asked Flitter. Flitter is one of my favorite party guests. Well I guess they are all really my favorite, but Flitter always loved to try my punch mixes. “Yeah, I've got two kinds, Sky Blue Berry Swirl, and my newest one Rainbow Ripples. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite get the colors to not mix and stuff so it’s kinda brown, but it tastes pretty good! Is there some sort of secret Pegasus trick for not mixing rainbow colors?” Flitter smirked and chuckled. “No Pinkie there's no secret to that, only rainbows keep their color pattern like that.” she took a sip of the Rainbow Ripple. “So I should use rainbows? That’d be kinda hard they're so super duper spicy, I’m not sure at all if ice cubes will make it any better.” “HMPHH.” was the only noise out of Flitter as she almost spit out the Ripple. “What, is it not as good as I thought? I'm super sorry if it tastes bad, I can get you something else.” “Ehrmm, no Pinkie it tastes fine, just you know, don’t ever try to turn rainbows into a beverage.” Flitter Sputtered out. “It takes quite a bit of magic on a very diluted bit of All-color and a few years before anyone can drink it, and that's about the only safe way rainbows can be consumed, well as safe as one of the highest proof alcohols there is can be, and even then you can still burn your tongue with it.” Flitter pointed out with a small smile. “How did you find that out?” “Ohh, Cloudkicker shared some with Cloudchaser and me once, it was really a night to remember.” Flitter said wistfully. Thunderlane who had just been listening in from over near the coffee table made a really odd noise, sort of gurgling and frog like croak. “What’s with the funny face Thunderlane? Did you think of a really good joke or something?” I asked. Flitter looked between Thunder and me a few times before turning bright red. “Ohh no, no no no no no, it wasn’t like that Thunderlane, it was just a girl's night out on Chaser’s and my birthday, nothing else happened, like at all.” Flitter hastily explained. Then it all got really quiet, like somepony just decided to steal all the neat things everypony else had to say. Fortunately for everypony, I remembered something really interesting I heard today. “So Flitter, did you know that Thunderlane wants to go after you and Cloudchaser tonight?” Three things happened just then. One was Thunderlane speaking really fast trying to say something about me 'just being Pinkie' - and of course i’m Pinkie - and two was Thunderlane started walking ever so slightly away from the coffee. So I bounced on up and started pouring a cup, unfortunately it was straight black coffee no sugar or anything tasty in it, and it seemed to be taking FOREVER to fill the cup like time was going all slow and stuff. Three was somepony came in through the door. The next thing I know my coffee had been knocked to the ground, the pot was being grabbed by yellow hooves and taken away and then it all made a little more sense, Raindrops had shown back up and was now yelling at Thunderlane about keeping his mind clear and his wings at his side while he was on important guard duty. I would have paid more attention to the returning party guest and her bad party manners had it not been for the fact my coffee had been so cruelly taken before it’s time, there it was on the ground splashed all over the ground, somehow the cup had ended up upright. I started to trot on over to see if there was any hope that some coffee had survived when Raindrops stopped yelling, sped over to the cup, and sat down directly on it and the coffee on the floor. “Ohh no you don’t, I will do what it takes to keep this storm on track tonight and that means no coffee for you Pinkie, not a drop!” Raindrops said with a pained and determined look while she stared right at me. “I don’t want a drop, I want a cup, but if you want to play keep away that's fine I'm really good at keep away.” I pointed out to my first competitor at a party game for the evening. Flitter brought a towel over to Raindrops to dry off with and clean the spill. Raindrops turned and pointed her hoof accusingly at Thunderlane “All right, here's what going to happen Thunderlane: since you obviously can’t handle Pinkie you are going to go up and tell Blossom that I am going to guard the coffee. Then you are going to go get a reserve pony to fill in for the storm and I want someone competent, we have some Everfree clouds rolling through and we can’t let them mix in. After that you are going to head out and run the rest of my shift and yours and I don’t want a single complaint about it, after all guarding the coffee from Pinkie was your idea.” Flitter gave Thunderlane a sympathetic look and walked on over to the cots and hopped in the one next to her sister. I quickly zipped over and back with a cookie for Thunderlane, cookies make things better sometimes and he was looking pretty upset, but I had a party to run and I knew he was coming back and I could work on making him smile then. With Thunderlane gone and the sisters settling in for their nap break it was just me and Raindrops and the coffee, she had already moved it back to its table and had poured a cup from a shiny metal bottle. She was slowly sipping away at it, half-smiling half scowling at me. The pain on Raindrops face was pretty clear though. The coffee must have been pretty hot when she went and sat on it. “Hey Drops, wheres the medicine stuff Dashie said you gals had?” “Don’t call me Drops, and why do you want to know that?” Raindrops said, eyeing me suspiciously. “So we can get some cream for your bum silly.” I pointed out. “It’s over near the cots, in the box with a winged cross on it.” she said matter of factly. So I bounced on over really quietly so as not to wake the now sleeping sisters, and after a short while checking through all the different medicines I found the burn cream and skipped back over to Raindrops. “Furnd dit!” I tried to chirp past the bottle. “Give it here then.” I set the bottle down and pulled the cork out of it. “Just let me get it Rainy, I don’t think you can bend around enough to get all of that burn. And besides, I do like A LOT of baking and I used to get burned pretty often I am really really good at applying burn cream.” I pointed out. “No, I can get it myself.” she snatched the bottle and poured a bit on her hoof. After trying to stretch and apply the cream for a few minutes and only managing to smear some on her tail Raindrops let out a deep groan. She looked over at the sleeping sisters then started staring at the floor and silently scooted the bottle closer to me. “Uhh Pinkie, could you just hurry and get this over with?” “What over with?” I asked “Could you quickly put the cream on my burn?” Raindrops said suppressing another groan. “Okie doki Rainy!” I chirped. “Don’t call me Rainy either, Pinkie.” Raindrops said staring at the floor determinedly. I took a closer look at her burn. ‘It looks like she got most of the coffee to splash on her left cutie mark,' I thought. I poured some cream on my hoofsie and very lightly applied it to her burn. “Pinkie, what is taking so long? Have you even started yet? I can’t feel anything.” she questioned, turning and casting a glance backwards. “One more second, and there! Now it’s got a nice smiley face!” I said proud of my creation. “What? Pinkie, what did you do?” Raindrops asked turning and taking in full view of my masterpiece - an almost perfect Rainbow Dash cutie mark with a big smiley cloud. “Smiley faces help it heal faster.” For some reason her only reactions were to facehoof and groan some more. A pair of stifled giggles cut across the room. Raindrops whipped around and stared intensely at the two loudly-giggle snoring ponies in the cots. Unfortunately she turned back just as I was coming out from under the table, and bolted over and snatched her cup away again. “Nice try Pinkie.” she said, taking a sip before putting some more coffee in her cup and setting it back down on the table. Little did she know my master plan was about to pay off. I hopped on over to my table, pulled up my saddlebags, got out my swizzle straws and bounced back over to Raindrops. “Want one?” I asked. “Why would I need one Pinkie?” “To drink with silly.” I said, picking up my cup from the floor and placing the straw into it. She facehoofed and groaned. “I know that Pink...” And then she saw it, the little tube running from my cup to the floor and under the table, just as she went to stomp down on the tube her ears went flat at the sound of the straw running out of liquid to drink. “Ya know Dropsy, your coffee tastes a lil’ bit silly.” I giggled out loud. It did taste funny though, and instead of just lots of sugar and stuff it made my head feel a little stuffy. And then she tackled me out of nowhere, and ended up rolling with me into the refreshments table. We must have been rolling pretty fast cause the table bobbed back and forth before spilling its tasty contents on the floor and the punch all over us both. I rolled over and pushed her grasping hoofsies from their lock on me. “Someone’s coming to the door Dropsy, I gotta let ‘em in for tha’ party!” I bounced over to the silly door, it took a bit cause the door kept moving around and wiggling and stuff. Rainy was yelling something out when I got the door open for the pegasi that were showing up for my coffee party. “Heya Blossomforth, ohh goodie you found lots more coffee party guests, duna’ worry theres pleny ta go AROUND~!” I said giggling while moving my now blue-ish pink hoofsie in circles to emphasize all the wobbling and bobbling everypony is doin’. “Pinkie are you drunk?” asked the two or three Blossoms in the doorway. “Pfft, I hadn’t had anythin’ at all ta drink~ Blossoms, just summa Rainy’s funny coffee. “Don’t let her get away!” I heard from behind me. I turned about to see my favorite party guest had finally shown up. So I dashed over and tackled her, pinning her to the ground, she had answers to give. “RAINBOW! How'd ya get in without me noticin’? Ooh, why did ya dye your mane and tail dark blue? Rainbow’s face went from kinda angry and frowny to big-eyed and looking around quickly while I got ready to ask all my other super-duper important questions. She must be super happy to see me! “Somepony HELP! Get her offa me.” Rainbow yelled out with a funny sounding voice. I helped her to her hoofs and wrapped her in a super big hug, she was all stumbly and stuff too. “Ya made it to the party Dashie, now we can finally have some fun!” I said nuzzling her. “Somepony, anypony, Hel...” was all she got to say before I started the first game of the night. “Challange ya to a kissing contest Dashie go!” I giggled out between smooches, “and I am gonna win~!”