Chapter 5
This was getting silly. The party had been going on for two hours now and Rainbow Dash hadn’t managed to get a clear look at the new pony all night. From the moment he had come in he’d been swamped by welcoming ponies curious about all the things this new addition brought to Ponyville.
This had meant that that trying to talk to him had been impossible, at least at first. Now the crowd had died down a bit there really shouldn’t have been any reason not to be able to talk to him, yet she never seemed to catch him. A glimpse of a tail there, no that was pin the tail on the pony. A mane there, no that was Cranky Donkey’s new wig.
There! Just between Lyra and Pinkie at the drinks table! Rainbow sped across the room, grabbing the offending pony by the shoulder and spinning him around.
“Ah ha! At last I get.....to.....what?” Rainbow was left stumped. This was not a situation the best young flyer had contended with before, which was odd considering the amount of time she spent with Pinkie.
All three ponies had turned around, and all three were wearing the most ridiculous party masks. It was like Nightmare Night mark two. To top it off, they were all covering themselves with table cloths. She had no idea who was who.
“Erm, can...can one of you guys point out which of you is the new guy?” They all nodded quite happily, “Oh that’s great, so which.....oh come on!” Each pony was pointing to the other two, a less than helpful response.
“That’s it! I’m just gonna rip those masks off!” Rainbow reached forward just as the three suddenly ducked out the way letting her go sprawling all over the table.
“Damn it get back here!” That was the last straw, now it was clear he was definitely avoiding her. Oh she’d let him have it when she caught him.
Some movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to check the forward charge long enough to look out the window. A pony, a large pony, wearing what looked like stallion’s clothing....
“YOU’RE MINE!” With a roar to rival an enraged Fluttershy, Dash was out the window and off into the night.
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“You sir, are REALLY good at hide and seek!”
Pinkie pulled her mask off as Links and Lyra followed suit, the latter giggling like a filly.
“Did you see her face?” She laughed, “That was the best thing ever!”
“You’ll need to teach me! Teach me!” Pinkie cried, bouncing around a rather relieved Cuff Links.
“One question though, why do you keep a spare suit on you?” she asked.
“More importantly,” Lyra interjected, “Where did you keep that spare suit?” her eyes shrank, and she shook her head, suddenly not wanting to know the possible answer, “Do you think Big Mac will be ok?” she tried again, moving the subject along.
He’d be fine, at least Links hoped so. He was a big pony, he could take care of himself. Then again, Rainbow had seemed pretty mad.
“That’s a good point, a veeeerrryy pointy point indeed.” Pinkie was leering into his face, with a look that just screamed ‘I’m on to you’.
“That’s because I am,” Quite how, or when, she had managed to climb onto his head Links couldn’t really fathom. Many things still eluded him about this mare, despite spending most of the night with The Pink.
Now peering at him upside down from a perch directly on top of his head Pinkie was clearly thinking, and thinking hard.
“Uh Oh,” Lyra decided this was probably a good time to find somepony else to talk to. Most ponies got a headache when Pinkie put her thinking face on. Whenever that face came out it was usually followed with a stream of things nopony else could ever get a handle on. Like the time she had spent most of a day staring at wet paint.
“I don’t think Dashie was playing. She really wanted to get you. And how would she have known you were having a game anyway, you haven’t talked to her all night? Which doesn’t explain how you knew that was Rainbow Dash!”
Excellent reasoning Pinkamina, except that there’s only one multicolour maned mare in all of ponyville, and ponies had been mentioning her all night. That was how Links had known to take measures to avoid bumping into her. It was probably fairly safe to say that she wanted to talk to him about as much as he didn’t want to talk to her. Ponyville was turning out to be full of surprises.
Oh nickers, he thought glumly, one just walked through the door.
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She didn’t really want to go. Or at least that was what Rarity kept telling herself as she walked into Sugarcube Corner. She was just curious, especially since she didn’t even know if this new tailor was a mare or a colt. Walking around the party she could gather the public opinion, take a quick look at whichever pony it was then quietly leave again.
At least that had been the plan. The party was actually starting to wrap up, since Rainbow Dash had explosively left the room ponies had started noticing how late it was and were bidding a good night. Now there were barely a hoofull of ponies left and that made Rarity's rather late arrival stand out.
Feeling many pairs of eyes on her, Rarity decided on the only logical course of action.
Turning on her back hoof she walked right back out the door. She would find a different occasion to speak to the new tailor. Being late was not in fashion she decided.
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The party was officially over. Rainbow Dash had left in a hurry, Rarity had practically fled and now the other big movers and shakers in the small town had decided it was their turn. Twilight had to take Spike home, he’d already fallen asleep, his trademark party lampshade hanging limply from one claw. Fluttershy had left at some point without telling anypony, but that wasn’t unusual. The Mayor had mentioned a day filled with paperwork and the Cakes were starting to clean up.
Pinkie Pie had decided to let the matter of Rainbow Dash drop for now, although there was no way she was surrendering her perch. The view from on top of Links was new, and he didn’t seem to mind too much for now. Using his mane as a steering mechanism Pinkie and Links were bidding ponies goodnight as they filed out the door into the night.
It had been a good party, even if she said so herself. Which she did, why wouldn’t she? Pinkie Pie, Pink Party Purveyor of Ponyville (TM) knew everything there was to know about parties, party food, party music and party games. What Links and Dashie had been playing all night was certainly not a game, she decided, however much fun it had been. There was something deep going on there, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. Because that’s what she did, get to the bottom of really really deep things, and she really intended to get to the bottom of this one.
For now though, she was quite happy standing on his head. She could get to his bottom later.