“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” I exclaimed while bouncing down the steps.
“Why good morning, Pinkie Pie,” Mrs. Cake replied with a smile.
“Hello dear,” came Mr. Cake’s muffled voice. I peaked into the kitchen to see that he had half his head shoved inside a industrial sized bag of sugar. I giggled at the sight. “Is everything okay, Mr. Cake?”
“Yes.” his voice sounded even more muffled. I looked to Mrs. Cake for clarification. “He dropped the measuring cup in the bag again, dear. He’ll be just fine.”
“As fine as sugar!” I chirped with a smile. Mrs. Cake chuckled and went back to her duties. “Do you need any help today?” I offered.
“We’re fine today, hun. Feel free to go on and enjoy your morning.”
“Okay dokie oikie!” I skipped out of the cake shop. While I would have helped Mr. and Mrs. cake in a heartbeat, I couldn’t help feeling just a bit relieved that they had everything under control. I had a lot of things to get done today in order to prepare for my next party. I needed to find Vinyl and ask for her help with the music.
After Vinyl, I had to pay a visit to Apple Jack’s farm and see if she would be willing to provide some of her delicious apple pastries for the party. I wanted something other than pastries this time around and I am sure that AJ would be more than happy to donate some of her family’s home cooking!
Of course I would then have to see Mrs. Stationary to order another batch of party invitations (I have plenty but since this will be my first dance party of this type, I needed to get a new batch – I am so excited!). I had the streamers, banners, and confetti already set up so that just left the guests themselves – something that I will deal with once everything else was finished.
“Hi Jigsaw!” I waved to my friend. “Morning Bon-Bon, hey Lickety Split! How’s it going Minty? Minty! HI!, oh-my-gawsh Starlight! It’s been forever!”
Starlight giggled. “We saw each other yesterday, Pinkie Pie, remember?”
I hugged her tightly while twirling her around. “I know but it just seems like forever! Isn’t that a funny word? Forever? Who decided that it would be Four Evers? I always thought that Three Evers is enough and Four seems to be a bit too much, you know what I mean?” I saw Fluttershy over Starlight’s’ shoulder and dashed on over.
“Hey Fluttershy!” I exclaimed. I stopped right in front of her, digging my hoovies into the ground so hard that my body bounced back and forth. I giggled as the world moved rapidly all around me.
“Oh, hi, Pinkie Pie.” She said while taking a step back away from me. I didn’t take offense. I knew that I had approached her a bit too fast and she just wanted some space. “How are you today?”
“Oh, I am just dandy pandy! I got a great idea for all of my friends in Ponyville and I am just out shopping for my supplies. What are you doing?”
“I, uhm, am just going over to Twilight’s house. My rabbit has a tummy ache and I need to go see Zecura about getting some herbs to make him feel better and, well, I,” She lowered her head a bit to peak through her pink bangs. “I don’t want to go alone.”
“Fluttershy, how many times do I have to tell you? If you see something scary, all you got to do is laugh at it!”
“I know, but I am just not…I mean…Zecura’s home is…”
“Oh! Speaking about Zecura, I made a new song about her! Wanna hear?”
“Uhm, actually Pinkie, I really need to get going…”
“Zecura loves a good time, she always speaks in rhyme, and when you go to her shack, you’ll never wanna go back because her soups always make you relax!”
“That was…very nice…Pinkie.” Fluttershy said while staring at her hooves. I just knew by the expression on her face that she just loved my new song. I cannot wait to sing it to the others! “If you’d excuse me though…”
“Tell Twilight I said hello!”
“I will.” She said as she walked away. I was about to continue on my journey to Vinyl’s record store when an all-too-familiar sight caught my attention. I watched as a gray mare with bright blond hair whipped through the sky carrying a brown delievery bag around her shoulder. She flew in the most unusual pattern I’ve ever seen. Not straight like Dash’s but a bit tipsy turvy. I couldn’t help myself; I giggled to myself as I watched my dear friend Derpy deliever the mail throughout Ponyville. She was an excellent flyer – came third in her class, but she still had some troubles keeping on course due to her wall-eyed vision.
I sat back on my haunches and watched her. She delivered a package to Twilight’s house (probably a new book), then stopped over to hand Rarity a couple of letters, then, to my surprise, flew on over in my direction. She was flying much straighter now (her eyes had snapped back into their proper positions) and landed right in front of me.
“Hi Pinkie!” She exclaimed in her chipper, upbeat voice. “I got a letter for you!”
I felt my whole body wiggle in excitement. “A letter? For me? What could it be? Who is it from?”
“I don’t know, there isn’t a return address on it.” she dug through her mailbag until she found my letter. It was in a gray envelope with very fine print on the front. I tilted my head as she handed it too me. “Could this be an invitation to some party?” I squeaked in excitement.
Derpy flicked her tail in anticipation. “Open it and let’s find out! If you can bring a guest, can I come? I bet they’d have muffins.”
I tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter and set it on the ground in front of me. I read through it once, twice, and a third time. I could feel my good mood slipping away as I processed exactly what was being said in this letter.
“So? Who is it from?” Derpy asked.
“My mother.” I responded softly.
“Ah! Well that’s nice. Checking up on you, is she?”
“Yes. Something like that.”
“Okay.” Derpy smiled. “I’d stay and chat, Pinkie, but I got a lot of mail to deliver. See ya!” And with that she was back in the sky, souring throught the clouds.
I regarded the letter one final time.
Pinkamena Diane Pie,
Your presence is needed back home. Father has come down with a very bad illness and I am in need of assistance on the farm. If it were not an emergency, I wouldn’t be asking you to come back. I know you will understand. Please return home as soon as possible.
Mother.
I stared down at the letter as a cold lump of icy fear began to form inside my stomach.
Father was sick?
I am needed back at the farm?
I tried to repress the memories of my childhood as they flashed about in the back of my head. I didn’t want to remember them but here they were, a flood of memories that I longed to forget.
And to make matters worse, my father was sick. Sick enough that mother needed me back home. I wished she had been more specific in the letter. What was wrong with father? How sick was he? Was he going to pull through or would he…
I looked back down to the letter and tried to laugh. All that came out was a hoarse little squeak. I began to shake all over - from the top of my mane to the bottoms of my hooves. I wanted nothing more than for the letter to just disappear and for that to happen, I had to laugh.
Finally, after four painful attempts, I was able to break out laughing. I stared at the letter, hoping, praying, that my laughter would cause it to vanish...
It didn’t.
To my despair, I soon discovered that I couldn’t stop laughing...
Even as the tears began to roll down my cheeks.