Pinkie to None

by PonyPon

Birthdays, Barbecues and Beyond

As the mad...thing the two ponies were riding stomped back into town, scaring everypony who managed to see the incredibly weird vehicle, Pinkie's spirits were at an all-time low. This pony, one she had never heard of, seen, partied with, or even scheduled a birthday for, was not only doing everything Pinkie could ever do, but doing it leagues better than she could ever dream. She hit her head on the top of the beast's head repeatedly. Fluttershy noticed her friend's mood.

"Don't worry, Pinkie." she somehow managed to urge softly.
"We're going to catch that critter-hurting pony and give them a piece of our mind!"
Pinkie Pie stopped hitting her head long enough to give her friend a warm smile.

From below, they heard a familiar voice calling up to them. One peek over the side of their platform revealed they had arrived at Carousel Boutique. The proprietor and their good friend, Rarity, was outside, waving at them in what was clearly a new dress. But the two ponies could see this dress wasn't an ordinary dress by any means. Or rather, they couldn't see it at all. Focusing in the bulk of the dress seemed impossible. It was as if their eyes simply refused to take in any detail beyond it being a very colorful dress. The only part they could see without their vision sliding away was the portion around Rarity's bust, where the dress seemed to be held together by a single golden gem that matched the three on her flank.

Pinkie tapped the creature's head as they approached. It's trudging came to a slow stop and it squatted low enough for her to hop down to the ground safely.

"So, Rarity," she said with a sigh, loathing the conversation she had had so many times today already.
"What did the fantastic new pony give you?"
"Oh, you've heard of her! She gave me this wonderful, most amazing bolt of cloth I've ever seen! It's so beautiful, some ponies have trouble taking in it's full beauty! What do you think of this dress, dears?"

Fluttershy hesitated, still unable to see the dress, but she eventually settled on, "It's...very nice, Rarity."
The white unicorn gave a little excited whinny.
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it, darling. I still have plenty of material left, maybe I should make more for this line. Perhaps a smaller dress for fillies, a suit for a well-built stallion, maybe even a giant hat! Or maybe..." she trailed off, walking back inside her house. Pinkie raced to her side before she could go.

"Rarity, wait! Where did that pony go?"
"Well, darling I haven't the foggiest. But, you might want to check over that hill there, there was quite a ruckus going on."

She motioned to a distant area, which seemed to have quite a bit of smoke rising from it. Gaining a look of determination, Pinkie gave a mighty backflip back onto the Walker. She struck a dynamic pose and pointed in the direction Rarity indicated.

"To the smoke, Walker! And step on it!"
Giving a salute, the walker rose one foot high into the sir. Rarity stared at it, horrified it was about to take Pinkie's words to heart. But it instead brought it straight down in a mighty stomp, which shook the ground violently as the force of it made the beast shoot upwards into the sky.

Fluttershy stared wide-eyed at the enormous bound took, looking at Rarity and seeing she had a similar expression. She recovered quickly and flew after the two.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow winced a little as Nurse Sweetheart applied the ointment to the areas on her body that were currently furless.

"Ow! watch it, would ya?"
"Oh, sorry Miss."
"Anyway, I just skipped a few steps when making this cake, and when I brought it to the competition, it just went ballistic and started zapping everypony in sight!"
"Whoa," Soarin' went, taken in by her story. "so what did you do?"
"Well, I -"

She was interrupted by the ground thunderously quaking. The two pegasai turned towards the noise to see a massive creature, comprised of two legs and not much else. Pinkie Pie was riding it, with a look more serious than Rainbow thought she was capable of. She shimmied down the creature's thin leg, and zipped up to Rainbow Dash quickly.

"Rainbow Dash! What's going on? What happened? Did that new pony give you something? What did I miss!?" she asked in rapid succession.
"Whoa, slow down, Pink! Nothing happened, cept for ol' Rainbow Dash taking care of business like always!" she said, puffing out her chest.

It was at this point that Pinkie noticed the acrid, sour smell in the air. She took in her surroundings for the first time since arriving in the fields. Everywhere, there were puddles of brown sludge. They hissed and bubbled gently, seemingly eating away at whatever surface they had landed on. A few particularly large puddles had huge pieces of what looked horribly like flesh sticking out of them, which the brown liquid had no effect on. She also noticed that there were several ponies working to clean up the mess, pouring another liquid on the worse of the brown before daring to touch it. Others hauled the pieces of flesh into a wagon, which held the bulk of it, sporting a large eye. Pinkie could tell from the way it glared at them that it was not happy at its current state. She turned back to Rainbow, who had numerous spots of fur missing from acid burns.

"Yeah, somepony told me this thing was trying to burn this field up, so I had to teach it a lesson," Rainbow continued. It was then that Fluttershy caught up, with an increasingly worried look about her.
"Oh! What happened to this field?! Is the family of prairie dogs alright?!"

Soarin' tried to calm her down.
"It's alright, miss. They're alright, see?" he pointed towards Nurse Coldheart, tending to the family of furry burrowers who were somewhat singed, but still okay. As Fluttershy rushed to their side, Pinkie questioned Rainbow Dash further.

"So, that pony told you about the monster?"
"Yeah, showed me where it was and everything. Apparently she even got me a Wonderbolt for backup!" she said, her tone taking a dip into fangirly reverie. She quickly straitened up when Soarin' chimed in.

"She was one weird mare, for sure. I was just flying by when she said I had to come to this site near Ponyville for an 'emergency situation'. I've never seen a monster like this before. Glad Rainbow here had my back."
"Oh yeah, we were totally in sync up there! You were like, 'I'll take the rear, you focus on the eye!', and I was like, 'okay!' and then I delivered a crushing left hook! And then I-"

As Rainbow Dash recounted the tale, reenacting her favorite attacks, Pinkie scooted over to Fluttershy. She hissed in her ear.
"Fluttershy, this is even worse than I thought! Now she's unleashing terrible burny things on the world!"
"Pinkie, I know she's a really, really rude pony, but she couldn't have possibly done anything to bring that monster here." the pegasus reasoned. Pinkie stared at her blankly, and turned in time to hear the tale end of Rainbow Dash's story.

"-and then I Rainboomed that thing right outta the sky! You shoulda been there, Pink. That weird pony even gave me and Soarin' medals for it!" she exclaimed, holding a golden cloud and bolt symbol hanging from a necklace by her wing with the aforementioned Wonderbolt following suit. Pinkie turned back to her friend, who was disheartened by the sight.

"But enough about us, how did your party go, Pinkie?"
".....what party?" Pinkie asked. Her face grew worried quickly.
"The one for Silver Spoon, remember? You told me her dad wanted you to surprise her at school with one for her birthday. You didn't forget, did you?"

The look of shock on Fluttershy's face was nothing compared to the one of pure horror wore.

----------------------------------------------------------------

A mad dash to Sugarcube Corner later, Pinkie was ludicrously prepared for a kid's birthday party. But she panicked all the same as the Walker rushed to Ponyville School.

"I can't believe I forgot about Silver's party, Flutters! I never forget about a party! Especially a surprise party! Unless that partyisformecuzyouknowhowIgetsometimes!!" she shouted, her words starting to blend together from her excitement. Her fearful friend tried to calm her down as she desperately tried to hang on to the Walker's platform.

"Pinkie, please! Calm down! I'm sure Silver Spoon will understand if you're a bit late!"
"ButIcan'tbelateFluttershy! I just can't! That pony might make everyone smile, but she'll never party like me! NEVER!" she screamed as the Walker slid to a stop, almost plowing into the playground equipment. Pinkie ran down its leg and up to the front door, knocking on harder than needed. Cheerilee opened it, as cheerful as her name might imply. Pinkie was so worked up she missed the small golden flower pinned to her chest.

"Cheerilee, I'm here. I can throw the party I promised, huff"
"Well, that's nice, but, we actually just finished one." she responded awkwardly. Pinkie's face fell.

"What?"
"Of course, I'm sure the children wouldn't mind if you had some cake. The host did make alot." she led the stunned pony into the schoolhouse, where the kids were lazing about, or simply conversing. They looked quite content. Exhausted, but content. The room was strewn with all manner of streamers, confetti, and banners celebrating the little filly's birthday. Near the door, there were cookies, punch, and other sweets, which would have been dwarfed by the cake in the center had it not been mostly eaten. There were many fun games out, even a large black box with a screen and two microphones attached to it: a karaoke machine.

Pinkie looked around the room in disbelief. She had actually done it. She threw a party Pinkie had wanted to throw. And the kids had loved it. She could even hear her laughter echoing in her ears. Pinkie turned to see it was actually coming from two fillies she knew of. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. She looked back to Cheerilee, and pointed at them, mouth still agape.

"Oh, well, those two have been a little warmer to each other since they sang together. I guess singing a rock style remix of The Smile Song together can do that to little ponies!" she explained.
Pinkie only made a choking up sound in response. She was just about to turn away, go home, and perhaps lie in bed for a few days when she heard her name.

"Miss Pinkie?"
It came a from a gray earth stallion, with purple sunglasses, a very stylish mane, and a little filly clinging to his back. Hoity Toity, the stallion who asked her to throw this party. Who had said he would be "far too busy" to attend the party himself.

"Well. It is about time you showed up. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show at all. But no matter! I'm afraid your services will be no longer needed. Your replacement did very well on this little shindig. She even convinced me to join the occasion, isn't that right, Spoony?"
"Yes, Papa!" Silver Spoon piped up from behind.

But Pinkie had stopped listening after "replacement" reached her ears. Replaced. She had really been replaced. She held her head low to the ground. Her hair drooped around her face. She sulked back through the door just as Fluttershy was struggling to push her party cannon through the door.

"Hey Pinkie, are we clear to par-tay? Yay!" she cheered softly before noticing Pinkie's demeanor. The pink pony pushed past her gently, and started on the road back to town, as her friend looked on, worried. Hoity came next to her and watched her leave.

"Is she going to be alright?" he asked. Fluttershy sighed.
"I hope so."

Comments

[Wyrme]