Pinkie Pie woke up, and almost immediately she jumped out of bed. The day of Angel's party was finally here! She darted round Sugarcube corner, making herself a quick breakfast. The usual morning routine was actually a lot more sedate, but she had somewhere to be. She was going to Fluttershy's cottage to put up the decorations for the party, and as such had woken up earlier than usual. She hadn't needed an alarm clock, though. She had just decided on a time to wake up, and followed through. No being lazy when there were parties to organise!
Pinkamena and Surprise took a back seat as Pinkie rushed around, preparing a quick round of toast. She was surprisingly quiet in her movements, but then she didn't want to wake the other occupants of the building, especially the twins. Even more impressive was her multitasking, which when combined with the benefits of pinkie sense led to a highly efficient morning routine. For example, when the toast popped up in the air, a twitchy tail ensured the plate was positioned underneath to catch the slices before they could fall to the floor.
Pinkie hummed happily as she sped around the kitchen. Soon, she was gulping down a quick meal of toast and juice. After finishing her meal, Pinkie stood up form the table, put her plate and cup by the sink to be washed up later, and headed out of the bakery.
"You forgot to brush, you know." pointed out Pinkamena as Pinkie bounced across town. It was early morning, The sun only recently risen. As a result, very few ponies were up and about, mostly farmers like the Apple family. Pinkie almost tripped for a moment, coming to a sudden standstill at the proclamation.
"Did I?" she asked cocking her head in thought. She paused for a moment. "Oh well." she shrugged, and resumed her trek across Ponyville.
"Colgate isn't going to be very happy with you." warned Pinkamena.
"I'll brush my teeth later. Right now, I've got party to get ready for!" announced Pinkie. Pinkamena sighed. There wasn't any point in arguing. She knew that from experience.
Pinkie crossed Ponyville with little interruption, only pausing to greet the ponies she came across on her way to Fluttershy's cottage. Upon arriving, she rapidly knocked on the door, announcing her presence. After a moment, the door opened a crack.
"H-hello?" came the quiet voice of the cottage's owner.
"Hiya Fluttershy!"
"Oh, hello Pinkie...um, would you like to come in?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yes please! I need to set up the balloons, and the food, and the table- oh, I should probably do the table before the food, otherwise I'll have nothing to put the food on- table, THEN food, decorations, music, games and anything else I can think of!" Pinkie took a deep breath. It was the first breath since she had begun to reply, to be fair. She needed the extra oxygen. She grinned happily. Fluttershy opened the door fully, letting Pinkie inside.
Almost immediately, Pinkie was zipping around putting up decorations. Fluttershy just stood to the side, watching on meekly as her pet's birthday party was prepared. In almost no time at all, the cottage was decked out in streamers and balloons. A table now occupied the center of the room, filled with various foodstuffs. There was a circular space in the center, where the cake would be given pride of place. Another table, slightly smaller, stood near the door, awaiting presents.
"Do you like it?" asked Pinkie.
"I think it's wonderful." smiled Fluttershy. "What about you, Angel?" The bunny in question looked around for a moment, sniffed, and made a so-so gesture. Fluttershy frowned slightly, but didn't comment.
"Oh! Ask if they like the pin the tail on the bunny!"
"Do you like the pin the tail on the bunny rabbit? It's usually a pony, but since this is a party for a bunny and bunnies have tails, Sur- I thought it would be a great idea to have a bunny instead of a pony! Do you like it?"
"Um...Yes?" This time, Angel nodded as well. Although he acted a bit condescending, Pinkie could tell it was mainly a front. Angel was definitely happy about his party's arrangement so far. Just wait until he saw the cake!
The setting up had actually taken less time than anticipated, so Pinkie found herself with some spare time until guests were scheduled to arrive. First, she double-checked and tested out all the party games, to ensure they were working properly. Fluttershy, meanwhile, busied herself with her morning rounds, providing food and any care needed to the various animals in her home. There were still a multitude of birds hanging around from the outbreak of flu, though they were fortunately past the worst of it and well on the way to recovery.
Having tested out the games, Pinkie wandered over to Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike's words echoing in her head. "Hey, Fluttershy?"
"Um...Yes?"
"Uh..." Pinkie racked her brains for a moment, trying to come up with a good way of phrasing her question. "Do you...If I were to keep a really big secret for a reeallly long time about myself -not saying that I am, of course- and then tell everypony about it, do you think they would be hurt? I'm asking for a friend, by the way. Not me." Well, that last part might not be the whole truth, but it was pretty close. Pinkamena and Surprise were her friends, after all, and it would affect them as much as herself.
"Um...Probably." answered Fluttershy hesitantly. "But I think that good friends would be able to forgive that pony." she quickly added, seeing Pinkie's expression become downcast.
"Really?" asked Pinkie, brightening up.
"Twilight did, right?"
"Yeah! Twilight is a good friend, and the others should be alright with it as well!"
"Yes...I think so, at least..." said Fluttershy, oblivious to the reassurances offered by the two personalities. She was rather concerned with the uncharacteristically serious tone Pinkie had taken when asking her question. Was Pinkie hiding something? Was that why she was asking? Oh, but she had said that wasn't true...But then again, what if she was lying? Why would Pinkie feel the need to lie to her friends? Oh dear...
"Great! Thank you!" beamed Pinkie. She bounced away, leaving Fluttershy standing alone with her thoughts.
"U-um...why do you ask?" came the tentative question. Unfortunately, Pinkie was too far away to hear the quiet voice, and so Fluttershy was left feeling a little confused as to the point of the conversation that had seemed to be so serious.
"Welcome!" cheered Pinkie, opening the door to reveal Rainbow Dash and Tank. The two stepped inside, taking in the festive atmosphere. They were the last to arrive, all the others in their circle of friends already present, along with their pets. Applejack had helped Twilight bring the cake over, fortunately without incident. It took pride of place in the middle of the room, and already it had several slices missing. Rainbow stared at the cake for a moment in undisguised longing, her trance broken by Pinkie waving a hoof in front of her face. She deposited a small wrapped present on the gift table, and then flew over to the buffet, Tank making his way slowly over to where the rests of the pets were.
Pinkie had darted back over to Sugarcube Corner in order to pick up Gummy and her own present, and the young alligator stared blankly at Angel, who was apparently in deep conversation with the other pets.
"Can I switch for a while? I wanna play!"
Pinkie nodded an ok, looked around to check no-one was looking, and switched. Immediately, Surprise bounded over to the pin the tail game, slapped on a blindfold, and held her hoof out for the pin in giddy excitement. As usual, she was spun around, and then sent teetering off in the general direction of the bunny poster. She did reasonably well, only a few inches away from the mark. She quickly bounced over to the buffet, fuelled up on food and drink, and then shot off to the space cleared for dancing. As usual, the change in demeanour went largely unnoticed. Twilight however, having spent a morning getting to know the differences between Pinkie and Surprise, did suspect that a switch had taken place.
All in all, the party was a huge success. Even the usually surly Angel had a smile, quite the achievement. Some 'accidentally' spilt punch gave Surprise a wet mane, making it flat and straight, giving Pinkamena a chance to enjoy herself as well without drawing attention. Pinkie and Surprise celebrated their successful party, whilst Pinkamena chatted amiably to Applejack and Twilight. If Applejack noticed anything amiss, she didn't say anything, and Twilight didn't let on anything either.
A little while later, Pinkie looked around at the smiling faces, feeling that bubble of pride in her chest at a job well done. Twilight was right, she decided. It was time to tell her friends the truth. Spike and Fluttershy's advice had gone a long way to reassuring her. A quick, whispered question confirmed that Pinkamena and Surprise felt the same way. Yes, it was time. Well, almost. Tomorrow. If she made an announcement like that now, it would almost certainly overshadow Angel's birthday- not something she wanted to do.
Oh, and she'd better say something about the doozy too. Seriously, it was starting to worry her. The trio had come to the conclusion that each shudder signified the progression of events that led up to a doozy. When the situation moved onto the next in a chain of events. And several shudders over the past few days had indicated a LOT of build-up. They had considered the possibility that the doozy was the revealing of Pinkie's condition, and that was the most likely scenario. But on the other hoof, there were some inconsistencies. Like the one she had last night, for example. They hadn't decided on a course of action then, and so unless Twilight was making important decisions or revealing secrets at a little past midnight, the explanation didn't really fit. And if the doozy wasn't her revealing her secret, then what?