//------------------------------//
// Too many April Foals 
// Story: Short stories about ponies and whatnot 
// by shutaro 
//------------------------------//

	Pinkie Pie looked at rows and rows of cakes, muffins, cupcakes and other baked goods. This was the greatest order Sugarcube Corner had gotten all year and it was almost done. Even if she had to miss out on April Foal’s day, helping the Cakes to complete this took priority. And while today was the traditional day for pranks, neither Rainbow Dash nor herself had ever bothered much with it. Pranking was an any-day, all-the-time, come-hail-or-high-water thing for Ponyville’s premiere party pony.

When the little bell over the door chimed indicating some customers, Pinkie looked into the shop and waved at Lyra and Bonbon. "A minute please you guys, I'll be right with you. Just need to wash up here." 

"Pinkie Pie?" Lyra asked. "Wow, you must be the fastest pony ever!"

Pinke dried her hooves with a towel and joined the other ponies in the shop. "Yeah, but I'm nowhere as fast as Rainbow Dash and Applejack has more stamina than me. But I can run pretty fast, especially if it's to get ponies their sweets. So what 'll it be?"

BonBon pointed at some strawberry cupcakes, "Two of those and another two ... Say, do you still have those kiwi fruit tartlets?"

"Those should be in the icebox, I think there are some left." She turned around and shouted into the kitchen. "Mrs. Cake, do we have some No.37 left?"

"Only two, on the morning side," the answer came from the bakery a few seconds later.

"You're in luck, two are left in the icebox from the morning run," Pinkie translated for her customers. "If you are okay with them."

"Pinkie, I'd rather eat your baked goods from a week ago than any other's bakery fresh stuff."

"That's nice of you to say, Bonbon, but you really shouldn't." Pinkie fetched the items from the icebox, grabbed the strawberry cupcakes and hoofed the box of sweets over the counter. "Eating a week old tartlet could mean a really bad tummy ache for you. That's six Bits, please."

Lyra took the amount from her purse, levitated them over and "Pling, pling, pling" dropped them into the register.

"Thank you for your patronage," Pinkie waved goodbye as her customers turned to leave.

At the door Bonbon stopped and turned her head back. "And some day you have to tell me how you managed to fill every flower in the park with sneezing powder and still be back here before us. But that was a great April Foals prank! See you tomorrow, Pinkie!"

The door closed as Pinkie tilted her head. "But I didn't do that," she told the empty shop. "I was in the bakery all day."

A few minutes later Derpy came to the Corner and ordered four blueberry muffins. She congratulated Pinkie on another prank. "Those exploding Foals' Day cards were a great success. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr Rich ran with the idea and we all get to buy those at his shop next year."

Pinkie Pie was stunned and before she could answer, the Mailmare had flown away. Normally Pinkie would have been in hot pursuit, but she still had work to do and couldn't leave the Cakes hanging, so instead she collected the four Bits Derpy had left and returned to watch the ovens.

Another hour later Spike entered the shop and asked how she had managed to make that ruby-cupcake that had turned his fire from green to red. "That's some awesome prank! In fact it's so awesome, I want more of those", the little dragon grinned and blew a small crimson flame to show off his cool new flame breath.

"But I didn't bake those."

"Really? There was a pink card with your face on it in the box. Who else could have done that?"

"I don't know Spike, but I'll get to the bottom of this as soon as we are done with this order." Pinkie had a determined look in her eyes. "And I'll think about that ruby-cake recipe."

Just as Spike left Big McIntosh entered the Corner and told her how much he had enjoyed the prank with the bouncing rubber apples. By now Pinkie just apologized, explained that she hadn't done it and promised that she'd find out who had pranked him.

The last torte was complete with icing and decorations, and Pinkie was just about to start her search when the mayor entered the shop. Instead of the usual gray her mane sported a screaming pink, almost as screaming and pink as Pinkie's own. She looked left and right first and whispered in a conspiratorial voice "Switching my mane dye for mane dye remover was the best practical joke anyone ever played on me, Pinkie Pie. I really enjoyed going out with my real mane color for once, thank you so much! Just ... don't tell anyone about it, okay? The gray mane is expected in the office."

Pinkie was too amazed to say anything, she just nodded. Not only was this mystery prankster using her name, his pranks were on par with hers! This was going beyond ridiculous. She stormed out of the shop and stopped dead in her hooves. Over at the fountain there were five other Pinkie Pies. Seeing her they all yelled in one voice "Pranking is so much fun! Fun!! FUN!!!"

Pinkie froze. This could not be real! Her reflections from the mirror pond were back! And this time they were not some mindless crazy ponies but really real pink Pinkie Pies! Her friends would go on another Pinkie hunt and this time she might not escape. The other Pinkies started to walk over to her. For every step they made towards her, Pinkie took a step back until her rump collided with the entrance to Sugarcube Corner. She slumped to the ground and when she looked up again the other Pinkies had surrounded her. The mirror images looked down on her with a mischievous glint in their eyes, their mouths grinned at her and Pinkie was at a complete loss at what to expect from these other Pinkies.

With a -POP- the illusion vanished, and Pinkie found herself in the center of a group hug with her friends. She started laughing and joined in as her friends cried "April Foals!"