Popping her balloons.

by FinnPony

Party

Ponyville’s train station was packed with ponies, all waiting to meet their friends and families who were coming from Manehattan. They all were pushed to the only pier the station had and they all were forced to stand side to side with each other.

In the middle of the crowd stood two earth ponies. One was an orange strong-legged farm pony with a brown stetson on her head, while the other one was a pink, over-excited mare with a puffy darker pink mane.
The orange one seemed to feel a bit awkward and annoyed within the crowd, being pushed around by the mass of ponies. The other one didn’t seem to mind it at all and it even looked like that it was the crowd that was annoyed by her. She bounced up and down, peeking over the heads of others, trying to see if the train had already arrived by the platform.

“Pinkie! Stop jumping!” Applejack commanded with an almost angry voice. Pinkie Pie didn’t stop jumping though and kept doing so while she replied, “But then I might miss the train!”
“You’re not going in it, how can you miss it?” Applejack asked while giving an angry look to somepony who bumped into her.
“I mean I might miss it coming!” Pinkie Pie answered, still jumping up and down. Applejack looked at her for a moment. Pinkie had hopped in place for a good ten minutes and she didn’t even seem to break a sweat.
“Oh for crying out loud..” Applejack murmured and stepped on Pinkie Pie’s tail. Pinkie bounced up, but sprung right back to the floor with a small thud. She turned to look at Applejack with a surprised look on her face. Applejack in turn just calmly looked back at her.
“What did you do that for?” Pinkie Pie asked while rising back up to all fours.
“Being impatient doesn’t speed things up,” Applejack explained with a motherly tone. “Besides, we will hear the train arriving to the station.”

“I guess you’re ri..” Pinkie Pie started, but was interrupted by somepony from the crowd exclaiming, “The train is here!”
Pinkie turned to look at Applejack with one eyebrow raised. Applejack just rolled her eyes in response and started to push towards the locomotive with the pink mare. They struggled through the mass of ponies, who were all hugging and welcoming their reunited friends and family members.
Pinkie kept looking around , trying to locate the pony she was there for. Nopony she saw seemed to be the right one and so she kept looking. Applejack looked around herself as well, but she wasn’t sure she knew what the pony they were looking for even looked like anymore. It had been a couple of years since they had last time seen him afterall.

Everypony started to move away from the pier, making it easier for Pinkie Pie and Applejack to move around. There were a couple of ponies on Pinkie’s right, but none of them resembled the stallion she was looking for.
Pinkie almost started to get nervous now, it seemed like the pony she was looking for wasn’t even here.
Pinkie took a couple of steps while looking to her left. Suddenly she felt something smack against her and she dropped onto her haunches from the impact.
Pinkie Pie shook her head to clear it and looked up.
“I’m really sor-..” the pony she had bumped into started, but stopped when their eyes met. Pinkie stared at those golden eyes for a moment, before she let out a happy squeal and jumped forward.
“Pokey!” she exclaimed and threw her hooves around the surprised blue unicorn’s neck. He didn’t hesitate for long though and wrapped his hooves around Pinkie in return, who was giggling girlishly.
“Pinkie Pie! So good to see you!” Pokey greeted happily, while still embracing Pinkie Pie. They soon broke the hug and Pinkie Pie was smiling widely. However, Pokey was totally dumbfounded when he looked at Pinkie Pie more carefully.

She had grown into a mare. She had gotten a bit taller than last time he had seen her and her body had gotten some more shape into it. She was a bit chubbier, but in a good way. Her pink mane and tail were still the same Pokey had remembered when he left Ponyville. She also had that same excited and overly-happy attitude about her and seeing that ear to ear grin made Pokey smile too.

“I’ve missed you! I already have a party planned for you and you can help me with it and..” Pinkie started to blabber, jumping in place a little. Pokey studied her for a moment. He had almost forgotten what she was like, but now it started to come back to him.
“Oh, hi Applejack,” he said, when he noticed the orange mare standing next to them. She tilted her hat a little in response to the greeting.

“...And then we will have the best time ever!” Pinkie Pie finished and finally stopped jumping. She breathed heavily due the long non-stop blabbering and looked at Pokey with a waiting expression on her face.
“Yeah! Exactly!” he quickly replied and watched Pinkie Pie with a smile on his lips as she started to giggle and jump up and down again.

“We’re going to have so much FUN!” Pinkie exclaimed and gave Pokey a big smile.
He chuckled and returned the expression.
“I bet we will,” Pokey agreed.

“And now give a big applause for the reason of this super mega fun party!” Pinkie Pie announced when the music stopped. Almost everypony turned to look at her when the speakers that were placed around Sugarcube Corner went silent.
The building was packed. Every single pony who was between the age of eighteen to forty was in there. The owners of the establishment, the Cakes had gone to the local motel for the night, so Pinkie could party all she wanted that evening.

Pinkie waited for the hoof stomping, but she soon noticed the confused look on her guests faces. She looked around the crowd and then asked, “What?”
“Umm.. Who is it?” somepony asked. Soon another joined him, “I thought that this was just one of those random parties you sometimes have.”
Pinkie Pie chuckled a little and then said loud enough so that everypony could hear, “No. This is a welcome back home party for Pokey!”
There was a short silence before Rainbow Dash poked her head from the mass of ponies and asked, “Who?”
“Pokey, silly! Pokey Pierce!” She explained happily and pointed towards the counter, where a blue unicorn with a white mane was pouring a drink for himself. He stopped, when he noticed everypony looking at him.
“Oh yeah! That one,” Rainbow Dash said casually. Pinkie didn’t hear any clopping though and she frowned. She didn’t like that at all.

“Applause!” she shouted, making everypony jump. They then quickly started to stomp their hooves on the floor and somepony even cheered a little. Nopony dared to disobey the pink party pony. After she was happy with the result, Pinkie Pie turned towards the mixing table. She gave a nod to a white mare with sunglasses and a flashy blue mane.
“Take it away Vinyl!” she said and the mare behind the mixing table turned a new disk to the player. Soon a fast dance song started to play and everypony started to cheer and tango.

Pinkie Pie danced for a minute before hopping to Pokey, who was standing next to the counter with a cup of punch in his hoof.
“Hi sunshine! How’s the party?” Pinkie Pie asked and quickly filled her cup with punch. She took a quick sip and noted that the drink was strong enough since she could taste the alcohol in it clearly. She downed her cup in one big gulp and Pokey was looking at her with an amused expression on his face.
“Take it slow Pinkie,” Pokey warned when Pinkie refilled her cup again. She just giggled and turned towards him. She then said with her cheery voice, “What’s the point in partying if you can’t have fun?”
Pinkie then gulped down the contents of the cup again and placed the now empty container to the counter and looked at Pokey, who was taking a sip from his own drink.

Pinkie quickly examined him. Pokey’s legs were longer than last time she had seen him and his face had formed much more mature details in it. His mane was a bit longer too, but it was shaped just like when he had left Ponyville.
Pinkie noticed something completely different though. Pokey had a golden earring in his right ear.
“Hey! I didn’t notice that before,” Pinkie said and leaned closer to look at the piece of jewelry.
“Yeah, I didn’t have it on when I came here but I thought it would be a good idea to wear it to the party,” He explained to her. Pinkie Pie leaned away from him and said, “It’s really neat!”
“Thanks,” Pokey replied.

Pokey drank the rest of his punch and looked towards the middle of the shop that worked as a dance floor. There were ponies still dancing to the beat of Vinyl Scratch’s dance remixes. He turned towards Pinkie and asked, “Wanna dance?”
“Sure thing Pokey wokey!” She answered, making Pokey frown at her. Pinkie just giggled and started to move towards the dance floor with the blue stallion close behind her. It didn’t take long for those two to start jamming like they used to do when they were younger. Everypony moved a bit away from them however, since they knew Pinkie’s crazy moves needed more space and nopony wanted to get hit by Pokey’s horn.

“I really missed your parties!” Pokey said, but Pinkie didn’t quite hear it over the loud music. She moved to dance a bit closer to him and replied: “You don’t even have panties! How can you have pi..”
“No!” An embarrassed Pokey interrupted her. “I really missed your parties!”
“Aww.. I missed you too!” Pinkie shouted and threw her hoof over his shoulder. It seemed like the music was getting louder and she still hadn’t heard him well. They continued to dance in their unique way for a second, before Pokey decided to try one more time.

Just as Pokey was trying to speak again, the music faded. Everypony looked towards the mixing table, where Vinyl was pushing some buttons. Soon a slow melody started to play and Vinyl announced, “Now it’s time for the first slow dances!”
Soon the dance floor was filled with happy couples, who were now slowly swaying in rhythm with the music.
Pinkie Pie and Pokey were still idly standing in the middle of all the dancing ponies, with Pinkie’s hoof over Pokey’s shoulder. They both looked around themselves and at all the slowly dancing pairs. Their eyes soon met and they both quickly looked forward.

“Umm..” Pokey started.
“Yeah.” Pinkie continued. They then carefully turned their heads towards each other. The atmosphere was rather awkward, with music playing and Pinkie Pie continuing to hold her hoof over his shoulder.
“So..” Pokey said with a asking tone. Pinkie blinked couple of times and offered the obvious, “Would you like to?”
“I don’t mind. If you want.. I guess we could..” Pokey answered slowly and looked Pinkie right into her eyes. She slowly turned in front of him, still holding her hoof on his other shoulder. Pokey gulped a little and lifted his own hoof carefully over Pinkie’s shoulder, who quietly giggled at him.
“You ready?” She asked Pokey, who nodded in response.

They then started to dance slowly. Pinkie Pie leaned closer to Pokey, making him feel hot around his cheeks. A couple years back it would be completely normal for them to dance like this, but now it felt different. Pinkie too seemed to have the same kind of thoughts, because she was blushing a little bit as well. The bubbly and zippy Pinkie he knew was gone, replaced by a shy young mare that looked like her. He wasn’t about to complain though. Pokey felt a goofy smile spreading on his face while realizing that he had made the most social pony in the town fall silent.

Pinkie Pie noticed that smile and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“You are,” Pokey answered with a playful grin on his face. Pinkie frowned in return, but kept smiling. She then asked, “What’s so funny about me?”
“Everything, but I meant the way you’re acting right now,” Pokey explained to her while they slowly danced in circles.
“How should I act then?” Pinkie Pie asked. Pokey just shrugged and replied, “I don’t know, more Pinkie like I guess.”

They snickered and Pinkie leaned a bit closer once more to the blue stallion. She looked at him with a small smile on her face and said coyly, “It’s just.. You’ve been away for so long and..”
“And what?” Pokey interjected while staring into her blue eyes.
“...And you’ve changed,” Pinkie finished and turned her eyes towards the floor. Pokey chuckled and asked, “Changed how?”
“Well you’re much taller and your mane is longer, you have a earring and you’re a photographer..” Pinkie started to blabber, but stopped suddenly. “You are still a photographer, right?”
“Yep.” he answered simply. They hadn’t spoken about his job when Pokey had arrived to Ponyville. They had had too much party planning to do.
“Well that’s awesome!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily. “Now where was I.. Oh yeah! And your face is much more like..”
“Can’t you just compress that a little bit?” Pokey asked, because he knew that she could go on forever.

Pinkie tapped her chin with her hoof a couple of times, before a shy smile spread on her face.
“You’re much more handsome,” she commented quietly, making Pokey blush immediately. She giggled at the sight and then asked with a bit of a sultry tone, “How about me? Have I gotten any more beautiful?”
Pokey thought for a moment and then grinned at her playfully..
“No you haven’t,” he answered calmly. Pinkie looked at him with a confused and almost angry look. They stopped moving, but she still had her hoof on his shoulder.
“How can he say that? After I was being so nice to him,” the pink mare thought confusedly. Pokey noticed her expression and quickly added, “Because you were always beautiful.”
“Aww..” Pinkie cooed and grabbed Pokey into a hug.

Soon after the slow dance song stopped, Vinyl Scratch started to play some of the faster music again.

Pinkie Pie and Pokey Pierce were sitting together in one of the booths of Sugarcube Corner, laughing at each other’s stories and jokes while the music played a bit quieter further into the night. They both snickered while watching others become increasingly more drunk by the free booze Pinkie was serving at her parties.

“Ooh look! Rarity’s had a couple too many,” Pinkie Pie giggled and pointed at two ponies in the crowd. Pokey looked in the direction of her hoof and saw a dark grey, almost black pegasus with a ice blue mohawk holding up a white unicorn mare with a curly royal purple mane.
Rarity was clearly wasted and she hung around Thunderlane’s neck, trying to kiss the annoyed looking stallion. Pokey’s eyes went wide and she turned towards Pinkie Pie.

“Thunderlane... and Rarity?” he asked.
“Or Rarity and Thunderlane. Depends on how you look at it,” Pinkie Pie answered and looked at the pair. Pokey turned to look at them again and stated mainly to himself, “Things have surely changed while I was gone.”
“You have no idea,” Pinkie Pie said with an amused tone. Pokey turned towards her and looked at Pinkie with wide eyes.
“What do you mean?” he asked. Without hesitation, Pinkie started to explain, “Well Rarity is with Thunderlane, Fluttershy with Big Mac..”
“Fluttershy!?” Pokey asked with suspicious look on his face. Pinkie nodded and replied, “Yeah and they are really cute together.”
Pokey shook his head and chuckled. Things had changed indeed.
“I’m not so sure about Twilight, but I think that she has something going on with that ‘personal bodyguard’. Oh yeah! Then there’s Rainbow Dash and Applejack!”
Pokey almost choked on his punch and started to cough.

“Applejack? I knew that Rainbow Dash was a fillyfooler...” Pokey said slowly.
“Everypony knew that,” Pinkie Pie assured and Pokey nodded in response. He then continued, “But Applejack? Really?”
“Yeah! There they are right now!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed and nudged her head towards their direction. Pokey was about to look there, but Pinkie stopped him by saying, “Don’t turn your head. If you look at them from the corner of your eye, you might see them kiss.”
Pokey chuckled and leaned into his hoof.
“How about you Pinkie? Had any handsome coltfriends while I was gone?” He asked with a playful tone. Pinkie chuckled and waved her hoof at him.
“Noo. I never felt like I needed one,” Pinkie answered and looked at Applejack and Rainbow dash at the other side of the room.
“Never felt or feel?” Pokey asked, still leaning on his hoof. That sentence made Pinkie turn towards him. She stared right at Pokey and changed the subject, “How about you? Didn’t you have any cute fillies with you when you were in Manehattan?”
“Nah. Didn’t have any luck,” Pokey answered and took a sip from his punch.

They sat in silence for a minute, before Pokey started speaking again, “Remember that day when I left?”
“Yes.. why?” Pinkie questioned and looked at Pokey, while playing with a straw that she had in the cup of her punch.
“You know what I remembered the most?” Pokey asked. He wasn’t sure if he should start talking about it, but he thought that it was the alcohol in him talking.
“What?” Pinkie asked and leaned closer.
“That picture we took,” he answered and looked Pinkie right in her eyes. Pinkie looked back and seemed to have frozen. Pokey started to regret that he had brought that up, when suddenly Pinkie rose up and said, “Come with me.”

Pokey rose up from the table and Pinkie grabbed his hoof. She then started to drag him towards the door of the bakery itself. Pinkie pushed the door open and left the party. They could still hear the muffled bass and sound of other ponies from behind the door as they walked through the empty portion of the pastry shop.
Pokey knew that they were headed towards Pinkie’s room. He had been there before after all. They quickly trotted up the stairs that were on the other side of the empty room and came to a small corridor with one door on the each side of it, as well as one at the end of it. Pinkie opened the entrance to her left and pulled him inside, then promptly closed the door behind her.
It was pretty dark within the room and Pokey tried to find the light switch on the wall next to him. He didn’t manage to find though before Pinkie turned on the lights.

Pokey looked around himself and chuckled. Nothing had changed since he had left. The light caramel colored walls were decorated with different kinds of carvings and the support pillars of the catwalk above her bed were shaped and painted to resemble candy canes. There was also a big bowl, or more like a bucket full of candy next to a sofa with a big teddy bear laying on it. The bed was enormous in size and it’s bedspread was full of patches that resembled lollipops and balloons sewn in it. The atmosphere in the room could be explained with one word, pink.
Pokey also saw balloons everywhere he looked. Attached to the end of Pinkie’s bed, floating against the ceiling, tied to the supports pillars. There were balloons pretty much everywhere.

“I thought that you would like them,” Pinkie Pie said happily and walked towards her bed. Pokey walked next to her and asked, “Why are they in your room and not in the party then?”
“Because I knew we would be in here sooner or later this evening,” Pinkie Pie explained casually. That made Pokey a bit confused.
“What did she mean with that?” he thought and looked at the smiling mare next to him. Pinkie moved with her strange hopping gait, which made Pokey always smile and Pinkie trotted next to her bed.
“Lookie lookie,” she said with her girly voice and pointed at the wall over her mattress. Pokey snapped away from his thoughts and turned towards the wall where Pinkie was pointing.

There he saw many pictures placed on the wall with pins. There was something familiar about them and Pokey leaned closer to examine them further. A small snicker escaped from him when he recognized the pictures.
They were all the pictures that he had sent to Pinkie while at Manehattan and they were forming a circle around one particular image. It was the one where they were in the train station, with Pinkie planting a kiss on his cheek. There was a small drawing over their heads in the picture which Pokey noticed.
“Is that a heart?” he asked with an amused voice. Pinkie giggled and sat onto her bed. She swung her hind legs over the edge and replied slowly, “Mayybee.”
Pokey felt something warm growing inside him as he looked at the coyly smiling Pinkie who sat on the edge of her mattress, idly kicking the air with her hind legs. She looked at something on the wall, but then turned her head towards Pokey, who was staring at her.
“What?” she asked, smiling an amused smile.

Pokey then sat next to her and looked at the pink mare with a wry smile on his face. Pinkie blinked a couple of times and asked, “What are you thinking?”
“Something funny,” Pokey said and leaned closer to her with a half lidded stare.
“Ooh! Can I guess? I love guessing games!” Pinkie exclaimed, perking up and jumping in place. Pokey’s expression changed into a confused stare when Pinkie started to guess, “Something funny.. Hmm. Is it a rollercoaster?” Pinkie asked, but Pokey just gave her a strange look.
“No? Well is it a party? A clown?” she kept at it. “Is it in this room? Is it my party cannon?”

Before Pinkie could continue, Pokey planted a small kiss on her cheek. Pinkie Pie’s ears folded against her head, her eyes went wide as dinner plates and her curly mane boffed like she had gotten an electric shock. She tried to turn towards Pokey but lost her balance on the edge of the bed and fell on the floor with a small shriek. From there she looked at Pokey with wide eyes and a hard blush on her cheeks and he looked back at her with a worried look on his face.
They stared at each other for a second, before Pokey started to snicker. It quickly changed into straight laughter and he fell on his back against the bed. Pinkie too started to giggle and she rose up from the floor.
“That was kinda funny,” she agreed, still giggling a little. Pokey started to get his laughing under control finally as he looked at the other occupant of the room.
“Yeah it was.”

Pinkie hopped on the bed and sat in front of Pokey, who had rose up to a sitting position once more. He was still chuckling a bit when he said, “Sorry Pinkie.”
“No problemo,” Pinkie replied with her usual cheery voice. A small blush formed on her face and she gave Pokey a meek look. She rubbed her front hooves together and asked, “Why did you do that?”
“It was revenge for that,” Pokey answered and pointed at the picture on the wall. Pinkie Pie dropped her ears and said, or more like sighed, “Oh.”
Pokey smiled warmly at her and leaned closer to the element of laughter. Pinkie’s ears sprung back up and she looked him right into his golden eyes. Pokey hesitated for a second, while looking into her blue, awaiting irises.

“And because I like you,” he said and saw how Pinkie’s face lit up. She opened her mouth to speak, but then a pondering pout appeared onto her face. She leaned closer and whispered, “Like like me?”
“Like like you?” confused Pokey asked. Pinkie nodded and said with serious tone, “You know.. Like, like like me?”
“The hay?” Pokey chuckled, but Pinkie still had a serious look on her face and she persisted, “Yes! Do you like like me? Or do you just like me?”
Pokey rolled his eyes and quickly kissed Pinkie Pie on the top of her muzzle, making her fall silent and blush once more.
“I like you,” Pokey answered and reached his hooves towards Pinkie Pie, who immediately moved closer to him. They wrapped each other into a warm hug and Pinkie Pie nuzzled her snout into Pokey’s neck.
“I like like you too,” She replied and tightened her grip around Pokey.