The pink earth pony zipped around the house faster than the pony eye could perceive. Balloons here, balloons there, a bowl of punch, a bowl of apples, snacks, snacks, snacks; before she knew it the room was her canvas and she was splattering her party paint all over it.
It was approaching the time of the party, the time that Pinkie Pie had eagerly awaited, and Sugarcube Corner was her party destination of choice. The Baby-cakes were having an overnight playdate with some babies down the street so that the party wouldn't disturb them. The neighbors were all prepared for the music, the guests all welcome to one of Pinkie's most important parties ever. Everything was perfect.
As the banners and streamers made their way to their respective places, Pinkie took a moment to convert to an unusually silent version of herself, pausing to think once more about the task at hoof. As a party extraordinaire, it was never on Pinkie's mind. Since Twilight's mention, however, this perfect party planner had the most perfectly imperfect stinging in her chest and a discomfort in her stomach. Faces glazed through her mind. Some of them were her friends, others were some notable faces of the males around town. The thought of mixing their lives with stallions gave her an uneasy and distrustful feeling.
Strictly speaking, love has torn friends apart before.
A knock on the door broke Pinkie Pie out of her uncharacteristic thoughts, leaving her feeling dizzy and hyped. The sound of a knock meant her bestestest friends have finally arrived to help her set things up early! There was a buzz as Pinkie began a full out gallop down the stairs to the front door. Hopping up and down excitedly, she pulled the door open towards her.
Lo and behold, the five ponies that were standing there were Pinkie's best friends, smiling at her and bearing their own snacks and things to put on the snack table, with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Although the looks on their faces looked flustered, they were undoubtedly happy to be there. As they spoke their greetings and trotted into the door, Fluttershy especially seemed to be falling behind as she slowly moved forward, her face indirect and towards the ground.
Though it could be assumed what news was just shared with them, Pinkie Pie was not surprised to see such uncomfortable faces on her beloved friends as they filed into the room, followed briefly by Spike.
“So, what's the big idea?” Rainbow Dash blurted, looking at both Pinkie and Twilight. “What if we don't want dates? I have no time to worry about boys and relationships and all that mushy crud. I need to work on my routine to impress the Wonderbolts!”
“I don't know Dashie!” Pinkie responded in delight before hopping over to her rainbow friend. “You should ask yourself! After all, you showed up to my All-stallions-welcome-dance-party-rendezvous-extravaganza!”
“W-well, you know, I'd be dumb to skip out on a Pinkie Pie party. After all, the last one you threw was totally radical.”
“I knew you'd understand!” Pinkie spouted enthusiastically.
“Um, e-excuse me, um, Pinkie?” Fluttershy squealed, hardly loud enough to hear. Luckily, Pinkie Pie has sensitive enough ears to hear over her own voice.
“Yes?” The pink pony spoke through grinning teeth.
“I-I know this is to get to know stallions to...” Fluttershy whimpered quietly, as if she couldn't finish the line. She looked up to her friend with pleading eyes, as if saying “you know what I mean.”
“Yep! That's what the party is for!”
“B-but I don't think I can do that. I-I, um, I would like to just go home a-and take care of my animals, if that's okay with you...”
“Aw, but Fluttershy! You need to pick the super awesomest stallion for you to take! Unless you wanna take your bunny to the gala, but that would be weird!” Pinkie Pie saw the look in her friend's eyes and smiled a little, but this time sympathetically, knowing that there was a chance this would happen. “That's okie dokie lokie, Fluttershy. I'll be sure to have a more Fluttershy-like party another day!”
“Oh, thank goodness. I'm sorry about this Pinkie Pie, I really appreciate the gesture, though.” Fluttershy looked entirely different now. She seemed a lot more confident now that she knew she wasn't being pressured to do anything. “I will see you tomorrow, Rarity.”
A nod from a silent white pony that Pinkie almost didn't notice was there came in response to Fluttershy leaving, “of course, dear.”
The fact that Rarity was so silent left Pinkie curious. Of course, with the conversation ending naturally, the other ponies had already scattered, filling the room and Pinkie had no ability to ask her fancy friend why she was so uneasy. As she decided to start some ambient music for her friends, she kept an eye on Rarity as she slowly walked in a way that seemed as if her head was somewhere else instead of engaged in the party planning.
The music came on, and the friends began to chat amongst themselves. In a little bit, the first guests were expected. Twilight would deny it if Pinkie asked, but she seemed to have done something extra to her mane. Rarity wore flowers in her mane and tail and wore a little extra make-up around the eyes to match. Applejack and Dashie had no special traits on them, however.
“Okay, party-ponies! Let's get this started!”
-----
As Fluttershy left the party, she heard the music start with the laughter and immediately shied away, lowering her head towards the ground.
Another ring of laughter met her ears, this time male voices. She turned, curious as to who she'd be missing, and smiled at the familiar faces. Big Mac, Felix, and Caramel. Seemed like Big Mac retains some friendships after all. He wasn't seen hanging out with anypony very often, unless it's around the farm or on a day off.
After a second, Fluttershy noticed a subtle limp in the red pony's back left leg. Devastated, Fluttershy realized why Big Mac even had time to hang out with ponies at this time. She turned around, since she wasn't very far from them, and trotted over.
“Oh, no, Big Mac. What happened to you?” She said quietly. Not saying much, Big Mac responded by chronically looking at her then his leg. He laughed lightly.
“Had an accident workin'. That's all.”
“I'm so sorry, it looks like it hurts.” The concerned pegasus looked a little closer. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Eeyup.” He responded. “I think I'm going to go in now. 'Was nice talkin' to ya.”
“Good luck.” Fluttershy smiled, feeling satisfied that she knew he wasn't hurting too much. Turning, she returned on her way. She didn't feel, however, the eyes of a certain somepony looking at her as she walked away.
The path to her cottage was easy, even after she was no longer on the flat streets of the city. Her humble home came into view relatively quickly. The sound of the streams of water trickling was her first landmark, the lack of trees her second. Then, like rushing water, a feeling of safety and love overwhelmed her as she stepped onto her property.
She was welcomed by a flock of birds, their singing harmonic and cheerful at her return. As their little wings buzzed around her, she made her way across the bridge and quickly came across the front door. As she swung both halves of the door away from her to open it, Angel Bunny sat all the way on the other side of a room, standing on top of what appears to be a small box wrapped over. He looked over at his pegasus master impatiently, slamming his paw down on the box about six times in an instant.
“Oh, Angel Bunny, what is this?” Fluttershy said quietly as she steadily approached the strange trinket. Angel hopped up onto the pink-maned pony gingerly, seating himself in between her ears. The two sets of eyes peered down at the simplistically wrapped box, appearing to be a present. Looking it over, there were no names written on it, nor any tags. “Where did this come from, Angel?”
The small rabbit hopped off of Fluttershy's head and scurried to the front door, playfully mimicking the action of opening the front door and seeing it. After looking over to his owner's eyes to make sure she understood, he hurried back and reclaimed his throne on her head.
Fluttershy let a small chuckle leave her throat at her pet's silly antics. She then leaned forward, eying over the box one more time. Very carefully, so as to not tear the wrapping, she pulled back the pale yellow wrap to reveal a small, hoof sized box. She carefully peeled the tape off of it and opened the flaps. “Oh, oh, how nice!” She said cheerfully.
Inside the box was a small blue-flower. Not a real flower, however, but a plastic one. It was a hair clip, which was discovered upon closer examination.
“But who is it from?” Fluttershy mused quietly. She put the flower down to its place, and turned to walk to a window. Angel took initiative to hop off and take hold of the flower himself, putting it through a series of bunny tests, including hardness, smell, and taste tests, only to be disgusting by its flavor and placing it back down.
The pegasus approached the closed window and opened it, looking outside from left to right. There was nopony nearby, so who put this package at her door?
-----
Ring!
The sound of the bells ringing as her guests poured into the room filled Pinkie Pie with remarkable joy. It has barely audible over the music and chattering of happy ponies, but she could hear it. She was used to the sound from having worked here so long, but she never tired of it.
There were so many guests in the party that it was unbelievable; it was more ponies than she had ever invited to a single party before. So much so that it took both levels of Sugarcube Corner, not just the second like usual.
Pinkie had lost sight of her friends in the midst of the partying and was found by herself next to the snack bar. Excitedly gnawing on a chocolate cupcake, she peered casually at her reflection in a balloon.
Then there was Rainbow Dash, up in the second floor, hopelessly unaware of how to even flirt with a boy. She stood alone, waving back and forth to the beat of the music, letting the fur in her mane and tail sway casually as it tickled against the back of her hind legs. Her confidence getting the better of her, she saw an attractive colt walking past her with no other company.
“Hey! You!” The rainbow pony blurted to an unsuspecting victim. The stallion looked over to the source of the voice feebly.
“Y-yes?”
“Wouldn't you like to dance with the most awesomest pony in all of Equestria?” Dash bragged in an outburst, pushing herself closer to the poor soul.
“I-I'm sorry?”
“You know, me! Rainbow Dash, future wonderbolt!” Striking a pose, Dash leaned up against the stallion. “Come on, why not?”
“E-excuse me, I have s-somewhere to go.”
“Wha-huh?!” Dash yelped, but before she could collect her thoughts, the stallion was gone. “Hmph.” Grunting, she turned away and continued her monotonous self-soothing pony watching.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie continued eying herself in the balloon, finishing the last succulent bite of cupcake, she licked the frosting off her lips and threw the wrapper into a nearby trash can. With the sugar pumping through her, she felt the urge to move rapidly overcome her. Before she could, however, there was a really, really loud noise that smacked her square in the face.
It was the distinct sound of a balloon popping. The blue balloon she was looking into had exploded. Now, in its place, was the face of another pony. His gray mane was unique to himself, as well as his impressively pointy unicorn horn. It was a pony Pinkie recognized as non-other than Pokey Pierce.
“Oh hello Pokey! You scared me! Not like, you know, ghost scared, but startled because your pointy-wointy horn popped the balloon!” Pinkie announced out loudly, so as to overcome the noise of the party.
“I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to do that! I swear!” Pokey withdrew quietly, putting his ears back against his head. “I a-always do that. Oh, I should know better by now.”
“That's okay, Pokey. I know, every time I invite you to a party you do this! I just learn to bring extras!” Suddenly, Pinkie pulled a balloon out of virtually nowhere, inhaling one great breath of air and releasing it into the balloon. It drifted up into the air as if full of helium as she tied it up in one quick gesture. “See?”
“I'm so glad you don't get mad at me for that.” Pokey answered with a laugh. “I try really hard to avoid this.”
“No problem!”
However, with so many ponies being in one room, the two were clearly overwhelmed and just stuck to each other, getting lost in their own minor conversation, ignoring the rest of the room.